We got to see Mavis Staples (whom I wrote about not long ago) and the Blind Boys of Alabama last night. Wait – there’s more. Yesterday morning, I got an email from the Duke ticket office saying we could come early and hear Mavis in conversation with Tim Tyson, who is a visiting professor at…

I don’t remember where I got the idea. What I do remember is it wasn’t original to me. I handed out Post-It® notes to the twenty or so young people gathered in the large room of our retreat cabin and told them to rename the items they saw in the room. I led by example,…

When I began working at the restaurant at Duke, my traveling companion was Ramon, a wonderful guy from Mexico who was interested in doing more in the kitchen than just washing dishes. He’s a good guy, he works hard, his English is limited, and he really wants to learn. In order for the place to…

One of my least favorite things is to enter a theater after the movie has begun. I don’t just like to be there for the start of the film, I like to be seated and settled for the previews and even some of the ads that flash by while the projectionist is killing time. I…

When Ginger started her Transfiguration sermon this morning by talking about those who are attracted to the more mystical elements of our faith and those who steer towards the more practical, I thought about Bob Wiley’s words in the movie What About Bob? when his psychiatrist asked him why he got divorced: “Well, there are…

I first saw the phrasein the title of her note;I’d never thought of it.I’m sure it’s old newsin Toronto and Albertawhere they’ve movedbeyond poker-playingdogs to a world wheremice come out checking,skating, slap-shotting,even riding the littleZamboni, while rodentfans toss back a couplebeers between periods. Now I’m wide awake,during dreaming hours,playing this thing outin my mind as…

Say it loud: I’m white and male and not very proud. And it’s all thanks to two NPR stories. The first came as I was driving to work. WUNC, our local station hosts a program called The State of Things. Frank Stasio’s topic today was “Hillary and Obama.” I came in on the middle of…

After what I saw of the State of the Union address last night, I couldn’t help but think of Steve Earle’s “Christmas in Washington,” which he wrote in the late nineties. Ten years later, the parties’ names are interchangeable. When Steve introduces the song, he often says, “This is a song about heroes.” It’s Christmastime…

What’s the point of pain? That’s the question that ran through my mind last night as I drove home from work. When I wrote about remembering a few posts back, one of the lines from the clip of Jerry Orbach singing, “Try to Remember” was deep in december it’s nice to rememberwithout a hurt the…

I intended to write more this evening, but instead I got to paint. My friend Doug is in town and he is an artist. I asked for a painting lesson, so tonight we sat down in the dining room and he constructed a still life centered around a ceramic Winnie the Pooh I have (at…