Culture Creating

2021 Integrative Projects

Annually, at the end of the Spring term at The Seattle School of Theology & Psychology we gather to hear TEDish-styled presentations from graduating seniors. While most of the presentations are made by graduates of the school’s theology programs, some counseling students

Dwight J. Friesen June 9, 2021November 8, 2021

Joy Oladokun

Breathe Again by Joy Oladokun The Devils in the basement in my homeA flight of stairs is way too closeHe comes for me when I’m aloneCollecting debts that I don’t oweFollow me down where the waters run deepI’ll let you

Dwight J. Friesen May 23, 2021April 23, 2024

Planning for our Mega Cities

I invite you to watch the above video with an open heart. Attend to your own curiosity as you watch it. Every one of us come to data dumps like this with our uniqueness and particular hermeneutics. This is is

Dwight J. Friesen May 18, 2021September 26, 2022

International Jazz Day

Jazz stands for freedom. It’s supposed to be the voice of freedom: Get out there and improvise, and take chances, and don’t be a perfectionist – leave that to the classical musicians. Dave Brubeck Today is the tenth Annual International

Dwight J. Friesen April 30, 2021November 20, 2021

Evolution of the Internet Since 1997

I just received the May issue of WIRED in the mail, and one of the articles titled “Internet Boom” by Lily Hay Newman caught my attention. The piece offered a brief introduction to Barrett Lyon’s trippy visualization which charts the

Dwight J. Friesen April 27, 2021November 20, 2021

“Defund the Police” Anabaptist Curriculum

My spiritual lineage has is a pretty straight line back to the earliest days of the Anabaptist peace movement… often referred to as the “radical reformation” within Christianity. The older I grow the more I appreciate aspects of my heritage.

Dwight J. Friesen April 24, 2021November 7, 2022

“The Guest House” by Rumi

The Guest House by Rumi This being human is a guest house. Every morning a new arrival. A joy, a depression, a meanness, some momentary awareness comes as an unexpected visitor. Welcome and entertain them all! Even if they are

Dwight J. Friesen April 23, 2021November 20, 2021

Toward Justice

Thanks be to God, an American police officer was held accountable for murdering an African American man… George Floyd. The officer was found guilty of all three charges. May this nation not turn back from the much overdue reform of

Dwight J. Friesen April 21, 2021November 20, 2021

“Where I’m From” by George Ella Lyon

Where I’m From By George Ella Lyon I am from clothespins, from Clorox and carbon-tetrachloride. I am from the dirt under the back porch. (Black, glistening it tasted like beets.) I am from the forsythia bush, the Dutch elm whose

Dwight J. Friesen April 6, 2021November 20, 2021

Start Close In

Start Close In by David Whyte Start close in, don’t take the second step or the third, start with the first thing close in, the step you don’t want to take. Start with the ground you know, the pale ground

Dwight J. Friesen April 2, 2021November 21, 2021

Poet: Spencer Reece

At Thomas Merton’s Grave by Spencer Reece We can never be with loss too long. Behind the warped door that sticks, the wood thrush calls to the monks, pausing upon the stone crucifix, singing: “I am marvelous alone!” Thrash, thrash

Dwight J. Friesen March 19, 2021November 21, 2021

Abraham Joshua Heschel – New Documentary

A documentary looking at the life of Abraham Joshua Heschel was released at the end of last month… I can’t wait to see it. I’ve been rereading Heschel’s The Sabbath in preparation for a spring course I’ll be teaching at

Dwight J. Friesen March 11, 2021November 22, 2021

Jim Gaffigan Nearly Killed Me!

“I’m not a foodie; I’m an eatie. I don’t have anything against foodies. I just don’t have the time or the interest to do that much research.” Jim Gaffigan Stand-up comedy can be – among other things – prophetic. I

Dwight J. Friesen March 4, 2021November 2, 2022

“The Old Lie”

Dulce et Decorum Est  By Wilfred Owen Bent double, like old beggars under sacks, Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge, Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs, And towards our distant rest began to trudge. Men

Dwight J. Friesen March 2, 2021November 22, 2021

Opening in Bellevue

Last fall Seattle’s legendary drive-in burger joint announced their intent to open a new restaurant location on the Eastside. Granted, I may be way too excited about this announcement, but yesterday I heard the news that Dick’s Drive-In will be

Dwight J. Friesen February 26, 2021November 22, 2021

“It’s My Corner After All”

I love the opening scenes of the 1995 “Smoke” by film makers Wayne Wang and Paul Auster. Among others, the movie features Harvey Keitel, William Hurt, Stockard Channing, Harold Perrineau Jr., and very young Forest Whitaker. The story begins as a local business owner is

Dwight J. Friesen February 24, 2021November 22, 2021

The Grammar of our Lives

Phuc Tran offers an insightful TED talk inviting us to attend afresh to the grammar of our lives. So good! Peace, dwight

Dwight J. Friesen February 22, 2021November 22, 2021

“God Would Kneel Down”

GOD WOULD KNEEL DOWN by St. Francis of Assisi I think God might be a little prejudiced. For once He asked me to join Him on a walk through this world,and we gazed into every heart on this earth, and

Dwight J. Friesen February 14, 2021November 22, 2021

What Now!?!

Yesterday’s acts of deadly violence executed by some extremist Trump supporters who stormed the Nation’s Capitol is egregious to say the least. But the idea that some those people were trying to justify their actions by claiming that Jesus Christ

Dwight J. Friesen February 7, 2021November 24, 2021

“The Hill We Climb” by Amanda Gorman

The Hill We Climb by Amanda Gorman  Mr. President, Dr. Biden, Madam Vice President, Mr. Emhoff, Americans and the world. When day comes we ask ourselves where can we find light in this never-ending shade? The loss we carry asea

Dwight J. Friesen January 20, 2021November 8, 2021

“If”

If Rudyard Kipling If you can keep your head when all about you    Are losing theirs and blaming it on you; If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,    But make allowance for their doubting too;

Dwight J. Friesen January 5, 2021November 8, 2021

“Penny Rabbit & Summer Bear”

Penny Rabbit & Summer Bear by Kishi Bashi Under the ocean, far from the sun Penny Rabbit, wondering “When will we ever become one? Must I suffer days to come?” Fresh out of wishes, fate wouldn’t dare He had to

Dwight J. Friesen January 3, 2021August 31, 2022

Sustainable Bellevue

Here is the City of Bellevue’s recently approved (December 14th, 2020) plan for learning to live in relationship with creation. I wish it had a more clearly linked connection to the UN’s 17’s “Sustainable Development Goals” especially given the relative

Dwight J. Friesen January 1, 2021November 2, 2022

Free Online Course… UN-NUA

The New Urban Agenda Illustrated handbook (at the bottom of this post) serves as the base for the New Urban Agenda online crash course. This course is offered through the United Nations Habitat. The self-paced course in two parts is available

Dwight J. Friesen December 21, 2020June 8, 2023

Poet, Natalie Diaz… Wow!

Abecedarian Requiring Further Examination of Anglikan Seraphym Subjugation of a Wild Indian Rezervation by Natalie Diaz Angels don’t come to the reservation. Bats, maybe, or owls, boxy mottled things. Coyotes, too. They all mean the same thing— death. And death

Dwight J. Friesen December 20, 2020November 24, 2021

Which Americans’ Thanksgiving?

Unlike Canada’s Thanksgiving practice, which is more of a harvest celebration, the American observation is couched in a subjugating narrative.  Wisdom is invited of you as you navigate this holiday. The particularity of your bodied, cultured, and located self will

Dwight J. Friesen November 26, 2020November 24, 2021

“Singularity (After Stephen Hawking)”

SINGULARITY by Marie Howe           (after Stephen Hawking) Do you sometimes want to wake up to the singularity we once were? so compact nobody needed a bed, or food or money — nobody hiding in the school bathroom or home alone

Dwight J. Friesen November 22, 2020August 31, 2022

Faith(s) for the Environment – Call to Action

The ongoing collaboration between the Parliament of World Religions together with the UN-Environment Programme, has set forth a “Faith for Earth: A Call for Action.” This beautifully compiled document describes the essential, unshakeable reverence that all religions have for creation

Dwight J. Friesen September 2, 2020September 28, 2022

“To the Great Unknown”

Recently a friend invited me to take a closer listen to some of the music of Minnesota-based, Cloud Cult. I’m really glad I did. On a peripheral level I was aware of them through KEXP (the world’s greatest independent radio

Dwight J. Friesen June 22, 2020August 31, 2022

Perhaps the World Ends Here

Perhaps the World Ends Here  By Joy Harjo The world begins at a kitchen table. No matter what, we must eat to live. The gifts of earth are brought and prepared, set on the table. So it has been since creation,

Dwight J. Friesen June 17, 2020December 11, 2020