This American Life

Yesterday I completed a years long journey backward in time. My friend Jenn recommended that I check out the podcast of This American Life back in 2012. I checked it out a few months later during summer vacation and then began listening to it regularly during my commutes to work which involved walking and riding … [Read more…]

A volley of severed heads

Fear. I can smell it. Fear of a destroyed economy thanks to wing nuts who have elected fiscally irresponsible governments at both the provincial and federal levels and tanking oil prices. Fear of sharia law thanks to the flung open gates to Muslim refugees. Fear of global warming storms and weather conditions. Fear of regulations … [Read more…]

Moved by Christmas Carols

I was first moved this season by a Christmas carol at Blaise and Acadia’s school Winter Celebration a couple weeks ago where home schoolers presented their various talents of martial arts, dancing, singing, comedy, sketches, and playing instruments. Two young brothers played their violin and piano duet of O Come, O Come, Emmanuel. Still reeling from … [Read more…]

The Right and the Pragmatic

Lots of politics lately. War. Guns. Refugees. Women’s rights. Climate Change. Racism. All of it explodes on Facebook and traditional news. I find most of the time the issues are incredibly complex with stakeholders on all sides. I have Facebook friends on most of these sides too. Then there’s me. I’m a teacher. I work … [Read more…]

vapors

276 years ago a certain François “le jeune” Robichaud (my 6th great grandfather or 8 generations back) marries Marie LeBorgne de Belleisle, a woman of noble French lineage, but also the great-grand-daughter of the Madokawondo, Chief of the Penobscot Tribe. François and Marie escaped the Great Dispersion of Acadians in 1755 with 5 young children. … [Read more…]

Book Review: God and the Gay Christian (Vines)

This is the second book I’ve read on gay theology, along with countless blog posts and articles. The issue of homosexuality within the Christian sphere has been so hyper-politicized that it is difficult for anyone to have a thoughtful conversation on the topic when it challenges the most conservative prevailing view that homosexuality is explicitly … [Read more…]

Books Reviewed: by Wendell Berry & Lazar Puhalo

Two books by two men from vastly different backgrounds, though still grounded in Christian tradition, tackle the meaning of society and what it means to live side by side with one another through a collection of their essays. Sex, Economy, Freedom & Community by Wendell Berry Wendell Berry is a giant thinker and wildly counter-cultural. … [Read more…]