I have been traveling to Lithuania since 2004, often spending the majority of my summer there. Every five years the Song and Dance Festival grabs the attention of Lithuanians, many from around the world, for a week of traditional music, dance, costumes, and food. This July was my first chance to experience these events, something I had heard about ever since my first visit. (Latvia and Estonia also have festivals as well. The Estonian one is documented in the documentary The Singing Revolution.)Imagine listening to over 14,000 voices singing, with the sound amplified by an acoustic shell built just for […]

I hold that weaponized and surveillance drones are immoral. They are contrary to everything my Mennonite faith teaches.

Dystopian stories abound now in books, TV shows and movies. For example, back to back on TNTon Sunday evenings, we get Falling Skies, about humans fighting an alien race that is taking over the Earth, and The Last Ship, about a U.S. naval ship carrying a scientist working on a vaccine for a virus that has wiped out most of Earth’s population. Turn to FXand we get The Strain.While the film depicts much fighting, it judges the fighting as destructive, tragic and unnecessary. The heroes of the film are those working to bring healing and reconciliation.

The Fault in Our Stars is a publishing mega-hit, wowing young readers, adults, and literary minds alike (It’s witty! A great romance! Written by a man!)—and once the movie posters outed it as a cancer book, I lost all interest in reading it.With a due sense of exhaustion and dread, I opened the book. And finished it by the next day. Yes, it is a cancer book, and yes it is witty, and romantic, and written by a man.

What’s bringing so many children and families to decide a dangerous trip, not accompanied by parents and smuggled into the U.S. with an uncertain future, is better than their alternatives? According to a recent article in the New York Times, workers at the San Pedro Sula morgue in Honduras said the number of murdered bodies they receive is significantly higher today than it was a year ago, including those of children. Stories in the media speak of young children forced to work as lookouts, messengers or spies for the gangs. Eight children, between the ages of seven and 13, were […]

Anyone or anything can achieve some level of fame these days just by pronouncing something as important. This past week, ESPNheld the ESPYAwards, which are suddenly important because ESPNtold us it was (and aired the ceremonies, of course). And did you know that last week you missed Don’t Step on a Bee Day and Cow Appreciation Day (conveniently promoted by chicken sandwich chain Chick-fil-A)? Today, July 18, is National Caviar Day. The glass-is-half-empty guy inside of me says these are shameless, bogus events. The glass-is-half-full guy inside of me says we don’t celebrate enough so we might as well make […]

pouring fuel on the flames is not going to make the fire go out.

here), I want to draw your attention to a gem you probably missed at the cinema this spring. Locke, a British indie film written and directed by Steven Knight, and starring Tom Hardy, will be released on DVDin August and I encourage you to check it out (though not at the end of a long day).

Clint Eastwood’s adaptation of the Broadway musical Jersey Boys into a movie broadens the story of the four friends from New Jersey who became the Four Seasons and rose to stardom in the early 1960s. While it includes many of their popular hits, it delves into their background and shows the conflicts that developed as their popularity grew.They go on the road, and after a while the troubles grow. Frankie’s marriage suffers from his being gone. Tommy gambles away all their earnings and lands them in a half-million dollars of debt.