Friday Link Love: Online Slacktivism, Be a Poet, and Everest Gear Then and Now
May 10, 2013 MaryAnn McKibben Dana
Hello friends! It's Thursday evening and I am just back from Birmingham, where I had a book event and also preached at the Presbytery of Sheppards and Lapsley. I'll post that sermon to the NEXT Church website early next week and link to it here. It was a fun trip---got to hang out with Elizabeth, one of my favorite seminary peeps and a dear friend. So I'm happy, but tired.
But... the Link Love must go on!
Climbing Everest, Then and Now -- National Geographic
A comparison of the tools used to climb the world's tallest peak. Boots and oxygen systems, then and now.
Let's be honest: P90X or no, I'm pretty sure our forebears could take us.
Does Online "Slacktivism" Reduce Charitable Giving? -- New Scientist
Looks like it's a hybrid effect. Click the link for a study relating to attitudes about gun control.
Collected Wisdom of Great Writers -- Brain Pickings
Maria Popova has compiled advice from several writers she's highlighted on her blog, so it's all accessible in one place. Vonnegut, King, Allende, Sontag and more.
Cook Dinner, Save the World -- Dinner, a Love Story
Love this quote from Michael Pollan:
To cook or not to cook thus becomes a consequential question. Though I realize that is putting the matter a bit too bluntly. Cooking means different things at different times to different people; seldom is it an all-or-nothing proposition. Yet even to cook a few more nights a week than you already do, or to devote a Sunday to make a few meals for the week, or perhaps to try every now and again to make something you only ever expected to buy — even these modest acts will constitute a kind of vote. A vote for what exactly? Well, in a world where so few of us are obliged to cook at all anymore, to choose to do so is to lodge a protest against specialization — against the total rationalization of life. Against the infiltration of commercial interests into every last cranny of our lives. To cook for the pleasure of it, devote a portion of our leisure to it, is to declare our independence from the corporations seeking to organize our every waking moment into yet another occasion for consumption. (Come to think of it, our non waking moments as well: Ambien anyone?) It is to reject the debilitation notion that, at least while we're at home, production is work done by someone else, and the only legitimate form of leisure is consumption. This dependence marketers call "freedom."
Antonia Larroux -- Obituary
Not since Hugh Gallagher's infamous college essay for NYU (the laws of physics do not apply to me) have we have such an exuberant accounting of a life! This part really clinched it though:
The funeral will be led by Rev. Curt Moore of Orlando, Florida, a questionable choice for any spiritual event, but one the family felt would be appropriate due to the fact that every time Toni heard Curt preach she prayed for Jesus to return at that very moment.
On a last but serious note, the woman who loved life and taught her children to 'laugh at the days to come' is now safely in the arms of Jesus and dancing at the wedding feast of the Lamb. She will be missed as a mother, friend and grandmother. Anyone wearing black will not be admitted to the memorial. She is not dead. She is alive.
Smart Cities: Sustainable Solutions for Urban Living -- BBC
H/t The Dish, which highlighted this piece that I found astounding:
How a group of 12-year-olds in a Calcutta slum improved their community:
Like so many slum neighborhoods, the notorious Nehru Colony doesn't officially exist, meaning it has no access to government services such as sanitation and electricity. The youngsters set out to literally put themselves on the map. They went door to door, taking photos with their mobile phones, registering residents and detailing each child born in the colony. Information is then sent by SMS text to a database that links the data to a map hand-drawn by the kids, which is overlaid to GPS coordinates. By registering their existence on Google Maps the group has doubled the rate of polio vaccination from 40% to 80%, decreased diarrhea and malaria rates in the slum, and is lobbying for electricity.
This Ad Has a Secret Anti-Abuse Message That Only Kids Can See -- Gizmodo
This made the rounds, and rightly so. The billboard displays a different message depending on how tall you are:
The secret behind the ad's wizardry is a lenticular top layer, which shows different images at varying angles. So when an adult—or anyone taller than four feet, five inches—looks at it they only see the image of a sad child and the message: "sometimes, child abuse is only visible to the child suffering it." But when a child looks at the ad, they see bruises on the boy's face and a different message: "if somebody hurts you, phone us and we'll help you" alongside the foundation's phone number.
The ad is designed to empower kids, particularly if their abuser happens to be standing right next to them.
What the kids see:
How Can You Become a Poet -- David Lose
Or a theologian:
Eve Mirriam, a native of Philadelphia, captures something of the beauty of not just poetry but also, I think, creativity itself.
She invites us to consider making two moves: the first is attentiveness. Trace it's shape, pay attention to its movement, follow its life, chew and smell and see and feel all you can about that thing that fascinates you.
The second move is courage, fearlessness...
In Link Love Tags child abuse, fitness, food, generosity, humor, poetry, social media, writing
Seven Tips for Weight Maintenance
I am now in my fifth month of maintaining a significant weight loss. It's going pretty well. There are ups and downs but so far I've been able to sustain.
I've posted weight loss tips a while back, but here are a few things that have worked for me these last 4+ months as I keep my weight at healthy levels:
1. Continue to weigh yourself every day. Or at least several times a week. Look at the forest and not the trees when you do this, but I don't think a weekly weigh-in would be enough. At least not for me. I could see myself looking at a one-pound gain over a week and saying, "Eh, that's an outlier." And then repeating that for the next twenty-seven weeks.
2. Keep on tracking. Once I accepted that if I wanted to stay a healthy weight, I would have to be mindful about what I ate---for the rest of my life---things got much better. I still use MyFitnessPal faithfully. Yes, it's a pain. So is brushing your teeth. Get over it.
That said, I do not log every last thing I eat. After a year of this, I know enough about portion sizes and nutrition info to be able to estimate a lot of things in my head. The key is finding a happy medium between writing everything down---which is boring and unsustainable, and probably unnecessary since maintainers have more calories to play with each day---and guesstimating too much, which can lead you to trick yourself into thinking a Panera orange scone is as virtuous as a pumpkin muffie, because hey, they're sitting right next to each other in the bakery case!
3. Pretend you're still losing weight. I have MyFitnessPal set for losing half a pound a week. This seems just about right, given that there are days I don't keep track, and many days I go over. There's also the mental aspect of this---yes, I celebrated when I reached my weight goal, but not too much because there's no "arriving" with this stuff.
4. Your goal weight is your ceiling, not your average. I added this one because for me it's an important thing that I kinda fell into. I lost my 40 pounds and hit my goal weight, and then I lost another pound or two. This means that even when my weight fluctuates, as it does each day, I don't (usually) go above my goal. That's a psychological benefit, for me at least. Even at my heaviest swing, I am still at my goal, and I don't worry. Because in my house, worry can lead to anxiety, anxiety can lead to despair, and despair can lead to endless spoonfuls of marshmallow fluff. Can I get an Amen?
5. Don't track food at all on days you work out. That's my little reward for continuing to run and bike---well, that and feeling much better mentally and physically.
6. Be friends with food. Some people are abstainers when it comes to sweets or alcohol or whatever---they give the thing up entirely because once they start they can't stop. I'm more of a moderator. Barring something medical going on, any fitness regimen that requires me never to eat [insert bad ingredient du jour here] isn't going to work for me.
But whether you're a abstainer or a moderator, you can't see food as the enemy. Food is fuel, but it's also a source of delight and sensual pleasure. I ate a brownie last night. And then I ate two more because they were soooooo good. And I'm super OK with that.
7. Continue to reward yourself, but make the rewards modest. When I hit my weight goal I bought a bunch of new clothes, because I had to, but also as a celebration. I have continued to buy one small thing a month. This is still a necessity as I build up a decent wardrobe, but it's also a carrot for keeping the weight off.
I would love to hear your tips for losing weight, maintaining a healthy weight, or reaching other fitness goals you have.
In Healthy Body Tags fitness, lifehacks, motivation
Eight Weight Loss Tips
People often ask me how I went about losing weight over these last several months. I feel very sheepish because I don't have a good answer, and the stuff I do is in no way original. It's a very unromantic combination of diet and exercise. No meal replacement. No expensive powders or weird smoothies. Just eating good food in the right proportions and running or walking 4-5 times a week.
That said, here are some tips that have been most useful for me.
Log everything you eat. I use MyFitnessPal, which tracks food and exercise. I've also heard good things about LoseIt. The bar code scanner makes it fun. Over time I've gotten less anal about logging absolutely everything, but that's because I've got an intuitive sense of where I am. Is that a pain? Yes. Are there days I get sick of logging everything? Absolutely. Would I rather deal with the hassle of logging than backsliding? Yes.
Weigh yourself every day. Studies show that regular feedback is key to achieving goals. I think the conventional wisdom used to be a weekly weigh-in, but that's not enough input to keep me going. That said, expect ups and downs. Look at the forest, not the trees. But look everyday.
Invest in a kitchen scale and measuring cups. Portion size is everything. It's amazing how much I can fudge my portions if I try to eyeball it.
Be around people who will support, not sabotage.
This is a lifestyle, not a short-term goal. Which means I eat delicious things that are "bad" for me, and I do it with some regularity. My friend Jay, who's done a great job with weight loss, put it well: "Be sensible more often than not and you'll go in the right direction."
Then again, I'm a moderator, not an abstainer. Figure out which one you are and be that.
Another tip from Jay: when you're at a restaurant and are starting to pick at your meal after you're full, sprinkle water from your water glass all over the food. Weird but it works. I've done similar things, including (gasp!) throwing away the rest of something that just needed to be out of my house and my life. (See: leftover tubs of frosting after a kid's birthday.) Sorry, starving children of the world.
Dessert, alcoholic beverage, or a day off from exercise: pick two on any given day. You'll likely stay in range, but you can still enjoy life and be flexible to the needs and desires of the moment.
Do you have any tips you use? Share in the comments.
Image comes from this post, which I featured recently on Link Love.
In Healthy Body, Spiritual Stuff Tags fitness, food, health
Away we go: Man Barely Able to Stand Does the Unthinkable -- YouTube
I would like to know more specifics about how the yoga teacher helped him, but yes. Amazing.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OU0BzZlwU4o]
h/t: Teri Peterson
Neil deGrasse Tyson Gets Sidetracked While Singing Children's Songs -- McSweeney's
They get his gee-whiz pegagogical voice just right:
Actually, some might call the wheels on the bus a "discovery" more than an invention, as most things in this world are a discovery of invention, rather than a fabrication out of nothing. This brings up something I want to discuss briefly here, if you will allow, because I think the misconception that a lot of people have, uh, concerning, concerning SCIENTISTS. Oooo, "Scientists." That word. Strikes fear into the heart of some, and amazement into the heart of, well, me. And probably you, since you are here today in this planetarium, listening to me go on and on about my love for this… hang on a sec, let me… okay, so, we often find people BLAMING scientists for, for, for, these discoveries and inventions… being misused or being funded for misuse. We must remember that the discovery itself is not moral or immoral, it is the application of said discovery that is required to be held to that standard. Also, how cool are wheels on busses, right? And circles, in general. The fact that you can take a circle and divide it by its radius and you get pi, everytime, is astounding to me. Gives me chills every time.
More at the link. And for those keeping score, this is the second week in a row that I've featured NdGT on Friday Link Love. Why? Because he's kind of a big deal.
The Dirty Dozen and the Clean Fifteen -- That Organic Girl
This post offers a list of foods that are most important to buy organic (if possible) and a list of foods for which organic isn't that critical.
I'm a pretty half-***ed consumer when it comes to organic goods---I basically get what's available and what my kids are likely to eat. (Caroline just informed me that she no longer likes the big three: apples, oranges, or bananas. C'mon, WORK WITH ME KID.)
Speaking of food,
The Anti-Diet -- The Londoner
As I wrote on my Pinterest boards, "Best overview I've read on how to lose weight without dieting. Covers exercise, emotionally based eating, sustaining a discipline, the importance of enjoying food... I don't know about the cravings piece (e.g. if you crave carbonated drinks you need more calcium) but it's interesting."
Traditional Marriage: One Man, Many Women, Some Girls, Some Slaves -- Religion Dispatches
Just so we're clear:
Time to break out your Bible, Mr. Perkins! Abraham had two wives, Sarah and her handmaiden Hagar. King Solomon had 700 wives, plus 300 concubines and slaves. Jacob, the patriarch who gives Israel its name, had two wives and two concubines. In a humanist vein, Exodus 21:10 warns that when men take additional wives, they must still provide for their previous one. (Exodus 21:16 adds that if a man seduces a virgin and has sex with her, he has to marry her, too.)
But that's not all. In biblical society, when you conquered another city, tribe, or nation, the victorious men would "win" their defeated foes' wives as part of the spoils. It also commanded levirate marriage, the system wherein, if a man died, his younger brother would have to marry his widow and produce heirs with her who would be considered the older brother's descendants. Now that's traditional marriage!
More. Much more.
Last week a conservative member of my denomination told NPR, "From the Old Testament and throughout the New Testament, the only sexual relationships that are affirmed in scripture are those in the context of marriage between one man and one woman." To quote my friend Michael: biblical scholarship FAIL.
You want to be against gay marriage? You can do that. But the Bible doesn't help you as much as you think it does.
And just for fun, and to fill my quota on posts from Colossal:
Gale-Force Winds Directly to the Face -- Colossal
So very entertaining and bizarre. It's exactly what it sounds like:
Have a great weekend, all.
In Link Love Tags fitness, food, glbt, humor, inspiration, marriage equality
Breaking in Interesting Ways
My friend Keith Snyder, a music geek, recently tweeted a line from Brian Eno: "Analog synthesizers break in interesting ways. Digital synthesizers just break." Keith has made that line into a prayer:
May I continue to break in interesting ways.
That may be a strange place to start talking about a beautiful change, but stick with me.
I hit two personal milestones recently. First, I ran a 10K race. That was big for me. Until a year ago I had never run for more than a few minutes at a time. Ever. I was the smart one, you see, and the musical one, but never the athletic one. My body was the thing that carried my brain around. Aside from the occasional mountain hike while on vacation, and an intermittent practice of walking to stay in basic shape, I was a sedentary type.
But at 40, with a father who dropped dead from cardiac stuff at age 56, getting in better shape felt non-negotiable---the reasonable thing to do from an actuarial standpoint. That's how the running started. Of course, it's become something deeper than that.
Before I ran the 10K (6.2 miles for the metrically challenged), I'd never run farther than 5 miles in training. When I reached mile 5 at the race, I thought, This is as far as I've ever gone. Beyond this point, it's all new. That's a wonderful thing.
Indeed, my whole life feels that way in this, my fifth decade. I'm not a rookie in ministry anymore; I'm not the mother of little ones anymore; as of this fall I will be a published writer. Lauren Winner talks in her latest book about reinventing oneself every ten years. That's happening, through my own volition and beyond it.
Among other things, running for me means embracing a blessed mediocrity. I'm not a fast runner; Robert has described my gait as "a bit loping." I've never experienced a runner's high. I like races because the crowd and the music provide a boost that my body chemistry seems unwilling to muster. I love the feeling of having run, but running itself is frequently a chore. At last month's race, I was second to last in my age group, and way down in the bottom third overall.
Yet I do it. And there's something liberating about doing something badly by most objective standards. I'm a perfectionist, you know. I like setting a goal and reaching for the top, and if I'm not good at something, eh...easy come, easy go. With so many luscious possibilities in this life, more than I could ever undertake, such a standard may not be the best way to discern what's mine to do, but it's what works.
Or has worked in the past. Something in me had to "break in an interesting way" for me to start running---to do this thing that's never been part of my self-understanding. Something shattered in my brittle, do-it-well-or-don't-do-it exoskeleton.
And thank heaven it did. I'm healthier than I've ever been, in more ways than one.
I now ask myself: What else could I do badly for the sheer satisfaction of it?
The second health-related milestone happened a few days ago. I hit my weight-loss goal of 40 pounds.
I'm no numerologist, but there is significance in the numbers. James weighs about 40 pounds, so every time I pick up his stocky four-year-old frame I think to myself, This is the weight I carried around all the time nine months ago. It seems fitting somehow: in another year, James will be in kindergarten. There are no babies or toddlers in my house anymore. It feels right that as I move into another phase as a mother, my body would look different.
Also, it took me nine months to lose the weight. Is it an exaggeration to say that a new person has been born? Perhaps. But as with the running, something in me had to break in order for this change to occur. Caring for myself---I mean really caring, not punishing myself until I shrink down into some "acceptable" size---requires a certain vulnerability. I can do all the right things, as many people do, but there will always be aspects of our health that are beyond our control. Life is a genetic and environmental crap shoot. That's an uncomfortable truth to face. Denial feels easier sometimes.
Another thing that had to break: a rigid expectation of what I would look like as a 40 year old with a normal BMI.
Hint: it's not like a 20 year old.
Don't get me wrong, I look different than I did when I was a new mother, with all my ample post-pregnancy curves. But as I've left 40 pounds behind on so many jogging trails and city streets, I've been amazed at the parts of me that haven't been magically transformed. There is still...a thickness. A settledness. This body will never be that of a college student. Or a newlywed. Or a non-mother. As that great philosopher Indiana Jones says, "It's not the years...it's the mileage."
And I'm grateful for every one of those miles.
In Healthy Body, Spiritual Stuff Tags aging, fitness, growth, identity, transformation
On (Not) Being a Runner
May 3, 2012 MaryAnn McKibben Dana
This is a re-post from several months ago on the RunRevRun website. It's been on my mind lately, because my thinking is shifting on this topic. Being and doing, doing and being...
I began the Couch to 5K program a few months ago. I wasn't exactly starting from "couch"—I've been doing brisk walking several times a week for more than a year—and my fitness goal is not really to run a 5K, but to hike Mount Washington in New Hampshire this summer. I've hiked big mountains before, in various states of fitness, but it's so much more enjoyable when you're not wheezing your way up and stopping every ten yards to massage your charley horses. And since there's no "couch to Mt. Washington" program, Couch to 5K is getting the job done.
Although I started this program to get myself up the mountain, I can see myself continuing it indefinitely, maybe even graduating to the 10k version. I've been an evangelist for this program on Twitter, Facebook and in real life. I'm grateful for the impact it's had on my health and want to share it, but there's also a selfish motive: I'm telling people far and wide to keep me accountable to continue. Along the way I have been very insistent with folks: "I run, but I'm not a runner." This has been an oft-repeated refrain:
Oh, MaryAnn's a runner now. Actually, no I'm not. But aren't you in this running program? Yes. But I'm not a runner.
What's that about?
Why am I so reluctant to call myself a runner?
First off, I wonder what it means to be a runner. What exactly is a runner? Isn't it simply "one who runs"? I think I have an image in my mind of a perfectly toned body, or a person obsessed with getting the right shoes, entering races, and reading Runner's World, a magazine I wouldn't even know existed were it not for the cover photo of Sarah Palin that emerged during the 2008 presidential election. I'm not really interested in running as a hobby. But is that really what it means to be a runner? Or is that just stereotypical stuff that's not real?
Maybe I feel like I haven't been doing it long enough to claim the identity of runner. I'm OK with the verb form—I run—but not with the noun—runner.
Am I giving myself an easy out by being Not a Runner? We are stuck with so many identities that we can't shed in this life. I will be the daughter of my parents and the mother of my children forever. Maybe I resist calling myself a runner because I need to be free to have something in my life that I can quit without angst. Or that I can do badly. Intermittently.
Maybe I'm reluctant to call myself a runner because I'm playing old tapes about myself that aren't helpful anymore. I was the slow kid on the softball team, the one the coach (my dad) would position at second base. It was a good fit for me because I had decent eye-hand coordination but couldn't run very long without tiring. The best hit of my life would've been a home run with anyone else rounding the bases, but instead I was tagged out at home. By my best friend.
So, no. Not a runner.
My teams in school were theater/speech and Academic Decathlon.
But maybe that kind of baggage isn't healthy. Over the last nine weeks I've been getting faster (slightly) and stronger (definitely). My endurance is increasing. Our bodies are for much more than brain housing and transport. Our bodies are built to dance, kneel, eat, love. Some of our bodies are built to grow other bodies and to push them out into the world. I get that in ways I didn't understand when I was a kid.
As a pastor, I wonder about all this. I sometimes meet people who want to find a new term for "Christian." They feel that the "brand" is fundamentally corrupted by people they see as judgmental, rancorous, loudmouthed. I'm not sure I agree that the word is irredeemable, but I sympathize with their struggle to find a label that fits.
I also know plenty of people who don't identify themselves as Christian but whose behavior sure looks Christ-like to me. And I know Christians who are Christians in name only. I like it when people say they are seeking to follow in the way of Jesus. I can relate; it sounds like "I run but I'm not a runner." And yet, belonging to Christ isn't just what we do. It's who we are; it is an identity.
I don't know where all of these questions will lead me. Maybe someday I will consider myself a runner. Maybe I will continue to run and never take on that label. Maybe I will stop running and move on to some other physical activity. I expect that whatever I do, it will be in that strange space where action and identity intersect, where doing and being reside together.
Meanwhile, I pound the pavement.
Image: Map of the 10K I ran last weekend. Funny, it looks a lot flatter on paper.
In Healthy Body, Spiritual Stuff Tags fitness, identity, practices, running
Ten on Tuesday: Updates, Tips and Miscellany
March 27, 2012 MaryAnn McKibben Dana
It's all a rich lather of lateral thought here at the Blue Room today. I'm actually not sure there are 10 items here, but I like the alliteration... plus it's a shoutout to my friend Katherine, whose book comes out soon. Have you pre-ordered? ~
I'm over at Fidelia's Sisters today, which has a spiffy new look. Check it out.
I also had a good initial conversation last week with a member of the planning team for the Young Clergy Women's conference, Sabbath in the City. If you're a YCW or know someone who is, mark your calendars -- we're going to have a great time in Chicago, July 30 - August 2.
Let me be an encouragement to anyone facing a weight-loss plateau. You can get through it. After losing the same pound three times, I finally broke through. I've got less than five pounds until I reach my goal of 40 pounds, normal BMI. Then it's M&M's from here on out.
Maintenance and Muscle. Wait, what did YOU think I meant?
Here's a little something I whipped up the other day. We had some leftover spaghetti I'd made with a little olive oil and garlic. I put a serving in a microwavable bowl. Then I added a dollop of Boursin cheese. Nuke and stir and presto! A reasonable facsimile of fettucine alfredo.
Oh, and Carb Police? Just keep on walking. Disperse. There is nothing to see here.
OK OK, as penance for that glycemic abomination, here are eight foods you should eat every day.
Something very strange is happening at Tiny Church. These random people we don't know keep showing up. On Sunday we had 6 visitors, which in a worshiping community of 50 is disruptively delightful. Three of them have been very regular for several weeks; three were brand new.
I can't account for the sudden influx. We don't advertise. These visitors are not friends of church members who invited them. We're not the kind of bells-and-whistles church that most people are looking for. Our banner stand out front has been empty the last several weeks.
But it's a great time for people to be visiting. After 2 1/2 years as pastor of Tiny, things are clicking, you know? It's just that all the clicking has been internal and under the radar. They would have no way of knowing from the outside what's going on inside.
Whatever is happening, it's a holy mystery that makes the people of Tiny Church very, very excited. And their pastor too.
My love for Evernote is deep and abiding. Hey, they almost made it into the acknowledgements of my book. But have I mentioned the beauty that is Evernote Clearly? Clearly isolates articles on webpages and filters out all the clutter, ads, and sidebar junk, so you can read the article on a nice clean page. (This is great for those of you who are easily distrac-- SQUIRREL!)
So instead of reading this tiny cramped mess:
You can read this:
I also found a new use for Evernote. You know those Entertainment books that kids are always peddling for school fundraisers? We bought one from our girls, but there are very few coupons in there for stuff we use. Consequently, I forget about it and end up not using any of them. Instead, I tore out the coupons we are likely to use and created an note in Evernote that lists these coupons. So if we're on our way to a restaurant or a water park, I can just check the list to see what we have.
And while we're doing product endorsements: Clinique Black Honey Almost Lipstick. Where have you been all my life?
I've gotten a lot of questions from friends and family, asking me what my next book will be. My first reaction is to be touched by their kindness to suggest that after Sabbath in the Suburbs comes out, that people will actually want to read more from me. But the answer is no, I have no idea what I will write about next. Any suggestions?
In Just for Fun Tags church, clergy, evernote, fitness
January 13, 2012 MaryAnn McKibben Dana
First, I love all the responses to the Sunday School post. Let's keep that conversation going, shall we?
And now...
J.K. Rowling's Writing Process in Her Own Words -- Shelley Souza
This is just a fun read for HP fans, and obviously of interest for writers too:
Her compelling cast of characters came to life in her imagination because she never faltered in her belief that Harry Potter was the story she was meant to write.
It took me five years to work out this very long plot. On that train, I came up with lots of the characters you meet at the school. Loads and loads of detail, but not really the narrative. It's as though, subconsciously, for years, I had been preparing for writing Harry Potter.
During those five years this mass of material was generated, some of which will never find its way into the books, will never need to be in the books. It's just stuff I need to know, for my own pleasure—partly for my own pleasure and partly because I like reading a book where I have a sense that the author knows everything. They might not be telling me everything but you have that confidence that the author really knows everything.
Five Things to Stop Doing in 2012 -- Tom Arthur
Good list, geared toward pastors. They all resonate, especially the one about not just reading leadership/administration books. I easily get sucked into those, because they are required for the transformation training I'm doing, they're easy to read, and yes, they're useful. Instead I have this weird idea that in this, the first year of my fifth decade, I want to only read literature that was written before I was born. Sort of a way of getting perspective on just how short a time I've been on this planet. So much of what I read is of the moment. Not sure I'll do that but the thought intrigues me.
The Seven Laws of Leanness -- Women's Health Magazine
Good reminders here. There really is no trick to it, folks.
Talking to Strangers? Re-writing the Rules of Childhood -- Time
So every six months I have an automatic tickler that reminds Robert and me to have the safety reminder discussion with the kids. How do you call 911 and why? What's the fire plan? What about going with strangers?
I clipped this article several months ago, which talks about how confusing the "don't talk to strangers" thing is. Because sometimes you have to.
It's all part of rewriting the rules of stranger danger. "That message is not effective," says Cirillo. "Stranger danger portrays a man jumping out of a bush with a trenchcoat on, and children are trained to look just for that."
The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children agrees; like Cirillo, the Center focuses on teaching kids to speak up for themselves and never go anywhere with anyone they're not supposed to be with. But cases like Leiby's happen and we need to talk to our kids about how to handle them — namely, scream loudly, "You're not my mom" until someone pays attention and never, no matter what, get into a car or go into someone's home unless you've got parental permission.
But in refining the stranger danger axiom, Cirillo prefers to teach children about "tricky people" rather than zero in on sinister strangers. Who are they? "Anyone who tries to get you to break your safety rules," she says.
And on a happier note... if you are a pastor, educator or worship leader with kids in your congregation, you need to be reading Worshiping with Children. It's just chock full.
Have a wonderful weekend, folks.
In Just for Fun, Link Love Tags fitness, ministry, parenting, writing