Columnist and public speaker
Zachary Christie is now a free boy - sort of. The 6-year-old won't have to spend 45 days in an alternative school for troublemakers, but he'll still be suspended from first grade for 3 to 5 days for his "crime" of bringing his Cub Scout camping utensil to school. Zachary - who you can see …
Continue reading ""Zero tolerance" school practices vs. "critical thinking""
This Youtube video is worth passing around. Best three minutes you might spend today.
St. Frances de Sales, the patron saint of journalists and writers, once said, "Half an hour's meditation each day is essential, except when you are busy. Then a full hour is needed." I've been thinking about statement almost obsessively over the past five days for two reasons: One, I read this article on the "radical …
Continue reading "24 hours of absolute solitude – a way to absolute happiness?"
Yesterday, the Arizona Daily Star reported that the University of Arizona is earmarking $12 million to recruit "rising star" professors in the areas of environmental studies and biosciences. Reporter Becky Pallack was first told that the source of funds for that $12 was unknown. Her story was updated today with information from UA spokesperson Johnny …
Continue reading "UA's Transformation – $12 million "directly out of the hides of those who teach.""
If you are a college graduate who needed student loans to get that degree - ever more precious in an economic downturn and a competitive work environment - you should be thanking Ted Kennedy today. If you're a female who got to play sports in schools forced to fund women's athletics with some semblance of …
Life is harried, hurried and overwhelming - at least according to the marketing guys over at Loyola Press. The Jesuit-run publishing house recently launched an 3-minute retreat application for the iPhone and iPod touch to help folks take a break, anywhere, anytime (as long as it isn't while you're driving!) from the concerns and pressures …
Welcome to the weekly Happiness Project meeting! Today I'd like to share some thoughts - and get your input - about definitions of happiness and why we avoid doing things that might make us happy. Both defining the word and knowing what keeps us stuck in our misery-pattern is key if the happiness is the …
I was thinking a lot this weekend about doing the right thing, recalling a conversation I had this summer with a 17-year-old neighbor. I was this young woman's confirmation sponsor and upon discovering that her catechesis was poorly done, I took her out to coffee, the Catechism of the Catholic Church in hand, and tried …
Continue reading "Do the right thing – easier said than done"
Real Simple magazine has a piece on why people lie, with analysis of the six types of lies (I think there are way more) and how to avoid them. In a teeny-tiny article side bar, author Jenna McCarthy quotes Bella DePaulo, a visiting professor at UC-Santa Barbara, who studies lying. (Yes, this is where you …
File this under the "and more" part of God Blogging: This weekend was full of STUFF THAT BUGS ME. Maybe you all have had similar experiences, or other pet peeves you want to share - feel free. But this stuff really gets on my nerves: 1. Parents who bring their small children to non-G-rated movies, …
