August 18 Updates

Community Involvement Essential

Nice post by Tim Walters from Trinity:

http://www.postbulletin.com/life/lifestyles/timothy-l-waters-could-med-city-aim-to-heal-u/article_d0939ea8-7814-5b82-aac6-3a121e3b1ed1.html?utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=user-share

Poverty and the Middle Class

Continuing the elevated discussions of economic difficulties of the "middle class"

-->

http://wilsonquarterly.com/quarterly/the-decline-of-the-american-middle-class/too-rich-to-be-poor-too-poor-to-get-by/?mkt_tok=eyJpIjoiWlROaVptVmhNVEl6TldFNSIsInQiOiJSclwvQlhUdzl2OFdtNE9EeGdONTVTQzg0NFJGOTdoS0t1N2Nac1JUR0RiWXA4ZGlOVDRLQXpwWFNoQlRkR1hUanBQaElSSTk5YXVTZjdnQVVzWVRhNUFPUWlVYStNalBpTThRbjlNWm9TRFk9In0%3D

White Poverty

On a related note, here is more about the long-ignored problem of poverty among whites as well as minorities:



http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2016/09/the-original-underclass/492731/?utm_source=atlfb


ideo-evangelicals

This is a term used by evangelicals outside the US to describe those in the U.S. who are voting more for their political ideology than for their faith values.

http://kristof.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/08/19/a-challenge-to-my-fellow-evangelicals/?smid=tw-share&_r=0 

Policing in Schools

Given the current discussion in Rochester around the appropriate role of police in schools, this could be relevant:

http://www.citylab.com/crime/2016/08/how-chicago-youth-view-police-from-school-to-the-streets/496454/?utm_source=atlfb

What is "evil" according to Google?

This is an incredibly important resource for discussing the concept of "evil" in today's society:

http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/10/what-is-evil-to-google/280573/?utm_source=atlfb

College Reveals Our Hearts

Well-written essay on why the changes many students experience when going off to college are really more just a revelation of their hearts--something that may also be true of all of us when confronting changes in our lives.

Especially quote within the article:

Few have put what college feels like better than Notre Dame sociology professor Christian Smith. He writes,

To an extent matched by no other time in the life course, emerging adults enjoy and endure multiple, layered, big, and often unanticipated life transitions. They move out, they move back, they plan to move out again. They go to college, they drop out, they transfer, they take a break for a semester to save money, some graduate, some don’t. They want to study architecture, they hate architecture, they switch to criminal justice, a different career path. Their parents separate, make up, get divorced, remarry. They take a job, they quit, they find another, they get promoted, they move. They meet new friends, their old friends change, their friends don’t get along, they meet more new people. They get new roommates, their roommates don’t work out, they find a new apartment. They buy insurance, they wreck their car, they cancel their insurance, they borrow a car. They find their soulmate, they get involved, their soulmate dumps them, they are crushed. They believe in saving sex for meaningful relationships, they hook up, they get angry with themselves, they look for a meaningful relationship. They smoke, they want to quit smoking, they quit for some days, they start smoking again. In these and other ways, for emerging adults not a lot in life is stable or enduring. (Souls in Transition, 34)

http://www.desiringgod.org/articles/college-doesn-t-change-your-heart-it-reveals-it


On Women and Wine

This is a great essay daring to touch the trend over the past few years to always put wine (or other liquor) in the place of a fun panacea.

http://qz.com/762868/giving-up-alcohol-opened-my-eyes-to-the-infuriating-truth-about-why-women-drink/?utm_source=atlfb

and, possibly related, this:

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2016/09/how-helicopter-parents-cause-binge-drinking/492722/?utm_source=atlfb

Why the Elephant and Blind Men Tale Is Wrong

https://blogs.thegospelcoalition.org/trevinwax/2016/08/25/3-ways-the-blind-men-and-the-elephant-story-backfires/

August 11 Highlights

More on Economic Class Issues

Is it the Trump follower phenomenom or is it Hillbilly Elegy, or both? Whatever the source, issues surrounding those limited by their economic class in the US are becoming more discussed. For example, this:

Today, less privileged white Americans are considered to be in crisis, and the language of sociologists and pathologists predominates. Charles Murray’s Coming Apart: The State of White America, 1960–2010 was published in 2012, and Robert D. Putnam’s Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis came out last year. From opposite ends of the ideological spectrum, they made the case that social breakdown among low-income whites was starting to mimic trends that had begun decades earlier among African Americans: Rates of out-of-wedlock births and male joblessness were rising sharply. Then came the stories about a surge in opiate addiction among white Americans, alongside shocking reports of rising mortality rates (including by suicide) among middle-aged whites. And then, of course, came the 2016 presidential campaign. The question was suddenly no longer why Democrats struggled to appeal to regular Americans. It was why so many regular Americans were drawn to a man like Donald Trump.

For more, here is the full article:
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2016/09/the-original-underclass/492731/

This is loosely related, by looking at land use for cities:

https://nextcity.org/daily/entry/black-lives-matter-policy-agenda-city-playbook

Now, two more on the way both Trump and Clinton are generally ignoring the poor this campaign season:

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/12/us/politics/trump-clinton-poverty.html?emc=edit_th_20160812&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=33343369&_r=0

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2016/08/nobody-wants-talk-about-p-word

Inequities in education also arise with economic disparity. This article focuses on one problem many poor kids have, the lack of clean clothes to attend school.

 http://www.scarymommy.com/whirlpool-care-counts-improves-attendance-in-schools/?utm_source=FB

Democrats for Life

Here is a group that is little known and, as the article says, pretty lonely. Still, they should not be ignored.

http://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2016-07-25/the-loneliness-of-the-pro-life-democrat

Best Non-fiction from the Past Year?

So how better to really expand the time on the internet than to use my own collection of worthwhile sites to include yet another! This could keep me tied to the screen nonstop for a week or more.

http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2016/08/slightly-more-than-100-exceptional-works-of-journalism/490622/?utm_source=atlfb

Genesis--Science and Faith

A couple of helpful reviews of John H. Walton's books on "the lost world" of Genesis and Adam and Eve.

https://bobonbooks.com/2016/08/11/review-the-lost-world-of-genesis-one/

https://bobonbooks.com/2016/01/07/review-the-lost-world-of-adam-and-eve/

Rochester and Transparency

Lots of things happening related to the many changes coming to our area and how "insiders" may be making decisions not really beneficial to the broader population. One summary suggestion:

http://cngv2.dmcbeam.org/olmsted-county-community-health/plomino_documents/6d82a511a5484c7a98d5f4b9ba7c9e5c?fb_action_ids=10210324203081381&fb_action_types=og.comments

Shakespeare for Kids (and maybe this grandma)

As someone who still doesn't really appreciate Shakespeare, this might be something I need to consider for myself, not just for the grandchildren.

http://simplehomeschool.net/hooked-on-shakespeare/

Not Trump

I keep trying to avoid posting anything more on FB about the presidential campaign but I just can't. Here is a "keeper" of a summary about why Christians really MUST NOT vote for Trump.

http://samuelwhitefield.com/1811/four-issues-to-consider-before-you-support-trump-what-is-really-at-stake#_ftn10

Inclusionary Zoning

Good summary of positive use of this tool:

http://uli.org/press-release/economics-inclusionary-zoning/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_content=pressrelease&utm_campaign=inclusionaryzoning

And more on Granny Pods

As of September 1, these will be legal in MN if the municipalities agree, so we can expect much more on them.

http://tinyhometour.com/2016/06/08/granny-pods-are-now-an-option-in-minnesota/

http://www.mprnews.org/story/2016/08/11/minnesota-granny-pods-portable-housing-elderly


A History Lesson

Very long but important NY Times article (actually, the entire NY Times Magazine this week) on the background of the current Middle East make up:

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/08/11/magazine/isis-middle-east-arab-spring-fractured-lands.html?_r=1

August 12 Thoughts to Ponder

Didn't make it through a week without running over the 250 character limit on labels, so I just decided to start a new post.

How Our Christian Relationships Should Be Carried Out

Richard Mouw and Tim LeHaye would never be considered in the same political or theological camps, but this piece written after LeHaye's death last week shows how we all need to treat fellow believers (and more!) even when we are not in full agreement.

https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2016/08/every-day-an-armageddon

Trump and Evangelicals

This is an article I want to have at my fingertips to respond to some Christian friends who still can't stay away from Trump. Just trying to stay away from posting any more "political stuff" on FB if at all possible.

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/08/evangelical-christians-trump-bill-clinton-apology/495224/

White Poverty

Finally, perhaps, attention is being paid to a group of Americans that has been too often ignored. A couple of current articles:


http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/01/white-working-class-poverty/424341/?utm_source=atlfb

This one analyzes some of the things that stand out in the better-than-the-US Costa Rican health trends:

http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2016/01/the-poorest-americans-die-younger-than-the-poorest-costa-ricans/422319/?utm_source=atlfb

...and poverty in general, or why concern for the middle class should not ignore concern for the poor:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2016/08/15/to-clinton-and-trump-its-all-about-the-middle-class-to-jesus-its-about-the-poor/

Still another article on this topic, including this comment:

"Many people who find themselves living hand-to-mouth without a permanent address don’t identify as poor or even homeless. They may have lost their home to foreclosure. They may have been evicted from their apartment. Creditors may have seized their bank accounts and garnished their wages. They may be living in a car or RV. And they may be scraping by on very little income even though they work a great deal. But they don’t see themselves as poor. Instead, they imagine they’re still middle class folks who have been robbed of their proper place in society. Their instinct is not to fight for the poor because those are “other people.” To admit that you’re poor in America is to include yourself in a class of people who are deemed unworthy and irrelevant."

http://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2016/8/15/what-does-suburban-poverty-look-like?utm_content=buffer497d3&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer

...and a link within this site:

http://www.strongtowns.org/suburban-poverty

...and Elder Poverty

We have not designed our suburbs for those who grow old and have limited transportation resources

http://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2016/8/12/how-suburban-poverty-effects-seniors?utm_content=buffera3b36&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer


Later Start Time for Schools

Timely (pun intended?) article for the ITCFG Education Action Group fall planning:

http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2015/08/why-school-should-start-later/401489/?utm_source=atlfb

http://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2015/p0806-school-sleep.html

(and an older, somewhat relate article on the role of sports in US schools)

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2013/10/the-case-against-high-school-sports/309447/

Community Schools

Another idea for community schools? Laundry onsite. Whirlpool is a strong business partner in disaster response, so this seems to carry out the corporate philosophy too.

http://www.scarymommy.com/whirlpool-care-counts-improves-attendance-in-schools/?utm_source=FB


Affordable Housing

Something to consider for the overall mix of options for "affordable housing"

http://urbanland.uli.org/development-business/u-s-congress-approves-less-restrictive-fha-condo-financing-program/?utm_source=mm&utm_medium=link&utm_content=081516ul&utm_campaign=magazine

This outlines a side effect of cities that become too "elite" in their housing and overall population makeup.

http://www.citylab.com/housing/2016/08/a-palo-alto-planning-commissioner-leaves-town-and-starts-a-furor/495983/?utm_source=SFFB


When Quitting Soccer Is a Moral Dilemma

One more thing for Christian parents to consider in raising their kids.

https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/when-quitting-soccer-is-a-moral-dilemma





 

August 3 Posts to Ponder

The Neglect of Poor Whites' Perspective in Today's Society

Starting off with an interview with the author of a book I still haven't read, Hillbilly Elegy. Interesting perspective on what still is a great mystery, the mystique of Trump among so many:

http://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/trump-us-politics-poor-whites/

Between the Trump insurgency and this book, there seems to be a renewed interest in "poor whites." Here is another article worth pondering:

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2016/09/the-original-underclass/492731/

Affordable Housing

A good discussion this morning about "granny flats" at the leadership coffee led to this posting. Looks like there is nimby-ism in Rochester that could create roadblocks here too.

https://seniorcareadvice.com/my-mother-lives-in-the-backyard-the-granny-pod-evolution.htm

Is "affordable housing" an achievable goal for developers? This article says no; it doesn't "pencil out." Some sobering info here.

http://apps.urban.org/features/cost-of-affordable-housing/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=aug_posts&utm_term=housing_development&utm_content=aff_housing_tool

The reference to Black Lives Matter is likely to put many people off, but this is an excellent article about some ways to address inequalities, including efforts to develop inclusionary housing plans.

https://nextcity.org/daily/entry/black-lives-matter-policy-agenda-city-playbook


On Community

I was reminded of this quote from Wendell Berry when a positive response  came through on a review I'd written back in 2007. The quote and my specific comments:

"Andy said, 'You're worried because they've left the membership,' and he smiled...They've gone over from the world of membership to the world of organization. Nathan would say the world of employment.'...One of the attractions of moving away into the world of employment, i think, is being disconnected and free, unbothered by membership.It is a life of beginnings without memories, but it is a life too that ends without being remembered. The life of membership with all its cumbers is traded away for the life of employment that makes itself free by forgetting you clean as a whistle when you are not of any more use. When they get to retirement age, [my children] will be cast out of place and out of mind like worn-out replaceable parts, to be alone at the last maybe and soon forgotten.

"'But the membership,' Andy said, 'keeps the memories even of horses and mules and milk cows and dogs.'"

"And that is the magic of Berry's writing; his telling of stories of those who are still *members* of a community helps keep their memories alive and reminds us of our own need to find our own community within our own spaces."

https://www.amazon.com/review/R1SY7IHVRP79XA/ref=cm_cd_notf_message?ie=UTF8&cdForum=Fx2IHQOI1XWVAXH&cdPage=1&cdThread=Tx2TIH22H69Z4MS#Mx10732S9JNWQMC

Indian Reservations, Poverty, Joblessness, and Why Native Americans Don't Leave

Working on some FAQs for our congregation's website related to our ministry among one of the reservations here in the US, and found some good resources to use.

This first one is a very capitalistic view that manages to ignore the history of broken promises, etc. Still, it does present one part of the problem.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/johnkoppisch/2011/12/13/why-are-indian-reservations-so-poor-a-look-at-the-bottom-1/#3cd59da6337a

Another site goes into more on-the-ground detail on the very real problems so many people on the reservations face every day.

http://www.nrcprograms.org/site/PageServer?pagename=naa_livingconditions

This site deals with some of the specific problems of life off the reservation:

http://nativenews.jour.umt.edu/2014/?page_id=171


A "Better Way" to Political Correctness

Interesting piece here, calling for civility on all sides.

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2016/july-web-only/wrong-way-to-fight-political-correctness.html?utm_source=ctweekly-html&utm_medium=Newsletter&utm_term=13414595&utm_content=453703145&utm_campaign=email

July 24 Thoughts to Ponder

Lives of medical professionals

This is a very thoughtful piece on the kinds of life and death dramas those in medicine see far more than the rest of us:

http://www.desiringgod.org/articles/doctors-live-on-the-brink-of-death

Eric Metaxas

This one is interesting. Byron Borger of all people gave a very positive review of Metaxas's most recent book, but there are lots of criticisms of it. (And I am concerned because Metaxas appears to have gotten a lot of his sourcing from, of all people, David Barton!) A few pertinent posts:

http://religionnews.com/2016/07/13/how-eric-metaxas-manipulates-the-past-to-serve-his-political-agenda/

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/warrenthrockmorton/2016/07/22/eric-metaxas-used-david-bartons-work-to-help-him-write-his-new-book-if-you-can-keep-it/

 The Sabbath and Rest

This was an especially good Our Daily Bread devotional last week, a great reminder for us all to consider whether we are allowing our lives to become too hectic:

http://odb.org/2016/07/22/human-race/

Civil Rights

Just when you think every attrocity of the "old days" has been reported, another episode like this is reported.

http://gpbnews.org/post/girls-leesburg-stockade

Why Don't Schools Teach More Morals and Ethics?

Good question; here is a fascinating discussion of that topic. Actually, "'Teaching character education in schools is actually unavoidable … [E]verything the school chooses to do or not do in terms of curriculum choices' influences the culture of a school and the character of its students, Steve Ellenwood, the director of Boston University’s Center for Character and Social Responsibility (CCSR), wrote in an email."

http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2016/07/students-broken-moral-compasses/492866/?utm_source=atlfb

Time, Scientists, and Philosophy

Here's an article I am going to have to spend a lot more time pondering, but it did raise some fascinating thoughts, such as "if we are in a totally non-directed, Godless place, where did the concept of time even come from?"

The last few lines: "Future events exist, she said, they just don’t exist now. 'The block universe is not a changing picture,' she said.'It’s a picture of change.' Things happen when they happen. 'This is a moment—and I know everybody here is going to hate this—but physics could do with some philosophy,' she said. 'There’s a long history of discussion about the truth-values of future contingent statements—and it really has nothing to do with the experience of time.' And for those who wanted to read more? 'I recommend Aristotle,' she said."

http://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2016/07/the-debate-over-times-place-in-the-universe/492464/?utm_source=atlfb


Note the information here on the effect of social isolation on heat wave death potential:

http://www.citylab.com/navigator/2016/07/how-to-survive-a-heat-wave/493049/?utm_source=SFFB

And, as usual, presidential politics

I have the following four tabs open and waiting for more review and possible commenting:

"Hillary Clinton and Grace" - Certainly not the way I usually think of this word:

http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2016/07/hillary-clinton-and-the-reclamation-of-grace/493400/?utm_source=atlfb

This is an excellent picture of Obama as a human being, at a time when we are seeing so many political "leaders" on all parts of the political spectrum illustrating the opposite character traits:

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/15/opinion/with-obama-the-personal-is-presidential.html?WT.mc_id=2016-JULY-FB-MC8-AUD_DEV-0701-0731&WT.mc_ev=click&ad-keywords=AUDDEVGate&_r=0

A thoughtful article on the two Vice President candidates, both Catholic but with quite different views on, especially, abortion:

http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-catholic-paths-of-pence-and-kaine-1469748243


What does the Democratic party stand for now?
 Interesting question and intriguing answer(s)

https://newrepublic.com/article/135659/democratic-party-stand-now-good-question?utm_source=New+Republic&utm_campaign=23f70cdda3-Daily_Newsletter_7_29_167_29_2016&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c4ad0aba7e-23f70cdda3-59499965


Political Correctness, the "right" way

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2016/july-web-only/wrong-way-to-fight-political-correctness.html


The Zumbro River and DMC

Interesting article from the Star Tribune, one that ignores the flood plane work that was done after heavy flooding in the 60s/70s:

http://m.startribune.com/rochester-s-zumbro-river-in-the-spotlight-as-city-remakes-itself/388754451/?section=local