Weekly Stories
These are some of the articles/podcasts I've enjoyed this past week, and I'm sharing them in the hopes that someone else might enjoy them as well. Some are light-hearted, some more serious, and one is deeply sad. But I feel strongly that we should know what is going on in the world--appreciate the good, true, and beautiful, while lamenting and praying over the hard and sad. I would love to discuss any of these with anyone who happens to give them a read/listen.
The Way Home with Daniel Darling, featuring Andrew Walker
I enjoyed this 30-minute podcast, in which a couple of friends discuss the need for Christians to be informed about the events happening in our world and the best sources to find that information. In fact, it was partly listening to this podcast that made me want to start doing a roundup of things I've found interesting or compelling regarding our country and world.
What is Aleppo? This is Aleppo
From The Atlantic: A collection of images shot by journalists and photographers over the past few years, chronicling the horrible violence in the Syrian city of Aleppo. These are hard to look at, but our hearts must be broken over these things. These images will inform my prayers.
Game of Her Life
I was reading my father-in-law's latest issue of ESPN The Magazine early this week and ran across a brief article about Phiona Mutesi, the subject of Disney's upcoming film, The Queen of Katwe. The ESPN piece was a follow-up to this article, written by Tim Crothers in 2013, upon which the film is based. I am hoping the movie is appropriate to take my daughter to, as the story told here is complex and beautiful.
Breaking into Baseball's Ultimate Boys' Club
From The Atlantic: As the daughter of a former sportswriter, I grew up talking sports with the men in my family and the boys in school. I once gave a female classmate talking points about the favored baseball team of the boy she liked so that she would have something to talk about when he called her that night. But even twenty years later, it still feels as though talking about certain sports remains the domain of men. I have questioned whether to post on social media about college basketball or the NBA, wondering how my male peers view that. It's silly, but it feels like a boys' club. So I found this feature on Jessica Mendoza, MLB's first female TV analyst, compelling.
The Final Stretch
From Yuval Levin at National Review: Levin looks at the impending election and the vast unpopularity of both major party candidates. I especially appreciate these words: "But whoever wins in November, this will not be the launch of a new political order in America. It will rather be the reason we decide it's time for a change, and turn our politics into an argument about what that change must be. 2016 should leave Americans of all stripes thinking that our great nation can surely do much better than this."
The Church and the 2016 Election
"Americans will go to the polls two months from today. This will be the 17th presidential election in my lifetime, and none has seemed as vexing as this one." My dad wrote this for his congregation, but I think it's helpful for all Christians to read and think through.