I was introduced to the impressive work of filmmaker Terence Davies while I was living in London (UK). I have met very few people in North America who have seen any of Davies’s films or know anything about the writer/director of brilliant films like Distant Voices, Still Lives (1988), The House of Mirth (2000), and The Deep Blue Sea (2011). The well-acted and impeccably shot Sunset Song is profound and moving in ways that few films today come close to. Davies is often compared to filmmaker Terrence Malick because of how infrequently he makes his arthouse masterpieces and because of […]

Money Monster is a thriller that takes on current issues and offers some surprising twists, which only adds to its interest and appeal. The film confronts us with our own complicity in the way CEOs run their companies. The film opens with Lee Gates (George Clooney), who hosts a cable show, Money Monster. He’s full of himself and resists taking direction from his longtime director, Patty Fenn (Julia Roberts), who cues him when to say what. During the show, a deliveryman, Kyle Budwell (Jack O’Connell), sneaks onto the set with a gun, and takes Lee hostage. Angry, Kyle says he […]

Editor’s note: Lauree Purcell is a freelance writer and mother of two teenage daughters in Harrisonburg, Virginia. Last month, my mother and I were happy to be a part of an intricate web of community support lifting up those who are facing much greater challenges. Getting a home ready to sell, we had quite a bit of furniture that we no longer wanted. With leadership from Celia and Becky, whom I know from my church, we decided to help a mother we’ll call “Jane” and her two elementary school–aged children. When I arrived at Jane’s apartment, her belongings were in […]

Ninety-nine Homes has a rare mix in a film: It’s suspenseful, yet deals with complex ethical issues. The drama centers on the lives of people in central Florida a few years after the 2008-09 financial crisis. Rick Carver, a real estate broker, partners with banks to evict people and sell their foreclosed homes at a profit. Our true homes do not belong to us. They are where each of us truly belongs, at any time and in any place. Without spoiling the plot of the 2014 movie—which contains some violence but mainly the threat of it—it’s sufficient to say that […]

(If you received this via email on June 3 without a proper way to link to read this, our sincere apologies. This is being resent on June 4, 2016.) Stories of Peacemaking By James Souder Motorbike traffic zooms past a hardware store stationed along a busy road in Ouagadougou, where 23-year-old Joel Saaga spends his days selling household construction supplies. Saaga is grateful to have this job. While finding work in the capital city is difficult for any young adult, finding work can be nearly impossible for a young man, such as Saaga, who has spent time in prison. (His […]

I began writing this column a year ago. Yeah, some things take a while. But it’s interesting the perspective a year brings. Forty years ago this May I was still in the Big Wait. I thought our wedding day would never come. At this time last year we had an interim pastor at our church; I’ve written some about that. Our pastor had preached a sermon on waiting—very fitting for the place we were as a congregation. She read the passage about how Jesus, after his resurrection, told the disciples to go to Jerusalem and wait for him. But they […]

When I taught 100-level college writing, there were times where I would read a student’s paper and not have any clue how to respond. A professor of mine deemed these papers as the “ungradables.” I would put the paper back in the rotation to read it again later, and hope I’d have a clearer vision the next time around. (Side note: One time I was grading outside at the coast, read a paper, and exclaimed, “I don’t know what to say about this!” With impeccable timing, a seagull flew over and dropped its opinion right on top of the student’s […]

By Charissa Zehr Just as many children in the U.S. enjoy eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, peanut butter is a regular nutritious snack for Haitian children and adults. Peanuts represent an important industry in Haiti, where nearly 150,000 farmers produce roughly 70,000 metric tons of peanuts annually. A thriving peanut processing sector employs an estimated 500,000 Haitians, most of them women. In recent years, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has supported a range of projects to increase food production and market access in Haiti, including the cultivation of peanuts. So when the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) […]

Editor’s note: Lauree Purcell is a freelance writer and mother of two teenage daughters in Harrisonburg, Virginia. Anna Green was nervous as she played a board game with her young student with autism. For several days, she had been showing him positive ways to react when he was unable to win a game. Now she was going to win this game and see if he could use his new skills to lose without blowing up in anger. Teachers know that every child is unique, and guard against making assumptions about students. Anna was learning how to be a teacher like […]

Comic book movies are a big deal at my house. My son’s birthday conveniently falls near the early May release dates of many of the Avenger films, so I often see the movies with a group of my son’s friends, who are avid young fans. It is the internal struggles of the heroes, villains, and even the minor characters that resonate most in this film. Not that I mind. I love comic book films, too—and I’m obviously not alone. But it’s not just the blockbuster nature of the films that attracts audiences. Like all good stories, we are drawn to […]