yes we can

I've been out of the loop for a bit—a long story I'll try to tell as soon as Kara Powell and I deliver the updates and revisions for a new edition of our sexuality curriculum, Good Sex, for Youth Specialties.

But I did find time tonight to listen, and nod my head, to the words of Barack Obama in South Carolina. He's talking about an American ideal I remember; an American ideal I want to help reclaim and burnish to a bright and shining state. I choose to ignore the weary and cynical who say it can't be done. I say it can and must be done—and we must do it.

Burn the 18 minutes it takes to watch this speech. And don't tell me you don't want this too.

us + them | Emo Philips

Once I saw this guy on a bridge about to jump. I said, "Don't
do it!" He said, "Nobody loves me." I said, "God loves you. Do
you believe in God?"

He said, "Yes." I said, "Are you a Christian or a Jew?" He said,
"A Christian." I said, "Me, too! Protestant or Catholic?" He
said, "Protestant." I said, "Me, too! What franchise?" He said,
"Baptist." I said, "Me, too! Northern Baptist or Southern
Baptist?" He said, "Northern Baptist." I said, "Me, too!

Northern Conservative Baptist or Northern Liberal Baptist?"
He said, "Northern Conservative Baptist." I said, "Me, too!

Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region, or Northern
Conservative Baptist Eastern Region?" He said, "Northern
Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region." I said, "Me, too!"

Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of
1879, or Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region
Council of 1912?"

He said, "Northern Conservative Baptist
Great Lakes Region Council of 1912." I said, "Die, heretic!" And
I pushed him over.

— Emo Philips, The Guardian 29 September, 2005

a story without love | Hugh McLeod

at the closing of the year

• Susan + I celebrated Christmas and our 35th anniversary at Disneyland
• Rich Van Pelt + I have a new book: The Parent's Guide to Helping Teenagers in Crisis
• I'm on my way to Ethiopia + Tanzania to shoot a digital movie about malaria interventions for Compassion + Youth Specialties
• There is precious little peace on earth but we're chipping away at it
• The future is already here, it's just not evenly distributed yet (Wm. Gibson)
• I am dazzled by the beauty and horror of it all

Here's hoping...

don't rearrange the deck chairs...

speechless

Advent | Christmas + people who claim to know something about God

Without the Nativity, we become a sort of lecture series and coffee club, with not very good coffee and sort of aimless lectures.

— Garrison Keillor, Salon, 12.05.07

24 | present day

Jack Bauer can save the world from anywhere



Now that we know he noshes from time to time, is this the day Bauer takes a potty break?

The Lazarus Effect

things worth waiting for

This is a metaphor (among many, I suppose) for my spiritual experience, courtesy of the good folks at... well, you'll see.

24 | The Prequel

What if 24 first aired in 1994 . . .

on the record

Here's the ad The One Campaign is running in Iowa (and here are the ads for New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada) asking every presidential candidate to go on the record with his or her plan to make poverty history. 

What if we all put ourselves in this picture?