Posts By This Author

Spirited Leisure

by Jeff Shriver 03-01-1997

I WANT TO congratulate Jim Rice on a fine article on the spirituality of leisure ("Why Play?" January-February 1997).

A Stubborn Hope

by Jeff Shriver 01-01-1997
Poverty is now the enemy as Nicaraguans battle on.

Gen X and the Future of the Church

Our faith has to be alive and light fires within our confused and fragile hearts or it is as meaningless as yesterday’s E-mail.

For Love of Creation

by Jeff Shriver 09-01-1994
One congregation's environmental program.

Opposites Attract

by Jeff Shriver 08-01-1994
The blended beauty of Indigo Girls

Swamp Ophelia is a plant; it’s an actual plant," explains Indigo Girl Emily Saliers about the band’s newest release, Swamp Ophelia. "I was walking through a nature preserve and I saw this plant," Amy Ray adds. "When you think of Hamlet, Ophelia, and swamp, it all mixes together. We thought it sounded cool."

Swamp Ophelia is mellow, comforting, and soulful. Compared with past Indigo albums, it’s less angry, at times more abstract, and mixed with a myriad of instruments. But the strong suit on this record is, again, Amy and Emily’s raw, righteous blend of acoustic guitar and angelic harmony mixed with lyrics that pack a punch.

The album in general feels like a respite for listeners who take a daily dose of the world’s pain and need some breathing space. The lyrics and melody are served up with the cognition of grief in society, but with a personal message of reassurance and hope offered outright. Rather than stirring angry emotions about what’s wrong with the world and issuing a call to activism, this new album triggers a reflection on how life can be a beautiful blessing.

One cut on the album, "The Wood Song," has a radical and, in my interpretation, explicitly Christ-ian message of costly discipleship. It refers to Noah’s ark, its difficult journey, and at times the frailty of the vessel: "The wood is tired, and the wood is old and we’ll make it fine if the weather holds, but if the weather holds, then we’ll have missed the point, that’s where I need to go." The song announces a faith in God, "No way construction of this tricky plan was built by other than a greater hand" and the need to sift through life’s suffering to reach "the prize at the other side."

Border Patrol: Organizing for Justice in Maquiladoras

by Jeff Shriver 07-01-1994

Tijuana. Nogales. Matamoros. Ciudad Juárez. Nuevo Laredo. What comes to mind when you hear these names of U.S.-Mexico border towns?

A Fragile Culture

by Jeff Shriver 05-01-1994

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A Faith to Move Mountains

by Jeff Shriver 05-01-1994
Shaking the foundations of power in Mexico.

"Saving" the Planet

by Jeff Shriver 11-01-1993

Tony Campolo's evangelical environmentalism.

A Vocation of Resistance

by Joe Nangle, by Jeff Shriver 06-01-1993

An interview with Ricardo Falla, SJ

Community in 'The Holy Jungle'

by Jeff Shriver 06-01-1993

Guatemala's internal refugees

The Immaculate Deception

by Jeff Shriver 01-01-1993

Americans venturing onto foreign shores