I’m leading a conversation this Saturday morning at the CityLights community. Find us near Union Square, New York City, from about 11 a.m. to about 2 p.m. Post-Easter, the group’s starting a new talk series on the Sabbath and time. I’ve been reading a little Walter Brueggemann on rest and resistance lately, and I can’t wait to […]
The virtue you don’t want tested
Endurance. Perseverance. Persistence. Inner strength. Each of these virtues draws praise in an era that worships the rugged individual who conquers circumstance with dogged will and fortune (but mostly dogged will). Three months after the US presidential inauguration, the shine of “resistance” has dulled. So has the popular hope that we can abbreviate the next four to […]
It’s hard out here for a stumbling block
It seems like every couple of months, female employees across industries are trading stories about organizational culture and “fit.” Far too often, these stories boil down to them not fitting at all. At Uber: A serial harasser has a Human Resources department that protects him despite years of complaints from peers and junior employees. At […]
Changing under duress
Most of us will finally change under two exaggerated conditions: either we cannot stand or tolerate the situation, issue, or circumstance any longer, so we will change; or we want to experience something that has such a passion for us that we will go for it, no matter what it takes. Both of these are […]
Resistance and humane planning
In a way, I’ve felt besieged for a few years now, not in the intense ways others in major cities have. But still, in the way that one who pays attention can’t help but notice creeping crawling unease, I’ve felt besieged. I’ve joked with others who grew up fundamentalist about the opening of Revelation’s seals, but […]
Normalization is normal after all
Two words I’ve heard plenty of in the last few months: resistance and normalization. Advocates advise the public to resist the agenda of the new administration. Commentators worry that the administration’s unusual tactics (and more overt expressions of the same old tactics) might reset the typical center and become the US’ new normal. But humans […]