Interrelativity

Category: Religion

  • NPR Freeloading Considered

    It's pledge week at both of our local National Public Radio affiliate stations: KPLU and KUOW. I've been growing increasingly angry about the interruptions in news programming required to raise money to support the stations: every "pledge break" means one less news story I get to hear. I understand – and support – this practice,…

  • Augurs of hope, past & present: MLK, Milk, Obama & all of us’s

    Last week, on Martin Luther King Day, Amy and I watched the film, Milk, about Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California (back in 1978). When we got to the Egyptian Theatre, Amy asked for two tickets to see "M-I-L-K", spelling out Milk's name. We laughed about…

  • Ignorance, Incendiaries, Ironies and Inspiration

    I’ve been growing increasingly appalled by some of the ignorant and incendiary statements made by Republican John McCain‘s presidential campaign and its supporters. Ironically, one of the McCain campaign’s political advertisements that appears to have had the most incendiary effect on evangelical supporters, “The One”, is one that I find, personally, to be positively inspiring.…

  • Consistency, Change and Conventions

    Between the Democratic National Convention and the Republican National Convention, and their coverage on PBS (especially the Lehrer NewsHour), I’ve probably watched more TV in the past two weeks than I have in the past two years. It seems that change is very much in the air – or, at least, on the air –…

  • Satirization or Assassination?

    The New Yorker published its July 21 edition this week, with a cartoon on the cover depicting U.S. Senator and presidential candidate Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, in a way that reflects some of the worst fears of what I suspect is a nontrivial percentage of the electorate. On the cover, shown on the…

  • Religion, Politics, Racism and Invisibility: Obama and Wright vs. McCain and Hagee

    Robb’s comment on my post about the Capitol Steps show in Seattle got me thinking – and writing – [again] about some of the religious and racial issues in the U.S. presidential race. I started to write a comment in response to Robb’s comment, but as it grew longer and longer, I decided to move…

  • CharmingBurka: Bridging Gaps and Lifting Veils via Bluetooth

    I visited BoingBoing – one of my favorite blogs – for the first time in [too long] a while, and, as usual, encountered a post of great interest and intrigue: CharmingBurka: CharmingBurka A project by Markus Kison. Synopsis The CharmingBurka sends a self-defined picture of the wearing person to every mobile phone next to it.…

  • Celebrating the Future Within … Everyone?

    Amy and I attended the Jubilee Women’s Center‘s 10th Annual Benefit Breakfast on Wednesday, which had the inspiring title "Celebrating the Future Within" … and a correspondingly inspiring program that included several women recounting their challenges, and now the Jubilee Women’s Center helped them rise to meet those challenges. Our good friend, Mary, is on…

  • Blessed Unrest: Environmental and Social Justice for All … or Bust!

    In his latest book (and video), environmentalist, entrepreneur, journalist, and author Paul Hawken achieves a remarkable balance between breadth and depth in arguing that in order to restore environmental and social balance on this earth, we must strive for both, or we will achieve neither. Noting that "we are nature", and thus however we treat…

  • The Twelve Steps for Technology-Centered Designers

    A friend and I were recently discussing the prevalence of technocentric design and thinking in many of the world’s leading technology research and development centers, both in industry and academia.  During the course of the conversation, in which we recounted people, places and projects that seemed to reflect an approach that might be characterized as…