"Our goal should be to live life in radical amazement… [to] look at the world in a way that takes nothing for granted."
I'm not a big crier. I'm not sure why. It's not because I don't like to cry or am unable to cry -- it's just not something I do very often, like maybe once or twice a year. But when I do cry, it usually comes on hard and heavy. It's like it's coming from …
Continue reading Movies That Make Me Cry (and Related Thoughts)
Note: I'm back after a two-year hiatus. I find I need to write again, but this will be more of a journal moving forward. I lived in Saudi Arabia for three years -- 2001-2004. That was 10th through 12th grade. So yeah, I went to prom in Saudi Arabia. That was weird. But overall I …
It's been an incredibly busy summer and early fall for me. Mainly because I started a new teaching job and moved to a new city. I would love to say that things will cool down in the near future, but we all know that's unlikely. Still, I have managed to write a few things for …
Continue reading Five Recent Articles I’ve Written for Mockingbird
Hey folks, hope you're holding up well these days! It's been a busy few months for me. Several weeks ago, I finally hopped back on Skype with my buddies Geoff and Kyle (Jonny couldn't make it) to record another "episode" of our "podcast" Slouching Towards Bethlehem. Of course, we're not really making anything we expect …
Continue reading Slouching Towards Bethlehem, a “Podcast”: Episode 6
I’m a big believer in keeping things weird. I think one of the best ways to make a city or region an interesting place to live or visit is to encourage, preserve, and promote what’s unique (read: weird) about a place, a people, a culture. The more people embrace local pride, local flair, local character …
The NBA playoffs are in full swing, so naturally I’ve been watching a lot more basketball than usual. It’s an exciting time in the NBA. There’s a lot of great basketball being played, and the hunt for the championship is really wide open this year. I have no idea who is going to win it …
Continue reading The 50 Best International Players Currently in the NBA
"The Body of the Dead Christ in the Tomb" (1520–22) by the German artist Hans Holbein the Younger. There’s a really interesting passage from psychologist-theologian Richard Beck’s 2012 book The Slavery of Death that I wanted to share with you today. I mentioned Beck recently in a much longer post that you can check out …
Hey folks. A few days ago, I hopped on Skype again with my buddies Geoff, Jonny, and Kyle and recorded another episode of our so-called podcast, “Slouching Towards Bethlehem.” As usual, it’s mostly just us having a free-wheeling conversation about things we’re interested in, but this time we did structure it a little differently. Instead …
Continue reading Slouching Towards Bethlehem, a “Podcast”: Episode 5
"Psyche Revived by Cupid’s Kiss," by Antonio Canova (1757–1822) Hi folks! I recently read a fascinating book called Till We Have Faces (1956) by C.S. Lewis with a book club I’m involved in, and while I’m not usually a huge fan of C.S. Lewis, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It’s the last piece of fiction …
Continue reading 25 Provocative Passages from C.S. Lewis’ Till We Have Faces
I spent most of my childhood living overseas in Europe and Middle East. As a general rule, we didn’t have many options in terms of English-language television and current movies — this was the 90s, so digital streaming was not really a thing yet. As a result, I watched old movies, mostly the same 15 …
Grasping at Awes 