For all the pain you suffered, my mama. For all the torment of your past and future years, my mama. For all the anguish this picture of pain will cause you. For the unspeakable mystery that brings good fathers and sons into the world and lets a mother watch them tear at each other’s throats. … Continue reading Quote for Today: Chaim Potok
culture
Quote for Today: James Loewen
Many African societies divide humans into three categories: those still alive on the earth, the sasha, and the zamani. The recently departed whose time on earth overlapped with people still here are the sasha, the living-dead. They are not wholly dead, for they still live in the memories of the living, who can call them … Continue reading Quote for Today: James Loewen
Quote for Today: C.S. Lewis
There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations - these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub and exploit - immortal horrors or everlasting splendors. This does … Continue reading Quote for Today: C.S. Lewis
Quote for Today: Ronan Farrow
Our culture has kind of let the concept of the Renaissance Man die out. We don't really tell the kids that it's okay to bounce around the world, work odd jobs, and do six different things. --Ronan Farrow Image © Ron Frazier with CCLicense: Monument to Francesc Pujols, Salvador Dali, Teatro Museo Salvador Dali, … Continue reading Quote for Today: Ronan Farrow
Quote for Today: Walter Brueggemann
The alternative to the free market consumer culture is a set of covenants that supports neighborly disciplines, rather than market disciplines, as a producer of culture. These non-market disciplines have to do with the common good and abundance as opposed to self-interest and scarcity. This neighborly culture is held together by its depth of relatedness, … Continue reading Quote for Today: Walter Brueggemann
Quote for Today: Wade Davis
The world in which you were born is just one model of reality. Other cultures are not failed attempts at being you; they are unique manifestations of the human spirit. If diversity is a source of wonder, its opposite – the ubiquitous condensation to some blandly amorphous and singularly generic modern culture that takes for … Continue reading Quote for Today: Wade Davis
Quote for Today: Khang Kijarro Nguyen
The Great Wall of China, the Berlin Wall, the walls surrounding a medieval castle: obsolete walls evoke nostalgia. Make your walls obsolete. --Khang Kijarro Nguyen Image: Naga, Sudan © Christopher Michel with CCLicense
In a Land of Queens: Daughters of Yemen
Presided over by Queens in ancient and medieval times, modern Yemen has been called the worst place to be female. Women in Yemen are encouraged to stay home rather than going to school or work. Almost half of Yemeni women are married by the age of eighteen and child brides are common. Many have … Continue reading In a Land of Queens: Daughters of Yemen
Portraits of a Nation: The Devastating Beauty of Yemen
Challenged by the unknown and unfamiliar, we often turn away. Can our curiosity help us to become better, kinder people? This is the first post of a series exploring foreign cultures. We begin with Yemen, focusing not on the bloodshed and the destruction wreaked upon her, but the humanity and beauty that make her both … Continue reading Portraits of a Nation: The Devastating Beauty of Yemen
Quote for Today: Suzy Kassem
Cultural and religious traditions that forbid cross-cultural unions prevent peace on earth. Instead of rejoicing that our sons and daughters are heart-driven and love other humans outside of their familiar religious, social or cultural domains, we punish and insult them. This is wrong. Honor killings are not honorable by God. They are driven by ignorance … Continue reading Quote for Today: Suzy Kassem