I’ve been doing a bit of reading on globalism, one of my friends asked a group of us; “Will the new world order be one in which religion will play a leading role?” Our conversation morphed to exploring whether there
Fake Plastic Trees by Radiohead, on The Bends Her green plastic watering can For her fake Chinese rubber plant In the fake plastic earth That she bought from a rubber man In a town full of rubber plans To get
Some exciting news, this weekend Lynette, Pascal, and I are heading up to the Vancouver International Film Festival. Lynette’s brother, Bevan, has a film called “Wildlands” that will be part of the festival (screenings on Monday and Thursday), and will
Is pluralism is a disruption to community? When each person does what is right in their own eyes, (is this even a useful way of thinking about pluralism?) then someone will get hurt. Which of course means that one person’s
I’m a little more than half done reading, “From Angels to Aliens: Teenagers, the Media and the Supernatural” by Lynn Schofield Clark, I’m really enjoying it and highly recommend it. The book has me thinking about horror movies… a genre
Here’s a little something I posted on Emergent Village’s site the other day… Postmodern linguist theory seems to suggest that humans only communicate proximately. No one can perfectly understand what another is trying to communicate. Basically all I can hope
The other night i watched a great PBS documentary called the Merchants of Cool. It talks about the way teens are marketed to in our culture. Good stuff. Peace, dwight
I was having lunch with Andy and Joanna the other day, and we got to talking about our online blogs, Journals, etc., and Joanna commented on what an ugly word “blog” is. Aesthetics have always been important to me. I
I’ve been doing a lot of reading and research in the area of semiotics (a philosophical theory of the functions of signs and symbols, especially the unintended signs). What do the signs of blogging reveal? Smoke in the woods may
Here is an exciting essay by educator, Grant Wiggins. Entitled: “The Futility of Trying to Teach Everything of Importance.” As I read this article I could help but think of the implications for teaching, preaching and discipleship with the Christ-community.
failure by dwight j. friesen 2×4 skeleton Only partially dressed Weathered Rusted nailed Forsaken A castle never to be A dream awakened too soon? No moving vans No kids doing the “dance of the summer sprinkler” No humming lawnmower Or
Morning Poem by Mary Oliver Every morning the world is created. Under the orange sticks of the sun the heaped ashes of the night turn into leaves again and fasten themselves to the high branches– and the ponds appear like
Comfy Chair by dwight j. friesen Afghan wrapped and curled up in a comfy chair She sits for hours in another world Laughing and weeping with her fictional friends Her heart breaks with theirs Her tea grows cold, in her
Aimless Love by Billy Collins This morning as I walked along the lakeshore, I fell in love with a wren and later in the day with a mouse the cat had dropped under the dining room table. In the shadows
“People will come to adore the technologies that undo their capacities to think” ― Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves to Death Neil Postman (1931-2003) died yesterday, October 5, 2003. Postman was chair of the Department of Culture and Communications at New York University,
Hurt Covered by Johnny Cash, written by Michael Trent Reznor I hurt myself today To see if I still feel I focus on the pain The only thing that’s real The needle tears a hole The old familiar sting Try
I Wish I Was the Moon by Neko Case Chimney falls and lovers blaze Thought that I was young Now I’ve freezing hands And bloodless veins As numb as I’ve become I’m so tired I wish I was the moon
This piece of art appeared on Waterloo Bridge in London. It by the secretive street/graffiti artist Banksy. There is something about this piece that I just love. Peace, dwight
brittle branches by Dwight J. Friesen bunches of brittle branches felled – by sea gale and a large toothed saw no life no sap no flex no growth blocking sun cut – pile – burn it takes so little to
A Gift by Denise Levertov Just when you seem to yourself nothing but a flimsy web of questions, you are given the questions of others to hold in the emptiness of your hands, songbird eggs that can still hatch if
City Psalm by Denise Levertov The killings continue, each second pain and misfortune extend themselves in the genetic chain, injustice is done knowingly, and the air bears the dust of decayed hopes, yet breathing those fumes, walking the thronged pavements
Saddened to learn of the death of Ernie Coombs, forever known to me as Mr. Dressup. Ernie Coombs died on September 18, 2001 after suffering a stroke a few days earlier. I suppose Mr. Dressup was Canada’s Mr. Rogers, and
I woke up to the news and the images of the airplanes being flown into the towers, and I haven’t been able to turn off the TV. I have no words… feeling shock, fear, horror, grief, disbelief, confused… bracing for
Go to the Limits of Your Longing by Rainer Maria Rilke God speaks to each of us as he makes us, then walks with us silently out of the night. These are the words we dimly hear: You, sent out
I don’t recall when or where I was first introduced to the music of Claude Debussy, it was probably TV or film, but I do remember the first recording I purchased was when I was in high school. A cassette
Part of what I will remember about 2000 was the implosion of Seattle’s Kingdome. Its amazing to me that those things that seem so solid can be gone so quickly. A form of impermanence… I have survived longer than this
I just saw the documentary, This is What Democracy Looks Like, I posted the trailer above. The film is a look at last year’s protests in Seattle responding to the international gathering of the World Trade Organization Summit. That was
This is to Mother You by Sinéad O’Connor This is to mother you To comfort you and get you through Through when your nights are lonely Through when your dreams are only blue This is to mother you This is
GLOBAL REQUIEM: THE APOCALYPTIC MOMENT IN RELIGION, SCIENCE, AND ART by Jack Miles Humans might become extinct sooner than anyone imagines. Think of the prospect as an opportunity for spiritual and artistic growth. JACK MILES is Senior Advisor to the
