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Category Archives: The Long Story
Every Day Committed
One of my favorite Wendell Berry quotes comes from his “Notes from an Absence and a Return,” which can be found in A Continuous Harmony. The short journal recounts Berry’s thoughts and experiences of returning to his Kentucky farm … Continue reading
Temporary Vocational Stretch Update
The 2016-2017 winds down this week. It doesn’t quite feel like it, though. Instead, things are kind of heating up. These last few weeks of the semester have been a blur. Lots of cool moments: baccalaureate, the yearbook dedication (what?!), … Continue reading
Posted in 2017, Faith, The Long Story
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“Libraries in the Kingdom”
Jamie Smith, author of You Are What You Love, started his summer vacation with a brief reflection on the books that have been piling up in his office . . . and life. The post, which you can read here, … Continue reading
Posted in Books, The Long Story
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Like Leaving the Piano in Ohio
Douglas Coupland prefaces Bit Rot, his most recent collection of essays and stories, with this: When the pioneers crossed North America from east to west, the first thing to be thrown off the family Conestoga wagon was the piano, somewhere … Continue reading
Posted in 2017, Books, The Long Story
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Temporary Vocational Stretch
Because of changes and restructuring at work, I’ll be taking a temporary vocational stretch in the fall. The conversation has been mostly in-house at this point, which is fine by me. It will require me to work on some of … Continue reading
Posted in Teaching, The Long Story
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A Song of Lament and Praise
What a last couple of weeks it has been! The highs and lows of life can be so tightly woven together that they bleed together in weird and subtle ways, where every praise is also a prayer request. Here’s a … Continue reading
Posted in Faith, Music, The Long Story
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Checking the Settings
Yesterday Michael Dougherty of The Week tweeted what I am assuming is his version of a “new year’s resolution,” and I like it a lot. Process setting. System setting. Ritual setting. Not goal setting. Don’t get me wrong. I have … Continue reading
Posted in Internet, The Long Story
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Pilgrim Days: A Hospitable World
Before he gets into a discussion of the ways contemporary culture has re-defined the identity of the pilgrim, Bauman casts one last picture of the kind of world necessary for a “classical” pilgrimage to take place. “Both life and and … Continue reading
Posted in Faith, Internet, Teaching, The Long Story, Travel
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Pilgrim Days: The Desert and the Real
In “From Pilgrim to Tourist,” Zygmut Bauman traces a line from the Christian concept of the pilgrim to the contemporary scheme of self-definition. That line gets traced (metaphorically and historically) right through the desert. ‘We are pilgrims through time’ was, … Continue reading
Posted in Faith, The Long Story
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Pilgrim Days: Changes in Identification
A few weeks ago, Rod Dreher spent a post reflecting on “From Pilgrim to Tourist- or a Short History of Identity” by Zygmunt Bauman as part of his continuing articulation of “the Benedict Option.” A made a copy of the … Continue reading
Space Enough, and Time 