Posts for category ‘the world’

Here’s the deal. I can’t talk about all the wild and wonderful books I’m reading, because that’s against National Book Awards policy and practice. I don’t want to talk about my next book, because I’m not ready. But I really haven’t been doing much but read those books and work on that manuscript. Yet, much to my surprise, there is still a little gray matter left to ponder the Rest of the Stuff going on in the world. Like:

War. I wish I could feel more hopeful about the winding down of combat operations in Iraq. I missed the President’s speech (see above), and am not sure what to think right now, but here’s what I do know: the U.S. military is full of people serving our country for all the right reasons, and giving up everything to do the best job they can in a totally complicated situation. For them I am grateful and to them I am thankful.

Speaking of war, the documentary Camp Victory, Afghanistan is really fascinating and moving. Also, Restrepo opens this week here in SLC at the Broadway. I’m both eager and scared to see it. Modern warfare makes it too easy for those of us here at home to tune out, forget, misunderstand, or have no clue about what’s going on overseas. We don’t really have to give anything up, the way people did in WWII, and when we’re not feeling the effect on our daily lives we’re not so compelled to understand it. I guess I should just speak for myself. But based on the conversations my friends and I are not having, I’m thinking I’m not the only one. (If there are books or movies that have helped you understand the war in a new or clearer way, feel free to rec them in the comments.)

Locally, The Deseret News just announced it’s going to fire 43% of its staff. Ay-yai. Personally, I’m a Salt Lake Tribune kind of gal, but I’m of the mind that every metropolitan area is better off with at least two thriving papers. We’ll see what happens.

In much more fun news, I did find time to watch the Emmys. (I’m always thankful for these big pop culture events that happen on Sundays, as I generally arrange my life so as not to have to work on Sundays. I’m pretty sure when God set up the idea of a sabbath, this is exactly the kind of thing he had in mind for us, right?) As much as I would have liked to see Coach and Tammy Taylor do well, I was thrilled for Kyra Sedgwick and thought she looked beaaauuuutiful. Of course, I am a wee bit biased, and hoping this could help mean good things for the Story of a Girl movie.

Lastly: My copy of Jonathan Franzen’s Freedom is already in at the library and the timing COULD NOT BE WORSE. I do not have time for Freedom right now! But if I cancel my hold, I’ll go to the back of the line, which is now like 50 people and I may not get it back until 2012. Dilemma.

Okay everyone, back to your enormous stacks of reading! Or maybe that’s just me.

It’s about to get bananas up in here, y’all. Forgive me if I become scarce for the next couple of months or take longer than usual to deal with my various in-boxes. The Great In-Box of Life & Work calls.

Meanwhile:

- Over at Teen Fiction Cafe we are celebrating our third anniversary. To kick it off, I posted a reflection on the last three years of my career, including some Stuff I Have Learned. Today, Wendy Toliver posts, and there are going to be such posts every day between now and the 13th. Prizes, too, people. As in: free stuff.

- Good news for Once Was Lost: It’s been named to the CBCC (Cooperative Children’s Book Center) Choices list—their best of the year. Thank you, CBCC! And, a lovely five-star review from a teen reader at TeensReadToo. Thank you, Melanie.

- Wow, that was a good Olympics. So much epic drama! (If you were fascinated by the Vonn/Mancuso story arc, you will love Sara Bennett Wealer’s book Rival, coming out next year.) But man, we watched every minute of prime time coverage and it was exhausting. Back to 9:30 bed times.

- Huge thanks to Jacksonville Much Ado About Books for taking such good care of me at the Fest. Sometimes it’s hard to believe my “job” involves being served hors d’ouvres and forcing my own personal party escort (hi, Cindy!) to take pictures of me pretending to talk on the phone in a prop phone booth. It was especially great to meet the teens at the Mandarin Branch—many thanks to librarian Donald Carpenter for setting that up.

- So apparently I’m not being an alarmist when I fret over the future of our brains. Study shows kids spend every waking minute online. In related news, parents “can still make rules and it still makes a difference.” You don’t say!

- The founder of Taco Bell died and much to my surprise, his last name was Bell. When I relayed this bit of information to my husband, he was quiet for a second and then asked, “What was his first name?” (If that is not hilarious to you, I don’t know what would be.)

- Interesting article on snacking culture, though it doesn’t reach a satisfying conclusion, which to me is: Fifty years ago when we did not have rampant obesity and metabolic disorders, people were mostly drinking whole milk, eating delicious fatty meats, and not subjecting themselves to spinning and Pilates. Guess what didn’t exist? The snack food industry. (Read Michael Pollan’s In Defense of Food.) A nutritionist quoted in the article says kids will self regulate. But we already know nurture can trump nature, and if adults are constantly offering snacks, eventually kids will lose touch with hunger.

- Do you read Tayari Jones’ blog? You should. She always finds the best links for writers. For instance.

- Story on NPR this morning about areas of Haiti where communities are coming together to help each other though outside aid is not reaching them. Moving.

The great thing about a migraine (I know, stay with me) is that it gives me a chance to lie in the dark and catch up on podcasts. Sure, I am a fan of This American Life, Selected Shorts, and old time radio shows, but the best thing going, if you ask me, is Wisconsin Public Radio’s/PRI’s To the Best of Our Knowledge.

Today I listened to an episode in TTBOOK’s Future Perfect series, this one on the theme of “our money,” in which a bunch of thinkers talk economic theory. Sounds boring, I know, but if when you think “economy” you only think about how much is in your bank account vs. the total of your outstanding bills, and how that situation might improve or get worse based on what politicians do, take a listen. There is so much more world out there, and the interviews with Muhammad Yunus and Greg Mortensen are particularly full of pictures of self-donation and downward mobility. And I mean those two phrases the way Jesus might mean them, not the way Wikipedia does.

Listen here.

There have been a number of times during my hiatus that I’ve wanted to pop back in and comment on something or another going on in the world, but I decided those things will keep, and stuck to my guns.

But this Uganda thing is bothering me so much, I’m poking my head out here because whenever this kind of bullshit goes down in the name of “Christianity” I feel like I gotta say something.

In case you haven’t heard about it, here’s a summary. And here.

Throughout Advent I’ve been doing the Book of Common Prayer readings every day. That has made me spend a lot more time in the Old Testament than I’m used to, and as you may know a lot of us modern Christians have an uneasy relationship with the O.T.  There are a lot of harsh, weird rules about things. People who think the Uganda laws are a good idea may use some of those rules to justify their position. But in my readings, I have really been struck that the overwhelming message of the O.T. isn’t this harsh weird thing that is the opposite of what Jesus talks about. The overwhelming message is that God is pissed, yes, but the reason he’s pissed is his people have not loved justice, shown mercy, been humble. They’ve been corrupt. They’ve been too comfortable. They’ve sat in their palaces while people starve in the street, they’ve oppressed the poor, they’ve taken self-serving advantage of  their power instead of using it to take care of widows and orphans, and after being freed from slavery themselves, they’ve re-entered a culture of slavery by enslaving and oppressing others. They have failed to trust God, and have failed at what Jesus later tells us are the two most important commands: love God, love others. This is the overwhelming message from the prophets.

If Ugandan Christians want to love justice—yes, prosecute those who engage in sex tourism and sex trade that exploits children and the poor, sex crimes against children, rape, abuse. A sex crime is a sex crime, no matter what body parts are involved. According to wikipedia, over 75% of Ugandans live below the international poverty level. How about some justice and mercy there. There is a history of government corruption, civil war, mass murder, and genocide. Good reasons to show humility.

And while U.S. Christians are speaking out against the Uganda policy, it is a good opportunity to look at how well we’re doing at speaking for human rights here in our own land of the free.

Okay, retreating back into hiatus. Peace on earth.