1. A fascinating piece over at NY Times titled “Time To Review Work Reviews?” Filled to the brim, as one might imagine, with Law-related gems (ht SZ).
Annual reviews not only create a high level of stress for workers, [Dr. Samuel Culbert, clinical psychologist and author of the new Get Rid Of The Performance Review!] argues, but end up making everybody — bosses and subordinates — less effective at their jobs.
Mark Shahriary, president and chief executive of Lucix Corporation in Camarillo, Calif., said he stopped doing performance reviews after witnessing the emotional havoc they created for workers at his previous job. “People confuse the review with who they are,” he told me. “If they get a review saying, ‘You’re not effective at work,’ they would hear, ‘You’re not effective as a person.’ ”
It’s hard not to think of David Brent here… Perhaps we should send Dr. Culbert a copy of Judgment and Love?!
2. Our very own Aaron Zimmerman has a great book review up over at Christianity Today, “Cross-Cultural Manners.” Bravo, AZ! Mockingbird even gets some love… Check out his humdinger of a conclusion:
“Only an understanding of God’s grace can make American Christians—with their money, status, and power—able to humbly approach a Ugandan (or Chinese or Ukrainian or Peruvian) pastor with a willingness to listen and learn. Grace is what breaks Western habits of paternalism and colonialism. And God’s grace is what will ultimately bring people of every nation together in the worship of Jesus Christ.”
3. The genius of the internet strikes again with the Godzilla Haiku blog (ht LM). A few noteworthy examples:
Though I smile at you
Godzilla returns
4. Worthy article over from Andrew Pessin at The Huffington Post, “A Room Without Rants: Where Reasonable Atheists And Theists Meet”. Believe it or not, the room is not virtual… And speaking of reasonable Atheists, here’s sad piece about Christopher Hitchens’ relationship with his (estranged) church-going brother.
5. Over at psyblog there are a couple of particularly relevant recent entries: “Procrastinate Less By Forgiving Yourself” and “The Trust Gap: Why People Are So Cynical”.
6. New Arcade Fire single on the horizon!
7. “That Bright, Dying Star, the American WASP” uses Elena Kagan’s nomination to the Supreme Court as an occasion to chronicle the decline of Protestants in US public life. Beyond the obvious and debatable social-class implications, I was surprised that they actually took the religious factors into consideration:
“The fact that we’re going to zero Protestants in the [supreme] court may not be as significant as the fact that her appointment perfectly reflects the decline of the Establishment, or the WASP Establishment, in America,” said David Campbell, associate professor of political science at the University of Notre Dame.
“Many also point to the shifting dynamics of the faith itself, with mainline Protestantism giving way to the more fire-and-brimstone brands of Evangelicals in recent decades. The Episcopal Church, usually seen as the church of the Establishment, has seen some of the most pronounced declines in recent years.”
8. Meanwhile, over at the half-obnoxious, half-hilarious site for the new book Hipster Christianity, one of the questions in the “quiz” section hits absurdly close to home (ht TSW):
9. Finally, an interactive/electronic version of our brand-new newsletter. Please read and forward.
COMMENTS
4 responses to “Another Week Ends: Perfomance Reviews, Zimmermania, Godzilla, Reasonability, WASPs, Hipster Xianity, Arcade Fire”
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More great weekend reading from Mockingbird. Thanks! If anyone's interested, it seems that the Brothers Hitch have recently made some semblance of peace…. or had as of March, anyway. (That story you posted is from 2007.) This is an excerpt from Peter's new book; It talks about his own conversion and his relationship with his brother… and includes lots of great old photographs! I found it rather moving…
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1255983/How-I-God-peace-atheist-brother-PETER-HITCHENS-traces-journey-Christianity.html
RE 8: Fascinating. While I do not hold to Mariology, am not a Papist (but am a *c*atholic), and confess the proper understanding of the Eucharist as the Biblical Gospel itself, I can't help but wonder at the sad ignorance (intentional humor) of the lack of actual reason most protestants are not papists: ie the POPE. XD
I mean, I like Benedict, more or less…but it's this whole "vicar of Christ" and "eat from my table where my priests re-present Christ sacrificially as supererogation for your sins" thing that really keeps me on this side of the Tiber.
Highlarious.
Zimmermania has become a state of mind.
It conjures up wit, vineyards, humility, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and a truly dear spirit/s.