Our first Christmas together as a couple my wife gave me Irish poet Seamus Heaney’s collection of poems, The Haw Lantern. Reading the title poem, I was drawn by the imagery of fruit and dying light in winter, and and I thought of Christmas tree lights, but knew that the reference to Diogenes meant something else was going on than a cute comparison of two plants. Years later, I open the book again and turn to the poem, drawing a light on how the poem has grown on me, what fruit it now bears. Continue reading
Yearly Archives: 2016
Joseph’s Plans for Mary
He was a faithful Jewish man from a little town of Nazareth, engaged to a faithful Jewish woman. She was a graceful and humble young woman. She was shocked to hear from an angel that she would bear the child who would be the Messiah. Not only was she a nobody in the world, but she was a virgin, and would not marry for several months. Conception was impossible! What if people thought she had betrayed her fiancé, or slept with him before the wedding? But the Spirit would be upon her, God would protect her, and the Son would be born trough her.
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Listen to Christmas Music (NOT Rush Limbaugh)
The other day I was getting a little tired of Christmas music in my car and began browsing radio stations until I turned to hear a familiar voice that always made me cringe a little.
Rush “the disinfotainer” Limbaugh.
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Graphic the Valley—Review
graphic: giving a vivid picture with explicit details,
or rocks having a surface texture resembling cuneiform writing
It was a book I came across in a discount store for a dollar. it was worth more than a dollar. Graphic the Valley by Peter Hoffmeister is a rarity that somehow flew under the radar. In short, it’s the story of Samson loosely retold as the story of a modern American Indian young man living in Yosemite Valley.
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#LukeCageMatters
Marvel’s Luke Cage on Netflix is not your typical comics-to-screen project. It contains heavier amounts of profanity (including the first Marvel use of the “n word”). It takes place in Harlem. It gets heavily political, rather than merely nodding to current events. And it feels very real.
The Victorian Legacy of Harry Potter
It began with a boy with a lightning bolt on his forehead on a train. And just as the idea came to Rowling, a Dickensian novel could have started out like this: a little orphan boy with a mark on his face being laid at the door of some snobbish middle class brick-heads.
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The Avett Brothers’ True Sadness in Roanoke—concert (and album) Review 11-19-16
Now what? The Avetts have gone everything now, but they did so slowly. Chart their last three albums, and you can tell they have merged from a heavy rock-centered bluegrass band into a more electric, pop-centered, all-American band. But they didn’t sell out after one or two original albums. They re-centered themselves naturally after half a dozen of the work they first came to be known for. They haven’t lost touch with their roots.
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The Myth of a Pro-Life Donald Trump
With the election of Donald Trump, many conservative Christians are celebrating their vision of an America where abortions will occur less, and the possibility that one day soon abortion will be completely outlawed. In fact, the promise of stopping abortion was for many on-the-fence Christians the tipping point that led them to ultimately support Donald Trump and cast their vote for him. We’ll tolerate everything nasty and despicable about this horrible man, the idea goes, if we can use him to stop abortion.
Firstly, Donald Trump only recently “converted” to the anti-abortion cause, so America should be skeptical about both his commitment to the cause and his method of pursuing it. Did he become pro-life in order to gain votes? Does he know the best strategy? Will his speeches touch the hearts of pro-choice Americans to reconsider their views? Will he communicate well with the Supreme Court? These are important questions. Most of Trump’s statements on abortion since his anti-abortion “conversion” have been clumsy, illogical, myopic, narcissistic, and antagonistic toward women. The President Elect has spoken to pro-life voters promising them a turning of the tables.
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Cease Striving and Exalt God Tuesday
“Cease striving and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.” -Psalm 46
So, tomorrow, you know, it’s a big day for a lot of people. And I understand why. From their perspective.
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My “Protest Vote” for Gary Johnson
In all honestly, I almost decided not to vote at all until his campaign kicked up more momentum after July 4th. I turned my attention to Gary Johnson. As an article from The Washington Post pointed out, what makes Gary Johnson unique is that he a) is very popular for a Libertarian, and b) is more willing to compromise on size of government than most Libertarians. In other words, he is a realistic and viable candidate from America’s big third party.
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CALEB COY 