When I was a youngster growing up in rural Minnesota and Iowa, the daughter of a Lutheran minister, Martin Luther King Jr. played a compelling role in my father’s ministry and social justice sensibility. But as a child, I didn’t … Continue reading Martin Luther King Jr, The Preacher
A typical retaliation against social justice reform appears with a far-right’s classic, knee-jerk reaction crying “socialism!” or “communist!”. Anything on God’s Green American Earth resembling team sports… eh hem… I mean unions, produces a far-right response with their tired ‘Red … Continue reading Before You Can Say ‘Belonging’ in DEIB…
I’ve been spending time with Archibald MacLeish’s poem Land of the Free. Written in 1937, MacLeish describes this work as a “book of photographs illustrated by a poem”. Every phrase of verse has been isolated and anchored by MacLeish to … Continue reading Land of the Free?
“Let us have the courage of our admitted ignorance, of our doubts and uncertainties. At least we can try to discover what others… require, by… making it possible for ourselves to know men as they truly are, by listening to … Continue reading On Pluralism
I was raised in a Norwegian Lutheran tradition in the rural Midwest. The “Kýrie” is an important prayer in Christian liturgy. Like a prairie fire, Kýrie disrupts and awakens. With song like a prairie, Kýrie is a call for healing … Continue reading Kýrie
July 4, 1863. Ulysses S. Grant crowned a 47-day battle at Vicksburg, Mississippi with the surrender of tens-of-thousands of confederates. It dealt the enemy a punishing blow from which the Southern slavers and aristocracy would fail to recover. There were … Continue reading Hotter Than July in Vicksburg, Mississippi. 1863.
Three-Fifths 