Writer, editor, speaker
Two days ago, on the ninth day of Christmas, I returned to work. I came in an hour early to take advantage of the quiet before anyone else arrived. It turned out also to be before the building's heat was turned on, I discovered to my chilly surprise. Completely ignoring the fact that I'd really …
Continue reading "Visiting the prisoner — or just writing him"
Once, I vacuumed up Baby Jesus. Naturally, I panicked. I’d been cleaning up around the Nativity Scene – sucking up stray bits of straw that had worked their way out of the confines of the modest wooden stable we’d built for the Holy Family. I slipped, just a bit, with the vacuum cleaner hose and, …
A couple of lines in the contract of the new University of Arizona football coach demonstrates what many in higher education have said for years - and what came out more recently in analysis of the Penn State scandal: College athletics, in particular football, are abusive and dishonest in their very nature. There can be …
Continue reading "RichRod's contract says it all: We care about you as athletes, not students"
There's no lack of opinion about the sex abuse scandal surrounding the football program at Penn State. The best have focused on the fact that college sports, particularly football, are abusive in their very nature, taking advantage of young people while paying 7-figure salaries to coaches. On the other hand, we have this post, where …
Continue reading "Penn State scandal an indictment on a generation? Not quite."
Folks familiar with Godblogging's normal proclivity to have an opinion on all things Catholic have been nagging me to comment on the upcoming ta-da moment of the new translation of the Roman Missal. I've declined up until now for a number of reasons, not the least of which is the fact that writing a coherent, …
File this under not being able to leave the job at the office: The kid slouched up to me at the Tohono Transit Center, all baggy basketball pants, spiked hair and pensive teenager face, asking to borrow my phone. I had already done my good deed for the day - giving $1 extra to the …
Continue reading "Standing up for education at a Sun Tran Transit Center"
There are certain things that I cannot wrap my mind around, no matter how hard I try, and believe me, I do try. I struggle mightily to see all sides of an issue, but sometimes, it turns out there is only one side: the right one. When children are killing themselves, something has gone terribly, …
Continue reading "Cyberbullying, gay bashing, and parental to-dos"
I recently read a quote from Daniel Berrigan, an 89-year-old Jesuit priest and long-time peace activist best known for his unwavering opposition to the School of the Americas, currently known as the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation. The quote really struck me as profound, and then last night I heard a sermon about putting …
I've said it before, and discovered on my plane trip home last week that the Daily Mail agrees: Romantic comedies tend to lead to disappointment in real-life relationships. Some TC.com readers may have already seen the Daily Mail piece, which reports on studies about the connection between romantic comedies and unhappy real-life relationships, but in …
Continue reading "If you want a happy relationship, don't believe the movies"
One of the first things we noticed during our recent trip to France and Germany was that parents there don't yell at their children. Neither do they turn them over to be entertained and occupied by handheld devices when out in public, nor scold them for wandering off - which little kids in France and …
Continue reading "Parenting in France and Germany vs the USA"
Renee Wrote This 