Have you experienced a difficult death in your family or among your friends? I mean, all deaths are sad, and we mourn the loss of a dear person—but it is very different with tragic circumstances or when children or young people die. Anyone who has lost a child or has had a child with a significant physical or intellectual challenge has heard comments and questions that leave them cold. I remember wondering where God was when a busload of wholesome young baseball players careened off an exit ramp, killing most of them—and they had prayed for safety in a circle […]

German filmmaker Tom Tykwer doesn’t get much respect in North America. This has always been a mystery to me, because in Europe he’s considered one of the greats and he’s been one of my very favorite directors since he made one of my 25 favorite films of all time, Run Lola Run, in 1998 (it’s the only one of Tykwer’s films that was critically acclaimed in North America). In the brilliant opening scene, we learn that Alan has lost his house, his wife, and his car. His personal life feels like a roller coaster and his work isn’t going well […]

By Charles Kwuelum When Laurent Kabila was installed as president of Zaire in 1997, he changed its name to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. After he was assassinated by one of his body guards in 2001, his son Joseph Kabila succeeded him 10 days later. At the time that Joseph Kabila became president, there were lingering historical challenges related to rebel and ethnic violence that the Lusaka ceasefire agreement had attempted to address in 1999. A United Nations peacekeeping mission was formed in 2000 to monitor the ceasefire. Following years of economic and political decline, the war of 1998-2002 […]

Jeff Nichols’s film Midnight Special has you wondering from the beginning what is happening and where is it leading. It opens with a news report about a man who is wanted for kidnapping 8-year-old Alton Meyer (Jaeden Lieberher). The man is Roy (Michael Shannon), and it turns out Alton is his son. Nichols treats each of his characters with respect for their complex humanity. He doesn’t view the members of the cult as dolts or the government workers as villains. Roy is accompanied by Lucas (Joel Edgerton), and the two of them flee the motel where they have the boy […]

One of the joys of being a grandparent is introducing the kid—slowly and conservatively—to forbidden sweets. He put the bite in his mouth, and you could see the rhapsody spread over his little face. Neither of my grandsons had any sweets at all until their first birthdays, when they were suddenly and ingloriously not only introduced to a nibble of cake, but also expected to paint themselves, their high chairs, and the whole dining room floor with brightly colored supersweet frosting and rich crumbs. They both sat there amazed and a little dumbfounded. What is this cake and why am […]

The United States has become infamous for having the largest prison population in the world. Our “justice” system is, in reality, unjust. Many of these injustices start with how young people are treated. Crimes committed by juveniles are overwhelmingly non-violent, and overall juvenile crime has actually declined over the past decade. Despite this, our country continues to operate a system that too often treats children as adults, and imprisons far too many children overall. Roughly 500,000 juveniles enter or are a part of the criminal justice system each year, and 200,000 will enter the adult system. On any given day, […]

Any weddings coming up among your family or friends? Many of us are picky about recommending books on marriage. We don’t want books that make marriage seem too easy, or too pious, that have unattainable goals and standards, or that talk down to us. But over the years, I’ve collected (and find it hard to part with some of these when I try to thin my collection) five excellent books plus two new ones worth mentioning. Because who can’t use a little help improving marriage? “If love isn’t blind, it does squint a bit. Love idealizes both of us.” —Walter […]

Out of all of the photographic treasures housed at the National Archives, one stands out as the most requested picture of all time: a 1970 photograph of Elvis Presley standing with then president Richard Nixon in the White House. The photo captured the moment after a brief, informal, and impromptu meeting between the two icons. Elvis’s yin is three times larger than Nixon’s stoic yang. That, of course, is what makes the meeting intriguing. Four and a half decades later, that meeting plays out on the big screen in Elvis and Nixon, an entertaining, albeit shallow account of what the movie’s […]

By Rick Cober Bauman, executive director of MCC Ontario “The church is the chaplain of empire.” These words came from Adrian Jacobs, a Haudenosaunee pastor and Circle Keeper, and a former colleague in MCC Ontario. He was a presenter at a MCC Canada workshop on the Doctrine of Discovery, April 5-7, in Winnipeg. He credited the statement to someone else, but he went on to give ample evidence of its truth. The Doctrine of Discovery (DoD), Jacobs and other Indigenous speakers informed us, is that legal framework and deeply held belief that European explorers and expansionists assumed sovereignty over the lands — as well as […]

Editor’s Note: Lauree Purcell is a freelance writer and mother of two teenage daughters in Harrisonburg, Virginia. Last month at a local community college, I represented my branch of the American Association of University Women in a panel discussion on women and leadership. As I researched this topic, I learned some helpful ideas for some current models of women in leadership. As she covered the Haiti earthquake, Hurricane Katrina, and other major events around the globe, she influenced others toward much-needed humanitarian work in those areas. Soledad O’Brien stands out as an exceptional leader to me. As an award-winning journalist, […]