Category: Popular Culture
Let Them Be Sad! Living Lament in a World that Won’t Stop Smiling
In the recent children’s movie Inside Out, we journey with a young girl, Riley, as she discovers what it means to have emotions. Her primary emotions include: fear, disgust, anger, joy, and sadnes... Read More
Dear Internet Active Peeps – Please Stop Using #YallQaeda and #YeeHawd
You Are Doing Theonormative Harm For those unfamiliar with the situation underway in eastern Oregon, I recommend this piece, as I will be citing it later. And, before I begin, allow me to reflexive... Read More
The Passion and Ritual of the Pilgrims
[This is the second in a multi-part series on religious pilgrims. Read part 1 here.] In the last post I wrote about the experience of being part of the Catholic pilgrimage to the Basílica de Nuestra ... Read More
A Night with the Mexican Virgin – Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe
[This is the first in a multi-part series on religious pilgrims.] It didn’t take very long before we saw the first signs we were close. A long train of bikers, flanked by brightly decorated vehi... Read More
Who’s Afraid of Secularism? The Starbucks Red Cup Fiasco, Or On Being Christian In A Pluralist Society
By now, I’ve been seeing more than enough about the “controversy” surrounding the red cups at Starbucks infiltrate my Facebook newsfeed. Whether it is posts supporting the lack of Ch... Read More
The War on What, Exactly: “Christmas”, Starbucks, Doctor Who, and Ombre-Is-The-New-Red
Every early-November, a lovely woman I used to work with would come in to the office, hands cupped joyously—reverently almost—around a tall vanilla latte in a bright red container, serene smile on... Read More
Racial Justice Organizing: Religion of the “Nones”?
I circled the block, looking for a downtown parking spot on a busy weeknight. Everyone else was hurrying home from work, but I was heading out to attend a meeting of the Portland, Oregon chapter of S... Read More
One of These Jews Is Not Like the Others: A Progressive Jew at an Orthodox Yom Kippur
It was raining at dusk. I decided not to ride my bike to the progressive Yom Kippur service on the Boston University campus. If I rode my bike, I would get too thirsty coming home and I wouldn’t ke... Read More