red

Jenna Barnett 11-16-2021

Photo by Andrew Johnson on Unsplash

Loving him is like
floating the Euphrates toward a dead-end stream:
faster than the wind, passionate as sin,
winding so serpently.

the Web Editors 12-04-2015

1. Pray, Yes. But Then Act.

“We can’t just blame it on the brokenness of the world, pray for peace, and move on, worried that anything more will be seen as politicizing tragedy. What is tragic is that those who have the ability to DO something about this crisis refuse to offer more than simplistic sentiments on Twitter before getting caught in a circular argument about our rights as Americans. It’s time for people of faith to respond.”

2. The 20-Year-Old Ban That Silenced Research on Gun Violence

Because: NRA. “Researchers from federal agencies including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Institute of Health (NIH) have largely been mum on the public health issue of gun violence — not by choice, but because of a 20-year-old congressional ban on federally funded gun violence research.”

3. Emanuel: Chicago City Officials to Release Ronald Johnson Shooting Video

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel said Thursday that the city would release dashcam footage of a Chicago police officer shooting 25-year-old Ronald Johnson III in the back. The shooting happened eight days before officer Jason Van Dyke shot and killed 17-year-old Laquan McDonald.

4. People Think ‘The Wiz Live’ Is Racist. Twitter Says, ‘Huh?’

Actual tweet: "I just learned there is a Black version of 'The Wizard of Oz' called 'The Wiz.' How is this not racist?" Oy.

the Web Editors 9-22-2011

When President Barack Obama laid out his deficit plan Monday, he wasn't just trying to sell a policy. When he pressed for tax hikes on the rich and announced, "This is not class warfare," he was trying to exorcise a demon that has bedeviled the Democratic Party for decades and in the process deprive the Republicans of one of their trustiest weapons. The reaction from the right was swift and sure: "Class warfare!"

Christine Sine 3-14-2011

The earthquake and tsunami in Japan has left many of us reeling, particularly as it came so soon after the earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand. We are overwhelmed by the devastation and the helplessness we all feel to respond. So how do we pray for those who are suffering and for those who have died? It is not easy and anything that we can say seems inadequate. Here is what came to my mind this afternoon as I was praying for the people of Japan and remembered again those in Christchurch, and Libya, Yemen, the Ivory Coast, and the many other places of unrest in our world

Tracey Bianchi 2-23-2011
Lent. It's an odd word, not exactly one that shows up in the vernacular of our everyday.

Jacqueline Klamer 2-22-2011

More than a year after an earthquake stalled the country's economy, some business owners in Haiti have recovered and expanded production faster than expected. "The key word is innovation," says Daniel Jean-Louis, business professor in Port-au-Prince.

To become an undocumented immigrant requires very little but is a result of tremendous social, economic, political, and environmental forces; I offer my story as example.

Sheldon Good 6-25-2010
"How good and pleasant it is when the people of God live together in unity" (Psalm 133:1). Yes, and how ugly it is when we don't.
Becky Garrison 5-21-2010
When I got a press release announcing that Spike Jonze was the executive producer of The Lazarus Effect,
Randy Woodley 1-14-2010

100114-michael-steeleI am writing to educate Michael Steele and those whose understanding of Native Americans are as superficial as his. On January 4th Steele, the leader of the Republican Party, held up his hand in the old Indian parody style of "how," and he accompanied the gesture with the words, "honest Injun."

Ernesto Tinajero 8-24-2009
I remember playing WWII as a boy. We would pick sides of American and Nazis. Of course, everyone wanted be the Americans, the good guys.
Cathleen Falsani 7-31-2009

"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God."

- Jesus in the gospel of St. Matthew

"From man's sweat and God's love, beer came into the world."

- St. Arnold of Metz, patron saint of brewers

Anna Almendrala 6-18-2009
An interview with a man and his children in an Internally Displaced Person (refugee) camp quickly devolves into a father desperately trying to sell his smallest child to the cameraman.
I have never met you but I have to thank you. You are half a world a way but I'm watching you on TV, reading blogs, looking at pictures and following your Twitter updates.
Jarrod McKenna 5-29-2009
"The Bible knows nothing about peace without justice," said that great prophet of joyful restorative justice, Desmond Tutu, when he received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984.

Eugene Cho 11-07-2008
I follow politics, but I don't go crazy. I'm not the kind of person who wears buttons, puts bumper stickers on their cars, and signs on their home lawns.