Conspire! magazine is a project of The Simple Way and a growing number of “co-conspiring communities” around the country. Each themed issue includes great writing and visual art, all with an eye toward building relationships and exploring “the questions of faith that arise from living...

In 2004, Russ Masterson went on a fast. It wasn’t a fast from sugar or alcohol or the internet or cell phones. He fasted the old-fashioned way. For forty days, Russ Masterson didn’t eat food. Russ chronicles that fast in 40 Days Without Food: Divine Goodness to a Starving Soul, an e-book...

In my ongoing quest to find a third way between the extremes espoused by the Religious Right and their secular counterparts, I came across Frank Schaeffer’s latest Patience With God. His insights afforded me considerable food for thought. How do Rick Warren, C.S. Lewis, and your father represent the...

Becky Garrison’s interview with Sara Miles was originally posted on the God’s Politics blog. In Mark Oestreicher’s review of Sara Miles’ latest book Jesus Freak, he describes Sara as one of those rare people who would make conservatives nervous because of her liberalism, and make liberals...

(Editor’s Note: Dolorean’s latest album, The Unfazed, is out today.  Go and get it NOW.) After I decided I wanted to write for a living, the first piece I wrote was a review for Violence in Snowy Fields, an Americana-tinged album by Dolorean, a band based in Portland.  When we launched...

This interview first appeared on the God’s Politics blog. While I was in Portland, I got a chance to connect for coffee with Marcus Borg, Canon Theologian at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral and Hundere Chair of Religion and Culture in the Philosophy Department at Oregon State University until his retirement...

I feel like it should be mentioned up front that Daniel Radosh was an editor at my favorite magazine of all time – Spy - and last year joined the staff of what is becoming one of my favorite TV shows of all time – The Daily Show.  With a bio that includes those powerhouses of sarcastic,...

Picture a dusty career counselor’s office in Baton Rouge sometime ago.  Max Hardberger has just handed the counselor his completed Career Assessment Inventory, upon which he has listed his top three prospective occupations.  They are: Teacher; Lawyer; Reverse Pirate.  The counselor looks at...

Editor’s Note: In celebration of the release of, as Larry Shallenberger puts it, “Burnside writer, sage, and smart aleck” John Blase’s first book, here’s an interview between John and the enigmatic Thomas Marshfield. After you read it, go to Amazon.com or Powells or something...

[Music Editor's note:  Sometimes it's interesting what albums resonate among our writers.  Of course, any album with a heavy Portland connection is likely to be featured in the virtual pages of Burnside, but the new album from Menomena's Brent Knopf (as Ramona Falls) managed to be the subject of two...