Tuesday odds and ends and links

It's my last week of summer vacation, and I've set aside a bit of time to get some serious writing done today.  In keeping with my over-caffeinated, short attention-span, ENFP, Gemini personality, I tend to write in frantic thirty-minute bursts. I then leap up from my chair and pace around, frequently talking to my pencil, before sitting down at the keyboard again.

I'll be back to regular blogging (and Thursday Poems, Friday Random Tens, and the rest of it) starting next week. Until then, I've got a few more "reprints" scheduled.  I note that my readership has dropped by half since I went on hiatus; a few hundred of you are still coming by, however, for which I am grateful.  Some of you aren't even related to me.

Some links to those who are not on hiatus:

1.  My friend and former student, Kristie Vosper, has a blog. She's also in ministry, and preached a sermon at First Pres Newhall on "Martha" this past Sunday.  You can listen to the sermon here -- it's good stuff, and I have it on right now.  I've always felt for Martha, irked at her sister's counter-cultural (and feminist) refusal to work alongside her.

2.  The inimitable Jenell Paris has some excellent advice.  She's right in wanting to ban one of the most offensive phrases in the scholarly vocabulary.

3.  Jill met Ramesh Ponnoru.

4.  A good long post on race, culture, and the children of interracial marriages by Rachel at Alas, A Blog.  Someone recently asked me what my wife and I would tell our children (when, deo volente, we have 'em) about their ethnic heritage.  The long answer: Indigenous Colombian/Jewish/Nigerian/English/Croatian/German/Austrian/Scotch-Irish/Czech/Welsh/Spanish. Short answer: a beloved child of God and two adoring parents. 

It's funny: my wife is only one-quarter African (what would, in a racist era, have been called a "quadroon"), but that's the one-quarter that seems most fascinating to most folks.

5.  Via Feministing, the truly depressing story of Sarah, a twenty-nine year-old virgin who wants Jane Magazine to help her find the right man to sleep with for the first time.

6.   I am pleased that the legislature and the governor have agreed to raise the California minimum wage to $8.00.

7.  David at Sed Contra has a great post on breaking free of magazine subscription addiction.  He put up his list of what he and his partner subscribe to.  Here's what comes to the Schwyzer household:

The Nation
The Economist
Newsweek
First Things
New York Review of Books
Vogue
The Week
Christianity Today
The Mennonite
Women's Review of Books
Running Times
Marathon and Beyond
Yoga Journal
Sierra
California Educator (the union sends it to me, against my will)

Yes, many a copy goes into the bin unread.  I am not doing my part to reduce the amount of paper wasted in the world.

Oh, and my wife have fallen in love with a local artist: John August Swanson.  We've got some of his stuff on our walls now, and plan on getting more.

Comments

[BriBri]

Do you read Vogue or is it your wife's?

[Mermade]

Women's Review of Books...hm, never heard of it. Sounds like something I'd like!

[Hugo]

It is a good journal,; it's published out of Wellesley College and has a strongly feminist orientation.  Here's the link.

[Lindsey]

I need to start getting The Week again. Love having the previous week's major stories in digestible bits. Excellent bathroom reading!

[Rob]

Why do I have this strange urge to suggest you keep "Running Times" and give up everything else? I mean, it is much better than Runner's World!

[Hugo]

BriBri, I didn't answer your question before -- it is my wife's Vogue.

Running Times is terrific, Rob. I gave up on Runners World years ago. Marathon and Beyond is also very fine.

I'm cancelling Newsweek, as it has become hopeless. (Endless articles on health, less and less hard news). Like many people, I love The Economist, even if I don't share its political orientation. I do share the views of the folks at The Nation, and I try my best to get through the two "Review of Books" journals we receive, though I sometimes get overwhelmed.

I once subscribed to the TLS, but it was both very expensive and far too great a time-eater.

[Ed]

Just took a look at J.A. Swanson's site - pretty interesting pieces. His style reminds me of Ethiopian Orthodox-style murals. But why in the world does his "news" link lead to espn.com? (Another one of those mysteries, I guess.)

As for mags, I've only subscribed to cooking mags - and one known as "mental floss" (hey, it was a good bathroom read). I also like getting "odd" issues of magazines printed in languages I've learned with non-Roman scripts - for example I have a couple of "mooks" (a blend of "magazine" and "book", I kid you not) from Japan and Korea. If I can understand about 25% of the content upon first glance, it'll probably be a keeper.

[everchange]

your wife is quarter nigerian? nice.