But guess what: life has always been busy and there has always been this conflict.;;

The United States Men’s National Team has punched their ticket to the elimination round in the 2014 World Cup, and Americans are—gasp—actually paying attention. As of this article, Nielsen ratings for Thursday’s 0-1 loss to Germany were not available, but Sunday’s draw with Portugal averaged 18.22 million viewers, the most viewed (non-NFL, non-college football) program in ESPN’s history.“Why now? Why do Americans suddenly care about their ‘futbol’ team?”

We all make mistakes, but there’s redemption out there, as evidenced by those three boys.

April Yamasaki, pastor of Emmanuel Mennonite Church in Abbotsford, B.C., gave me and other readers of her blog a great idea: an “I don’t do” list, alternatively called a “to don’t do” list. An “I don’t do” list is “a way of making time for sacred pauses in life and ministry,” Yamasaki wrote. “The things we don’t do make it possible to do some other things.” The tasks that are part of our life together are all valuable and honorable, but we can appreciate what we each do without all doing the same work. Sacred Pauses is also the name […]

The idea that the smartphones lead to rape in eastern Congo is a handy message for organizations who want to mobilize support in a hurry.

As the director of Iron Man, Iron Man 2, and Cowboys and Aliens, Jon Favreau knows all about summer blockbusters. He also knows about being a critical darling and then finding mainstream success (see Iron Man),and losing some of his critical backing (see Iron Man 2 and Cowboys and Aliens). All of this is to say that Favreau is the perfect person to bring us Chef, a cinematic equivalent of the slow-food movement in a summer full of cinematic fast food franchises.It is a summer film in the respect that it takes place when school is out of session and […]

;She was a very short, busy, go-getter kind of woman who didn’t take much nonsense.;

Norma, a single mom, was walking with her kids one night when she was arrested for trespassing on private property. The charges were later found to be baseless but she was deported anyway. Her 16-year-old daughter is now looking for a job to support the family. Norma’s 9-year-old son cries himself to sleep at night. Daniel, who fled Mexico in the 1990s to escape violence, was pulled over for a faulty exhaust system on his car and subsequently put into immigration detention. He had no criminal record and served as a community safety volunteer. Daniel’s 13-year-old son is pleading for […]

In general, there is no film genre today that is more likely to assure box office success (usually blockbuster status) than superhero films. I believe there are many reasons why today’s filmgoers enjoy escaping into a world where evil villains (often super-villains) are defeated by superheroes (however flawed) who do not need to do things “by the book” (i.e., wait on the slow-moving wheels of a bureaucratic and sometimes corrupt justice system). This is not the place to review those reasons.Imagine my surprise, then, when I watch a popular superhero film that seems to challenge the myth of redemptive violence […]

“For my family [cousins, aunts, and uncles] who live in rural areas, my coming to America was the same as if I had gone to Venus or Mars.”