At the soup kitchen where I accidentally volunteered for a couple of years, the following exchange happened more than once. Observing the guests at plastic fold-up tables, a volunteer would whisper what we’d all at some point wondered. “How do they afford it? Who pays for these phones?” Ostensibly low-income, possibly homeless, the guests were […]
The Science of Miracles
This one comes to us from Tim Burbery. Passover is upon us, providing a superb opportunity for reflecting on the original event as well as the miracle of the Exodus. A number of scientific theories have attempted to explain how the plagues and the Red Sea crossing could be accounted for by natural causes, and […]
Why Microsoft's Super Bowl Ad Won't Leave Me Alone
This one comes to us from Ed Uszynski. It will be pretty easy to forget Super Bowl LIII, its halftime show, and its commercials, as none of the three produced much inescapably memorable drama. But the Microsoft ad touting its XBox Adaptive Controller is proving surprisingly harder to shake simply because I moved from initially hating it […]
The Art of Subtlety in Faith (and Doubt): Our Interview with Meghan O'Gieblyn
Our first peek into the Faith & Doubt Issue is this interview with Meghan O’Gieblyn, author of the new book of essays, Interior States. We also were lucky enough to republish parts of her essay, originally published in The Point, “The Insane Idea.” Copies of Faith & Doubt can be gotten here, and here. If […]
New Parties for the Age of Social Media
Who actually flies to Vegas for a bachelor party? I’m not being mean or judgmental here. I really want to know. Who has that kind of money to spend on a friend? I mean, if you’re living in LA and Vegas is only 4 car hours away, make like The Hangover and have a good (and […]
The Straight Road Out of a Buried World
November 11 came and went as unexceptionally as any Sunday ever does, a day living under the permanent shadow of Monday, almost exclusively spent hoping against hope to recuperate before the work week resumes. Most Sundays, however, don’t mark one hundred years since the armistice that halted the First World War and gave the day […]
To Dissolve the Line Between Man and Machine: Reflections on Cyberpunk and Suffering in the Meatspace
“The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel” (Neuromancer, pg. 3) If I self-reflect on how geeky my hobbies are, I’m nothing if not consistent. For the past year or so, some friends and I have been meeting in a basement after work and playing a fantastic Dungeons […]
The Mockingapp Has Landed!
The day we’ve all been waiting for has arrived: The Mockingapp is now available–for FREE–in the iTunes store! It was a mammoth undertaking but we think you’ll agree that it was worth the wait. The app brings together several strands of our work and puts them at your fingertips. Features include:
The Mockingbird Blog, optimized for mobile reading, searchable and sortable by category, fully redesigned by magazine designer Tom Martin.- The entire 365-day Mockingbird Devotional, easy to share with customizable reminders.
- Every episode of Mockingbird’s various podcasts (The Mockingcast, The Mockingpulpit, PZ’s Podcast, Talkingbird, Same Old Song), available to stream as well as download for offline listening.
That’s just the tip of the iceberg. If you dig, please be sure to give us a review and tell your friends! We’re really proud of this thing. Major, major thanks goes to Alex R and Jonathan W for making us look far more legit than we actually are.
Get the App here, or by searching the App Store for “The Mockingapp.”
Note: as of right now, the Mockingapp is only available for iOSx devices, a decision made based solely on where the vast majority of our web traffic comes from. BUT we value our android readers, big-time, and hope to develop a version that works for them soon–pray that software would emerge that could translate apps across platforms!
A Better Promise Than a Better You
The fall season has finally come and you know what that means? Football. Pumpkin spice everything. Apple keynotes. A few weeks ago, Apple, Inc. CEO Tim Cook took the stage to show off the latest generation of wearables and handhelds from the minimalistic tech company. This year’s crop of devices featured slightly upgraded internals with […]
Microplastics and Macrograce
This one comes to us from Amanda McMillen. I come from a family of Greek women that collect seashells. On every beach trip, we’d pack empty buckets and leave room in the car to lug our treasures home. I’ve since learned that stealing pounds of shells from beaches is not good practice for clams and […]
Christian Rejection in the Era of Facebook (From the Retro Perspective of Space: 1999)
For those of us who attend Lectionary-based churches, last week Mark’s Gospel reminded us of the time when Jesus faced a nasty rejection. He was in Nazareth, among his own, but his own received him not. They dismissed him by pointing to his apparently illegitimate birth, saying, “Is this not Mary’s son…?” (subtle but powerful slander […]
Depth of Fields: Stewarding the Stewards of a Movement
Mike Spackman’s voice broke a little as he described the experience of being awarded 2017’s Cook of the Year at the BBC’s Food and Farming Awards. He said when The Naked Chef himself, Jamie Oliver, announced his name, it was like that scene from Babe, where Farmer Hoggett says, “That’ll do pig, that’ll do.” His Britishness made […]
