partsofspeaking

 No, that's not Donald Trump, but Boris Johnson, PM of the UK. Good ol' Prince Charles next to him. Not sure about the woman, but her reaction is priceless. https://twitter.com/freedlander/status/1420805559759028232

In  The Atlantic,  Uyghur poet Tahir Hamut Izgil  recounts his experience  living through—and escaping—a genocide against his people in Xinjiang. In 2017, Izgil and his family arrived in the United States; many of his friends and neighbors were less fortunate. “Merhaba and I were both silent for a moment. We lay side by side on the bed. I turned out the light,” he writes, recalling the period in which Uyghurs were being detained in mass arrests. “‘If they arrest me, don’t lose yourself. Don’t make inquiries about me, don’t go looking for help, don’t spend money trying to get me out. This time isn’t like any time before. They are planning something dark. There is no notifying families or inquiring at police stations this time. So don’t trouble yourself with that. Keep our family affairs in order, take good care of our daughters, let life go on as if I were still here. I’m not afraid of prison. I am afraid of you and the girls struggling and hurting when I...

First, I’m a huge fan. I’ve watched all sixteen and I plan to go back though them and watch again. They are worth multiple viewings.   What Dallas and associates are trying to do is major, fascinating, visionary, and pretty well executed.   It’s hard not to cry one time per episode. The fist one, where Mary Magdalene is rescued, starts it. When Jesus tells Peter “get used to different” to defend Matthew. When his mother washes Jesus’ feet because that is all she can do for him now. When the 38-year paralytic is healed. And last night, when Mary says “Your father would want to be here” and Jesus asked, “Which one,” as a joke, and Mary remembers her sweet husband and her face says everything . The actors are excellent.   Of course, what they are trying to do is going to spark controversy. Everyone’s a critic anyway. Trying to dramatize the gospels through the lives of the apostles is bound to make some folks mad, especially when key elements of the life of Chris...

  I just finished Syd Field’s The Foundations of Screenwriting because I’m sitting in on a screenwriting class this summer. I posted on it here:   https://www.barbaragrahamtucker.com/post/screenwriting-i-know-a-little-bit-now He has a pretty good section on writer’s block, which I am suffering through now. I have started and am in the midst of at least five projects: two novels, two novellas, and two screenplays, plus some short fiction, to say nothing of the novel I’m trying to market. I need to take each, finish it, and do something with it. I have too many ideas but get stuck. This is the opposite of other writers’ problems.   I like to reframe things. The word block means “barrier.”   But not always.   Writer’s building blocks: building toward something better. Writer’s cell blocks: a prison Writers city blocks: we need a community of writers Writer’s chopping block: “ the piece of wood on which the neck of a person condemned to be beheaded is la...

Essay on decline of friendship   Sometimes I use this blog for links to other sources that say it far better than I ever could. I'm a huge David French fan, a conservative who lives what he espouses and puts up with the snarky comments on the Dispatch. He makes me want to keep being a subscriber, and I hope someone there reads this. 

  Caitlin Flanagan on getting off Twitter I apologize for her swearing, though. Twitter is a cesspool. It's time for me to get off it totally, even though I only spend about ten seconds a day on it.   

 "To help the gospel is to lose the gospel." (p. 182) "If we are going to try to be justified by our performance, we will have to perform perfectly." (p. 184) I have often heard the term "fall from grace" used to describe someone who has fallen into (usually sexual) sin. That is the opposite of what it means.  Galatians 5:4: "You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace ." These are not messages to pre-believers, only. They are for all of us who spin our wheels in self-effort, self-promotion, self-justification, self-aggrandizement. 

I recommend the current Christianity Today podcast on the Rise and Fall of Mars Hill Church in Seattle under Mark Driscoll. It is the tale of a tragedy and of the sins of the present-day American church. Megachurches are common today. We have more than a few in Chattanooga. I do not attend one, although some would disagree with me. It’s definitely larger than most. The podcast explains this movement since the 1970s, especially as it is tied to suburbia. That part is demographic and historical. The beginning of Mars Hill Church and then its ensuing problems begins in the third episode, and it is painful to hear. I feel like a rubbernecker on the highway as I listen. Is such a devastating fall avoidable? Yes, but those of us who are older must invest in the younger in a real, authentic, and caring way so that they do not fall prey to power, fame, and control. The edginess Mark Driscoll displayed should have been seen for what it was. 

Risk aversion keeps us from living. Everything in life is a risk. Safety and success are never 100% guaranteed.   Marriage is a risk. Deciding to have children is probably one of the biggest.   Of course, I’m talking about risks of human living. Bungee jumping and sky diving do not fit in these categories.   Changing careers is a risk. Going back to college or grad school is a risk. Risk means sacrifice in all these cases. We give something and don’t, can’t know if the sacrifice will bring any reward we hope for.   I say this because I’m taking a big risk this week, although it’s a calculated and pretty safe one.   In a few minutes I’m going for a walk; there is risk there, but to think about it would enjoy the pleasure of it (despite the humidity today!)   Jesus sacrificed, but there was no risk. He knew the outcome. For the joy that was set before him, he endured the cross, despising and scorning the shame, and is n...

Although most of us are trying to get back to normal, and some of us don’t yet realize how scarred we are from the last sixteen months (myself included), we would do well to remind ourselves every day that COVID is not “dead.” In fact, it is alive and well in many places, which means people are not well. The developing (read: poor) world does not have ready access to a vaccine; many nations are still isolating, and people are still dying.   I am particularly aware of this because for the first time in almost a year, the church I attend is canceling services for tomorrow. I won’t get into the specifics, but some members are quarantined and have been exposed to an outbreak of the virus.   We can become too lax. I plan to wear a mask in flu season. It was wonderful not to get a cold, flu, or strep last year. In a weird turn of events, I was healthier last school year than I’ve been in decades. I’m in public around a lot of people, old and young. There is no reason to be f...

Name a movie where the hero is a cat! That said, I'm going to adopt an outdoor cat for the only purpose I see for them: keep down vermin. I'm sure there will be some occasional endorphins boost when it greets me upon returning home.  

From The Morning Dispatch     "At some point before the Fourth, be sure to read this essay from Arthur Brooks on patriotism, nationalism, and happiness. “Nationalists may identify as patriots, and some people opposed to both ideologies might argue that they are equivalent,” he writes. “For national and individual well-being, though, distinguishing between them is important. Following Tocqueville and Orwell, we might define patriotism as civic pride in our democratic institutions and shared culture, and nationalism as a sense of superiority or identity, defined by demographics such as race, religion, or language. Modern social science finds a major quality-of-life difference between the two. In 2013, a cross-national team of political scientists measured the effects of each on the levels of social trust and voluntary association, both of which are strongly positively associated with personal well-being. They found that civic pride usually pushed both up, and ethnic pride push...

 A connection on Facebook posted this with a dramatic photo.  “I would have pulled Joseph out. Out of that pit. Out of that prison. Out of that pain. I would have cheated nations out of the one God would use to deliver them from famine. I would have pulled David out. Out of Saul’s spear-throwing presence. Out of the caves he hid away in. Out of the pain of rejection. I would have cheated Israel out of a God-hearted king. I would have pulled Esther out. Out of being snatched from her only family. Out of being placed in a position she never asked for. Out of the path of a vicious, power-hungry foe. I would have cheated a people out of the woman God would use to save their very lives. I would have pulled Jesus off. Off of the cross. Off of the road that led to suffering and pain. Off of the path that would mean nakedness and beatings, nails and thorns. I would have cheated the entire world out of a Savior. Out of salvation. Out of an eternity filled with no...

 I recommend the podcasts by Christianity Today in general, but especially this week's Quick to Listen. A young scholar is interviewed on Critical Race Theory. While I can't agree (or perhaps empathize) with all his points, overall his explanation is very good and clarifying as to what CRT is and where it came from. He himself does not adopt all its five tenets, which he delineates.  Big takeaways: CRT is not a worldview. It's a legal theory about race relations in the history of the U.S., and isn't even global in application.  That puts it in a different category and makes it less scary. Not that I'm falling at its feet, just that I'm not afraid of it and that we'll all be communists if we think about it. He also gives a helpful view of privilege. Any white person who denies they are privileged is disingenuous. But almost all Americans are privileged. He admits he's privileged even as a minority (Latino). The issue is not to be ashamed of the reality of...

  This story in Christianity Today led me into researching this writer, Thomas Tarrants. What a testimony of grace and transformation. Extreme racism to leading the C.S. Lewis Institute.  Ah, what would Clives think? He'd be amazed, more than likely. He'd find a kindred spirit in someone baptized in grace, although with a very different background. C.S. Lewis did not write about race, so we'd never know if he struggled with racism. I realize a skeptic would say, "Oh, the guy lands in jail for Klan activity and finds Jesus. Big whoop. What makes him any different from a petty criminal, hiding behind religion to get out?" No, he's not any different, although he fully repented, got an educated, led in racial reconciliation, and served his time. Nor am I really any different. I could have been led astray in similar ways, under different conditions. So could you. We are so sure of what we would have done.

 This title does not mean that I don't have tattoos put on my body. It means I don't understand them.  I said this to two Christian students yesterday at a weekly lunch meting we are having this summer. Both young men love Jesus. I could tell they thought my viewpoint was odd and a little judgmental or at least old school. I modified and owned the view as mine, not universal. "I just can't see putting all those permanent marks on yourself. Ten years later you're still stuck with them, unless you want to have a painful process done." They agreed that people take it to an extreme and that's a problem.  So be it. It's a personal decision between a person and God, and there are reasons people do it that are deeply idiosyncratic. A family member did it in solidarity with another family member who had helped her through cancer. Individuals want a mark that reminds them of their faith commitment. (I can think of cheaper, less painful, and removable ways.) It...

Writing in The Week, Damon Linker breaks down a study published by the Survey Center on American Life last week that contained a notable and depressing finding.: The number of Americans who report having no close friends has skyrocketed since 1990, from 3 to 15 percent of men and from 2 to 10 percent of women. Moving so much of our lives online, Linker writes, has changed the way many of us form relationships: “People sharing similar interests, hobbies, quirks, and obsessions can easily find each other online and enjoy a digital facsimile of friendship with others. These virtual communities are more like collective groups of topic-specific pen pals than real-world friendships.” This is bad news for each of us personally, but also for the function of society and politics at large: “A nation of increasingly lonely, friendless citizens given outlets to find collective, communal fulfillment online will be a nation spawning a range of radical political factions, groups, or mo...