We have reached halftime in the holiday season sprint from Halloween to Christmas: Thanksgiving. The least commercialized of all American holidays, Thanksgiving stands apart as a holiday focused not on gift-giving or material consumption, but on gratitude. Problematic history aside, Thanksgiving presents an opportunity to gather with family and friends and reflect on all the […]
Many Good Things Start With a Grave
It seems like just about everyone I know right now is either grieving, infertile, or both. As a country and a global community, we’ve also had a lot of bad news. Our hurricanes are getting worse. There’s abuse. Addiction. “Politics” (I’ll let you unpack that one, reader). There’s prejudice. International affairs. Extramarital affairs. A TV […]
The Nike Swoo(p)
Can I just go right there? It’s okay if you disagree with me, it’s an opinion. The Star Spangled Banner is a crappy song. How many times have we watched talented singers anywhere from the Super Bowl to 8-year-old Pop Warner football go a capella and try to knock this ridiculous tune out of the […]
The Jeffersonian Ideal and the Unexpected Solution to Racism
As you may know, Mockingbird HQ is situated here in happy, wealthy, intellectual, pastoral Charlottesville, Virginia. When I moved to Charlottesville for college almost 15 years ago, it was considered “America’s Happiest City” and one of the best places in America to raise a family. It still is. For this reason, and others, there is a […]
Across the Great Divide – David Zahl
The final plenary from NYC in which we broach that topic and lose our sense of smell. Also, ABBA meets the King.
Across the Great Divide – David Zahl from Mockingbird on Vimeo.
Of Cubs and Humans and Good Thieves
Wrigley Field is one of America’s sacred spaces. Even if one prefers a different team, no morally serious person dislikes the Cubs, and thousands of Americans every year take pilgrimages to The Friendly Confines. That’s partly why stealing a ball intended for a child at Wrigley produces such outrage. For a lot of Americans, it’s […]
We Are All One Bad Day from Derailing a City Zoning Meeting
Meet Lisa. She just moved here. Nobody is helping her, and she has had enough of that. Btw, this was at a zoning meeting for Portillos in Davenport, Iowa. pic.twitter.com/9yYbvcZyr8 — Collin Strajack (@collinstrajack) July 10, 2018 Her “testimony,” for lack of a better term, is misguided at best. She is getting a divorce, but […]
The Great American Search for Happiness
With the Land of the Free in mind — and the inevitable FOMO that comes with the summer holidays — we’ve pulled this one from our archives. A collaboration of Ethan Richardson and David Zahl: In her article “America the Anxious” Ruth Whippman provides a Brit’s perspective on happiness, or at least, the American fixation on […]
Opening Our Hearts: Daryl Davis and Reconciliation
Last week’s lectionary reading from Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians couldn’t help but remind me of Daryl Davis’ stunning talk at last year’s DC Conference. Davis, who lives right up the road from me in Silver Spring, Maryland, is a gifted rock-and-roll pianist who has played with the likes of Little Richard and Chuck […]
The Best of Us, “The Americans,” Might Be Russian…
What’s more important? Figuring out who we serve? Or figuring out whose we are? True confession: I’m not moved much to action or opinion regarding our current political landscape. (This is not a political post; for that to be so, it would presuppose that I much care.) Mid-term primaries in our troubled times don’t interest […]
Violence & Faith
LeBron and Curry are crushing the NBA Finals. The never-anything Washington Capitals and never-before Las Vegas Golden Knights are a Dream Fantasy of Stanley Cup legendizing. Even baseball has some sex appeal amid a Yanks/Sox Genetic Superiority Grudge Match. But if you are a sports monogamist like me, and you love football, this is the lamest […]
Let Us Now Praise Lebron James
It is difficult to imagine now, but there was a time when he could not be counted on when it mattered. Vividly I remember June 2011, when my Mavericks were made the agent of God’s moral retribution, which he spares us in life but applies in the world of sport. Those Mavericks pre-figured many of […]
