I started at the beginning of my teaching career, based on my belief that students need exposure to the world of language outside of instruction and assessment. I got the idea from Billy Collins, who implemented a “poem-a-day” program in various public schools that involved a reading of a poem a day, without any required instructional connection whatsoever. Mere exposure for the sake of it being something in our language.
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How We Got Our Son To Pee Pee in the Potty
You see, this is sometimes a parenting blog, and as a parent, I am therefore an expert.
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When It’s OK to Cover a Song
Let’s settle it for all time. When considering whether you should record a cover of another artist’s song for your new single or album, there is a list of principles to follow.
The criteria for when to cover a song:
- Your version is going to be nearly as good, if not as good or better than, the original.
- Your version will differ significantly enough to be a cover and not a discount replica.
- Your version is one the original artist would be proud to have heard.
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“Call Me Old-Fashioned”
“Call me old -fashioned.” You don’t hear that phrase very often, or maybe you don’t hear that phrase any more. I guess it’s just…old-fashioned. It sounds like a quaint little phrase some, not necessarily an older someone, will use as a way of expressing their values, values that are usually long-held by their family, the region, or the culture at large, but may be disappearing in the current age.
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Why English Majors Make Lousy Fundamentalists
Why English Majors Make Lousy Fundamentalists
Why English Majors Make Lousy Fundamentalists
This is just an interesting read. The more I learn about literature and language, the more skeptical I am of a strictly “fundamentalist” approach to all scripture, and yet the more understanding I am of why fundies see things the way they do. Of course, the word “fundamentalist” conjures a range of labels, but most of them indicate to me a view of the Bible that attempts to honor it, but falls short of embracing its totality. Like a fundy, I totally believe 2 Tim. 3:16 to be true. But I’m going to understand it in a different way. And even fundies disagree over interpreting the passages, so “taking everything literally” doesn’t solve all problems of interpretation and doctrine. After all, Jesus didn’t literally produce wool from his body, swing on a hinge, or grow vines. So when he says he is the lamb, the door, or the vine, he is no doubt being symbolic. And although a fundy knows this is metaphor, this understanding is an important basis for how all else can be metaphor.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on this readers—especially the converse. How can/how have “English majors” and other types misapprehended the scriptures?
My Son’s First Haircut
Saturday I took my son for his first haircut. His first professional haircut. Before then my wife would lay him on her knee as he slept and comb out his hair, trimming the ends of it onto a towel in the dim light.
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Anti-War, Anti-State Christian Leaders
Anti-War, Anti-State Christian Leaders
Anti-War, Anti-State Christian Leaders
A look into the history of the Restoration Movement, “Campbellism” wave, and how historically the mainstream Churches of Christ ceased to preach against war in the wake of persecution from the government.
“The Pursuit of Perfection: grace” by Jesse Robertson
from “The Pursuit of Perfection: Grace” by Jesse Robertson
“Knowledge and obedience, however, begin small and grow if we are truly trusting and loving God. He is on our side. It makes no sense to believe that God loved us so much that he sent his Son to die for us, and that he then constructed a labyrinth of doctrine that could only be negotiated successfully if one made correct assumptions and inferences, or that he left us on our own to finish an obstacle course of temptations.”
-Jesse Robertson
Seasons Change—A poem from my adolescence
[The melting of the snow reminded me of a poem I wrote in middle school. I decided to dig it up.]
Seasons Change
Mother Nature’s grand gift
I see is truly alive
New trees do bud
Flowers born
In tears
In fog
The earth flourishes in sun
It has only just begun
Trees are deep green
Bring fruit
And nuts
In sun
It is now a time to slow down
Time to show beauty in age
As once we were green
Now must die red
And yellow
Orange
Now comes the cold soft white rain
Trees only hibernate in ice
They are not truly dead
They are just waiting
And now comes
New life…
Mother Nature’s grand gift
Is alive once again
So you created an app?
