Okay so there's a really great article that you have to read. Yes, you. In fact, everyone. It was recommended to me by a friend from my college church.Candidates for British universities have been caught red-handed copying their applications from the Internet after hundreds mentioned "burning a hole in pajamas at age eight" on their online entrance forms. The phrase, taken from a Web site which provides examples of personal statements used by successful candidates, describes an early encounter with a chemistry set.
I haven't said much recently about what I've been reading lately, but earlier this week I finished a lesser known blog-worthy book. Edward Gilbreath's Reconciliation Blues: A Black Evangelical's Inside View of White Christianity isn't the type of book I'd normally tear off the shelf and breeze through in a day and a half but I found myself riveted by the no-nonsense semi-biographical analysis of race relations in the modern Christian church. Gilbreath, a writer for the magazine Christianity Today, takes historical, political and even skeptical approaches to the subject of racial reconciliation. He finds a great strength in including Latino, Asian and Native American voices in his book and avoids the problem of limiting his discussion to - quite literally - black and white issues. I checked this book out of the New Release section at my local library but I find myself hunting for it at nearby bookstores so that I can have my own copy to highlight, underline and (as soon as possible) share with others. I can't say I'd recommend this book to everyone simply because I don't know that it's the kind of topic many people are truly ready for but it should be a must read for anyone attempting to answer the questions of "Do we need multicultural churches?"; "Are multicultural churches possible?" and "How do you make multicultural churches work?".
"I will say this about the Illini: I'm appalled they would display something this offensive for so long—and I'm talking about the football and basketball teams."
- Chicago Tribune Red Eye Columnist Whizzer
perfectly to the color of a standard lab bench. Needless to say the stray grain of it inevitably winds up where it is least expected - usually on the hands of the unsuspecting lab tech who removed her gloves after what she thought was a thorough cleaning of the counters. And really, is there anything more complementary to a long hard day at work than leaving the office with palms and fingers the color of blueberries? I seriously looked like I'd been running around all day squashing Smurfs with my bare hands. If I had the black robe and malicious kitty I could've done a great Gargamel impression because certainly my annoyance at the incident brought out a long suppressed evil Smurf-killing countenance that I didn't even know I had in me. After a dozen washings (and Smurf curses muttered under my breath) my hands had only faded to a dark cerulean shade and two days later, two days of excessive hand-washing later, my skin was still resembling a speckled robin's egg. And truthfully, if that was the worst of it, I could cope. But as it turns out as I got to work today - on the verge of regaining my normal-for-me bleached chalk skin tone - Bromo-Blue Buffer was back on my to-do list. Regardless of caution - double gloves, paper towels, triple cleanings - I once again am the not-so-proud bearer of six out of ten blue fingers. I'll get you Papa Smurf if it's the last thing I do!
So the University of Illinois (my esteemed alma mater!) has officially retired Chief Illiniwek. You can read all about it in the Tribune or at U of I's official statement website. Personally I think the whole thing fizzling out seems like something of a joke. [Not that any part of the issue can be more of a joke than 2002's infamous Plummer report stating "the Board of Trustees has but two alternatives – retain the Chief or retire him." Uhhh... no shit, Sherlock!] However in light of the upcoming last dance, those that support the Chief get no type of honorable retirement for their "beloved tradition" and those that see him as nothing more than a point of contention lack the apology and denunciation of labelling him a "racist mascot". Perhaps this is the only way to achieve a compromise in which case I will concede that it is, in all ways, for the best. But when I look at the efforts of those that have argued the dilemma for the past decade or more, it seems quite the anticlimactic end to things. What has long been painted as a war between alumni dollars and Native American interests has come down to no more than the simple matter of hosting post season sports.
"I suppose it went unnoticed because there were nuts in the chocolate and it was hard to tell the difference,"- Police spokesman from Mainz, Germany
on the finding of a fingertip in a chocolate treat
"You must be going through a difficult time. If so, I will not blame you,"
"Keep the [money] if you really need it, but please return the other things to me. You are still young. To err is human. Correcting your mistakes is more important than anything"
"I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells. Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living, it's a way of looking at life through the wrong end of a telescope. Which is what I do, And that enables you to laugh at life's realities."
- Dr. Seuss
