epitaph: they went for this...political bullshit about narratives



although peggy noonan's comment was in response to the palin selection, the same could be said about joe the plumber. you'd think that mccain would have discarded this poorly researched, dang near catastrophic illustration by now. but no, he's still prattling on about the unlicensed, tax dodging, duplicitous plumber.

for such a smart man, mccain sure is running a stupid campaign.

set aside your anxiety by serving others

i'm starting to suspect that during this season of economic distress the best way to fight anxiety is to serve others.

one concrete way you can serve during this season is by dedicating a small portion of your food budget to a local food pantry. beverly bootstraps, our local food pantry, has seen demand increase exponentially over the past couple of months. bootstraps receives tons of community donations, but the volume of donations has not kept pace with local need. check out the figures below:

from january to june 2007 bootstraps purchased $7,339 worth of extra food in order to meet local demand.

from january to june 2008 bootstraps had to purchase $19,647 worth of extra food in order to meet local demand.

i suspect that 95% of you can dedicate at least $10 of your food budget to purchasing bread, cereal and non-perishable goods to your local food pantry. please don't miss this opportunity to fight anxiety by serving your neighbors.

mid-morning time waster

palin as president.

be sure to click on everything.

plagiarize this

at last night's cohort meeting we welcomed a pastor and first time attender named jeff. at some point in the evening he mentioned that during last sunday's sermon he told the congregation to take a moment and take a good, long look at the people around them because:

"the people you see are your social security. in times of economic hardship and strife our real dependence is not upon the government, but upon each other."

that really struck a cord with me. what a creative way to challenge people to set aside their fear in order to trust God and one another.

Hijacked by Pixie

Last night it was suggested by a friend that Jeff bore a close enough resemblance to Matisyahu to shed his monk's robes and don a beard for Halloween.





What do you think?

overheard

today's slate has an interesting article that explores signs of revitalization in catholic religious life. it's good to hear of new communities such as the clear creek monastery that are able to do more than geriatric care.

in related news, this weekend as i donned a pre-fab habit in order to call, entice and cajole people to attend death by chocolate i couldn't help but realize that i have become something i once denounced. namely, someone who embroiders his internal life on his sleeve.

i cannot tell you how many times i have ridiculed goths and punks for expressing their protest through costly fashion trends. now i eagerly wrap myself in the garb i would have liked to have lived, if marital privileges and mlb all access had been included with the bargain.

i hope that one of these days i can find a form of condemnation that does lead to retribution.

awesome*

david plotz muses on hollywood apocalyptic, n.r.a. overcompensation and the identity of latter day wolverines!

if red dawn plagued your dreams as a child or you just can't get enough of c. thomas howell chugging blood, be sure to check out today's slate.



* rick bennett also supports this message.

so this weekend

i had the privilege of co-leading an event called "death by chocolate" at the salem gathering.

simply stated, the event gave people the opportunity to taste delicious, fair-trade chocolate and introduced our guests to the story of chaga, a young boy who was enslaved on the cocoa fields of the ivory coast.

after devouring the chocolate and listening to chaga's story, guests were offered information about the current slavery epidemic (studies suggest that 15% of cocoa field workers are child slaves and a terrifying large proportion of young girls engaged in the sex trade are enslaved as well) and were offered suggested steps for further action.

over 400 people attended the event and we're hoping it inspired a couple of dozen to start buying free trade products and incited a future abolitionist or two as well.

all and all, it was an amazing weekend! many thanks to anita coco and the not-for-sale boston crew for making this weekend happen. thank you for inviting me along for the ride!