If I Had A Million Dollars: A Rich Song

“If I Had a Million Dollars” is probably the most famous song from Barenaked Ladies, a concert favorite and a song made to sing along to.

Written by members Steven Page and Ed Robertson to sing to counselors at summer camp, the song at first may seem like a mere silly list of things you can buy with loads of money. But under the surface is a powerful message of love and the simple life over pursuing gobs of wealth. Continue reading

On Taking the Bible Literally

According to a 2011 Gallup survey, 3 in 10 Americans “interpret the Bible literally, saying it is the actual word of God,” while 49% say “the Bible is the inspired word of God but [shouldn’t] be taken literally.”

That’s commonly how the survey is quoted. But if you go to the survey results themselves, a specific and important statement begins the piece: A plurality view Bible as inspired word of God but say not everything in it should be taken literally.”

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American Gods and America’s gods

To peek into the world of Neil Gaiman’s American Gods is to peel back the curtain of America’s culture and see, through one artist’s creative lens, the temple of what the culture truly worships. It is a perverse world that feels too ancient, and yet uncomfortably familiar. In one way it feels like a post-colonial protest. In another it feels like an anthropological experiment. This is an untold story not just of the religious practices America does not admit are religious, but also of the religious practices that have carried over from immigrants across the world. Continue reading

What It Means to Be a Loose Cannon

I don’t remember the first time I heard the phrase “you’re a loose cannon” or “(so and so) is a loose cannon,” but it was probably on television or in a movie. It’s a fun phrase to say, and it denotes a person who is chaotic and unpredictable. Somebody calls the bombastic main character in an action film a “loose cannon.” The audience laughs all giddy. They love the reckless cavalier. Continue reading

Taking A Course

I was never really fond of the word “class” in referring to being enrolled in a series of lessons. It’s seemed a bland, confusing word. The word comes from the Latin word classis, meaning a division of people, which is why we use the word to refer to groups of students as well as groups of people based, sort of, on income. It’s also why we use it as a noun to refer to someone as “having class” (meaning, we assume, high class). Continue reading