Articles By: Kim Gottschild

Travelling the world and worshipping God with all His people has always been Kim’s dream. Having snagged a German husband along the way, she now resides with her spouse, their two precocious daughters, and their two rescue dogs in Carmel “by the Corn” (as dubbed by the locals), Indiana. Kim has the Tower of Babel incident to thank for giving her a fab career as a world language teacher, but she still manages to find the time her to pursue creative endeavors like writing, painting, and serving as the Assocociate Social Justice Editor for the Burnside Writers Collective.

Cupcake Countenance: Responsibility

I used to be really mad at Eve. Like, really furious with her. And I was going to write an entire book about it. Entitled, Letters to Eve, I was going to give her a piece of my mind and let her know just how badly she screwed things up. It was going to go something like this: Dear Eve, I hate you....

February 14th, 2011 | Columns, Cupcake Countenance, Featured | Read More

Cupcake Countenance

Since the arctic air-conditioning at Urban Outfitters had sent me seeking warmer air on the Chicago streets, I was standing at the corner of Rush and East Walton, just outside the hipster store adjacent to American Apparel. Don’t let that fool you into you thinking I am actually young and hip enough...

January 31st, 2011 | Columns, Cupcake Countenance, Essays, Featured | Read More

A Slice of the Pie

This Thanksgiving, I’ve been thinking about food, but not for reasons you might think. Bear with me, and I’ll explain: Ella’s been having a rough time of it in Math lately. Actually, she’s been suffering through it for years. For some reason, the child who tested into honors Math has difficulty...

November 23rd, 2010 | Featured, Social Justice | Read More

Because Grace is the New Black

Yes, friendly Burnside readers, your trusty Associate Social Justice Editor had this wacky, harebrained idea the other day: Why not audition for Oprah’s search for the next talk show host? I’ve known for a while that my only viable skills in life are talking and coming up with harebrained ideas. ...

June 28th, 2010 | Featured, Television | Read More

Preventing Homeless Pets

“Kim, I think I feel a lump,” Bjoern said as he felt our Rottweiler’s neck. It was a snowy January afternoon in Indiana, and we were cozily hunkered down in front of the fireplace. Cuddling with Brigitte, the dog, my husband had discovered the tumor that would steal her away from us that April,...

December 14th, 2009 | Featured, Part of the Solution | Read More

The Whys and Hows of Supporting Our Teachers

I threw a little temper tantrum at Office Max about a month ago. Standing in front of the Post-It note display, I eyed the price tag on the oddly sized pads of paper my daughter needed to take to school. Fifteen dollars! The price of the sticky notes was more than her crayons, colored pencils,...

October 12th, 2009 | Featured, Part of the Solution | Read More

Part of the Solution: Spiritual Security

artwork by He Qi The idea for this column was to draw attention to facts of which we might not be aware. Every couple of weeks, we wanted to highlight injustices with some numbers and statistics and then offer practical solutions. We simply wanted us all to become aware of both how we may inadvertently...

August 17th, 2009 | Part of the Solution | Read More

Solution: Stop Hoarding

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, your heart will be also. Most...

July 6th, 2009 | Part of the Solution, Social Justice | Read More

Part of the Solution: Denim Sandblasting

Bjoern and I walked into a department store the other day, and immediately upon entering, Bjoern pointed out the men’s vintage look designer jeans and said, “People in Turkey are dying making those jeans.” Turns out he had recently read an article in our favorite German online news magazine, www.spiegel.de,...

April 13th, 2009 | Part of the Solution | Read More

Part of the Solution: School Lunch

Our school district recently had to make a change to their elementary school lunch menu. The bosco sticks, mozzarella stuffed breadsticks dipped in sauce, were replaced by pizza dippers. Apparently, the children had been removing the mozzarella cheese from the bosco sticks, wadding it into a ball, then...

March 30th, 2009 | Part of the Solution | Read More