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"

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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 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