“I have 46 days worth of music on my laptop and I haven’t bought an album since 1998” -some kid I roomed with at summer camp in 2007 Can I just say that we are finally here, and it wasn’t worth it? There was a time when I dreamed of this, sure. I still remember bootlegging tapes...

Last month Sinéad O’Connor tweeted that she hated Ireland. The woman was intractably connected with Ireland and, unlike other great writers, she had refused to exile herself — she did not become fashionably English like Wilde, or conveniently French like Beckett or Joyce. She even evaded the call...

“When art is not flourishing, religion languishes . . . the two often wax and wane in tandem.” Earle Jerome Coleman. There seems to me a mysterious metaphysical connection between aesthetics and religion, art and worship that I find myself hesitant to explore. Each subject on it’s own is daunting,...

Whether it’s a blogistential crisis or just writer’s block, I’ve been thinking. Teaching humanities at a local community college evokes the spirit of Jean-Paul Sartre, the great French existentialist philosopher. He explored the nature of being. I consider my being a writer. What...

Forced to sign-and-red-star-stamp a document insuring that he wouldn’t offend the fragile feelings of the Chinese people, he complied, but even a preapproved Dylan is a resourceful Dylan. He’s gritty at 69 and has songs about everything. Nonetheless, the preapproved Dylan was a sad Dylan. A love...

“All children are born artists; the trick is to remain one as you grow up.” – Pablo Picasso My most memorable creative moment happened when I was a small child of about five or six. It was a significant point in my life as an artist, but unfortunately, it’s all been pretty much downhill from...

Two words: nude bodies. Many, many – a sea of nudity. What do you think about that? Well, to some it is art. Particularly, Spencer Tunick. His penchant for exposed human flesh in public places is well documented. His latest venture in front of the Sydney Opera House has received mixed reviews....

The exterior architecture, showing a rose window, arched window, and vauled roof As a teen in the 90s, I saw the grunge era of Nirvana, Reality Bites, and heroin give way to the club kids scene of techno, Kids, and Special K.  The hallways of my suburban high school teemed with teens wearing platform...

The nave, showing the pews and supportive columns. When I heard that Eric Metaxas was speaking at Calvary Church about his new book Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy — A Righteous Gentile vs. the Third Reich, I knew I couldn’t miss the opportunity to hear him talk and to feature him...

Every other year, Calvin College hosts a Festival of Faith & Writing that brings together some of the brightest writers of our generation whose works Diane shared her homemade hummus illuminate “spiritual understanding, grace, or transcendence.”  In addition to speakers like...