Category Archives: Uncategorized

SIDE HUSTLE. WHAT’S THAT MEAN THESE DAYS? Recently, on an academic Twitter feed, someone asked what everybody’s side hustle was. Because, academia. (See Rutgers University’s historical strike as an example of why the majority of academics hustle on the side). The Twitter responses were witty, interesting, and a tad bit depressing. I did find aContinue reading “Do the Hustle”

TEACHING A BOXING CLASS, again after many years, is reminding me that teaching is teaching. The gym owner was very pleased after taking my class recently. He enumerated the ways in which my approach was in keeping with the mission of the gym. It’s a special community of a gym, adamant that all bodies areContinue reading “Going the Distance”

SANDRA CISNEROS RECENTLY SAID in an interview, “I just wanted to write down the things I think. And not be ashamed.” She was discussing her new book of poems, Woman Without Shame , which I desperately need to read for a number of reasons. (Fan girl and poetry nerd are two of them). I was/am/alwaysContinue reading “Shame on Me”

JUSTICE AND MERCY, SO THE STORY GOES, WERE SITTING BY THE SIDE OF A RIVER TOGETHER. Suddenly a body came floating downstream. They run out to rescue the person, bringing them to shore. Taking a moment to relax after the dramatic experience, they see another body coming towards them. They launch another rescue. At theContinue reading “Care Enough to Run Up the Hill*”

ABRAHAM AND ISAAC, SHEESH. I mean everyone knows the Bible can be a scary place, but reading a story about a man getting ready to light his kid on fire is next level. Tiana Spencer preached at Fellowship Sunday, and as always made most everybody cry. In a good way. Church a wonderful opportunity to letContinue reading “On the Edge”

SHEEP ARE CUTE. Their wool makes clothing. Some of us eat them. And they are one of the most prominent images used in religion since forever. Dr. King was all about sheep, and lambs. In March of 1968 he preached a sermon entitled, “Unfulfilled Dreams” at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta. (The same pulpit fromContinue reading “To Be a Sheep”

Mon·day morn·ing quar·ter·back: “a person who passes judgment on and criticizes something after the event,” according to Oxford. Well, what I’d like to do here, as a Monday Morning Preacher, is simply review the event – which in this case is Pastor Albert Tate’s wonderful sermon at the fabulous Fellowship Monrovia Church. (I don’t even watch proContinue reading “Sit. Stay.”

I DON’T LIKE ICEBREAKERS ANYWAY, but this time of year they seem even more irksome than usual. Like, how many times — at various meetings and such — will I be asked what my favorite holiday tradition is? I mean for one thing, I just think the Holidays-with-a-capital-H are a bit overwhelming anyway. So comingContinue reading “Trading in Tradition”

AROUND THIS TIME OF YEAR ON TWITTER (MAY IT REST IN PEACE), you see lots of us historians preparing to ruin Thanksgiving en masse. These folks are fanning out far and wide to dinners where no one wants to hear about Indian massacres and syphilis. Can you believe? It turns out that some people wouldContinue reading “Alihelisdi Iga*”

I’VE BEEN THINKING OF THE WORD “GLEAN” LATELY. I was reminded in a recent sermon about the book of Ruth and how she went into Boaz’s fields to glean what was left after the harvest. The leftovers. She asked if she could follow behind the harvesters and pick up what fell to the ground. ThatContinue reading “Mind Fields”