1. We’ll begin this week’s round-up with the story of Keisha Yearby, a second-grade teacher who has taken to Facebook Live to read to her students at bedtime. The Washington Post reports that on Tuesday evenings a new episode airs of “Ms. Yearby’s Reading Adventures,” during which she reads, asks viewers thoughtful questions, and brings […]
This is not a comprehensive list of all the best films that came out in 2019 but rather a summary of several films that I enjoyed, or that impacted me, last year. There are so many titles missing from this review that either I didn’t have the chance to view or didn’t have time to […]
“Oh. It goes so fast. We don’t have time to look at one another. I didn’t realize. Good-by to clocks ticking…and Mama’s sunflowers. And food and coffee. And new-ironed dresses, and hot baths…and sleeping and waking up. Oh, earth, you’re too wonderful for anybody to realize you.” – Emily Webb from Our Town These days […]
We live in a divided world. The latest convention is almost always a catalyst for taking sides. Android versus iPhone. Taylor Swift verse Beyoncé. LeBron versus Jordan. The Last Jedi versus all the other Star Wars. Liberal versus conservative. Humanity’s thirst to belong thrives across industrial realms. And it’s this quest for belonging that has […]
On this mountain he will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations; The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove his people’s disgrace from all the earth… – Isaiah 25:7-8 No one’s ever really gone – Luke Skywalker On Christmas Eve, my Dad slipped into a […]
It took just three days to plow through the six episodes of Netflix’s latest docuseries Cheer, but it was well worth it. I’m not a cheerleading expert, or even a casual fan, but my initial skepticism was quickly won over by the show’s tear-jerking storytelling. Don’t get me wrong, the flips are as amazing to […]
All too often have I heard — and thought myself — that from a Christian perspective suffering is the doorway to new life and to freedom, even that suffering is good. Even that it is beautiful. Yet as Kate Bowler and others have so eloquently pointed out, this concept seems misguided at best — though […]
Grateful for this anonymous piece: I became an orphan 37 years ago, somewhere in South Korea. I can’t be more specific — I don’t know when I was left, who left me, or even where. My orphanage paperwork only says that sometime that summer, “By request of [the police], we intook the child to be […]
“Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don’t be afraid.” – Frederick Buechner Warning: extremely first world problems dissected ahead. Sydney is burning. And I don’t like my house. These problems are not equal, but they are both real. The rest of the world has finally caught on to what people in […]
It was the whatever-eth anniversary of Elvis’s death. I was a kid, the nightly news was on in the background. The reporter was asking the people in line, who were paying their respects at/to Graceland, if they believed The King was still alive. I distinctly remember one woman saying she had attended Elvis’s funeral, and […]
The following comes to us from Alan Jacobs. There are many things you could say about Pope Pius XIII, AKA Lenny Belardo. You could say that is he a saint. You could say that he is a con artist. You could say that he is a man of great humility, who wants to become “the […]
A belated Merry Christmas and Happy New Year as the Mockingbird world returns to its regular posting schedule. Lots of great articles came out over the holiday and they’re worth highlighting even if they aren’t timely on January 10. Stay tuned for new podcasts, new magazines, and new posts that are on the way! 1. […]
