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WE'VE ADDED TWO MORE songs to Cheryl's website. Her songs Celebrate Your Name and You First Loved Us are now online.
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THE GOOGLE PORTAL PAGE, while still a bit spartan, continues to improve with additional news sources and options such as bookmarks and gmail preview.----------
BIRD BRAINS -- A rare white-eared hummingbird has created excitement in Lubbock, Texas. Meanwhile, in Turlock, California, a not-so-rare set of mourning doves has decided to nest outside my office door -- right above the fabricated owl I had hung to discourage the pigeons from roosting there. At least the doves aren't as messy as the pigeons.
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"THE CHRISTIAN PARADOX" -- "America is simultaneously the most professedly Christian of the developed nations and the least Christian in its behavior. That paradox -- more important, perhaps, than the much touted ability of French women to stay thin on a diet of chocolate and cheese -- illuminates the hollow at the core of our boastful, careening culture." Bill McKibben in Harpers Magazine (August 2005)
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IT IS MONSOO
N SEASON in India and the news reports make it sound like much of Bombay is under water. The AP picture is of a Bombay "crosswalk" -- people holding onto a rope to cross the street. This kind of flooding is unheard of in the city and it is estimated that as many as 300 people have died in the area as a result.----------
THE NUMBER OF US CHILDREN living in poverty is growing. The Annie E. Casey Foundation released its annual Kids Count Databook yesterday, reporting that five of the leading ten indicators on childhood poverty had worsened after a five-year improvement.
What a lot of us wealthier people fail to grasp is how much poverty has a ripple effect on everyone.
We're not totally indifferent to the problem. Often, though, we just can't agree on the best ways to address it and the solutions are sometimes as messy as the problems.
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THE CITY OF TURLOCK CLEARED TWO HOMELESS encampments yesterday. This is a good example of how complicated poverty is. (And this is just one small but visible dimension of poverty.) You can't let these camps stay because they pose heath and safety issues for the residents and the community. Yet, you don't really want to hassle a bunch of people, most of whom can't do much better right now. Regardless of who is to blame a lot of these folks are incapable of significant work. Many are mentally ill and or have addiction issues. But they have to live somewhere.
The city and the community is working together to address the issue through the We Care Homeless Shelter that will soon be operating year round. But even that won't totally solve the problem because many people on the streets dislike having to live with the rules and structure that go along with shelter life.
I think people in our community more or less realize that it's just plain complicated and messy. And fortunately, the messiness hasn't deterred them from moving forward to do something. In spite of what some people might think when they see backhoes cleaning out an encampment, we do care.
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