intellectualism Archives

This Is What It’s Like

The past couple of days, I’ve had several conversations about ADHD. In the first one, I was trying to describe what it’s like to live with the condition, but I wasn’t having much luck. After several attempts, I was down to “If you don’t have it, you won’t get it.” That’s a pretty shitty way […]

I Hate That F**cking List

So, Listly’s “Christian Blogs You Should Be Reading” 2014 edition is out and, happily, the top 25 reads like a who’s who of progressive/emergent Christian bloggers. Rachel Held Evans is holding down the top spot, followed by Benjamin Corey’s Formerly Fundie, Nadia Bolz-Weber, Jamie, The Very Worst Missionary and, this one makes me particularly happy, […]

ADHD and Frustration

I’ll admit this is really a bit of a rip-off. It was inspired by Hugh Hollowell’s piece on the shame that accompanies living with ADHD. In fact, the title is a slight reworking of the one he chose for his article. I’m stealing from him for two reasons: 1) he lets me and 2) while his […]

What You Don’t Know

I saw this online recently and wanted to tell the poster, “What you don’t know is that the girl in front of you with the iPhone may have just lost her job and her service hasn’t been cut off yet. Or maybe uses food stamps to feed her kids because her insufficient paycheck is enough to […]

I… Am… A… Nerd

The past week, I feel like I’ve been on the edge of burning out on the blogging thing. A couple of days ago, I started 3 different pieces before I finally found one that didn’t bore the hell out of me. That’s not to say I was excited about it, though; only that I was […]

True Stories

I learned a long time ago that a story can be truthful without being true. I can’t remember where I came up with that, but I’m sure I read it somewhere. I’m just not deep enough to think of something like that without help. But, since I can’t remember where or when I might have […]

On the “Other”

Other _ view or treat (a person or group of people) as intrinsically different from and alien to oneself. The action of othering is not unknown to progressive Christians. We see it every day in the way minorities are treated, the way LGBT people are routinely dehumanized and the poor are blamed for being poor. What’s harder to […]

Listen Up

In the wake of the Zimmerman verdict, some of my conservative friends have posted stories about white people being attacked by black folks. They are almost always accompanied by the question of why these stories aren’t getting the amount of media attention that Trayvon Martin’s did. I find myself wondering if many of my progressive […]

Living on Borrowed Time

This camper build isn’t going quite like I thought it would, but that seems to be the case with any project I take on. There have been setbacks, like the roofing issue I mentioned last week. I thought I had it taken care of, finding a suitable replacement at a building supply center. When I […]

How Firm a Foundation?

I have a need for routine. Due to a nice dollop of Attention Deficit Disorder, if I don’t follow at least a few, nothing gets done. Unfortunately my ADD is accompanied by a soupçon of Obsessive Compulsive disorder, which can make finding a balance a little challenging. While my love of routine rarely lasts all day, […]