There is something about this time of year that makes everything seem possible. Last August the garden beds in our backyard were overrun with weeds and our hostas were dried out and weary looking. But this past weekend as we raked away the leaves, I…
On two upcoming weekends, St. Paul people will have the opportunity to clean up and plant the Earth. Saturday, April 18, 10 a.m.-12 noon: Help keep the St. Paul corner of the world clean at the Make It Yours Neighborhood Cleanup. This few-times-a-yea…
Alex Johnson had to think just a little bit about what he would do with $100 he received at school. His mom, Katy, had given clothes to Ms. B’s Boutique, an effort at Hayes Elementary School in Davenport to provide for kids whose families don’t have…
Theaster Gates is an artist who lives and works in the south side of Chicago. Pottery became his passion, Theaster will tell you, because he was able to “learn how to make great things out of nothing.” With just the right finesse, a rather ordinary l…
Ellen Weiss comes from a family of musicians. Her mother, grandparents, and generations of great-grandparents all practiced the art of music. As a young child, Ellen started to sing in her local church’s children’s choir in Sweden. The director of th…
With the words “please turn on your souls and turn off your cell phones,” the service begins. There are about 60 people in worship here on this day, spread throughout the 102-year-old sanctuary of First Evangelical Lutheran Church, on the northwest s…
Matthew Coomber first remembers learning about Nazi Germany at a young age, horrified that such a profound evil had such a great influence in the world. As he grew older and learned that some still adhere to Nazi ideology, he was driven by a need to…
Worship experiences have their own excitement. Other rituals in life, like taking out contact lenses at bedtime and brushing teeth in a particular way, are quite predictable. But in worship, anything can happen. A mother may get the strings of her da…
Where did you grow up? I was born and raised in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. I am the oldest and have two younger brothers. I grew up singing in choirs and playing sports, particularly soccer. My mom was our church musician, so I spent much of my time gro…
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Where did you grow up? My family was a group of rolling stones, so I grew up in several different places across the American south. I like to count packing and moving as one of my life skills. Currently, my parents live in a small town in Mississippi…
Jim Blaha is a funny guy. In middle school, he ran for student council. His campaign slogan was Vote for James Blaha – He’s No Joke. Get it? Blaha, kind of like haha. He won the election, he says with a big wide smile. Jim absolutely loves music, car…
There are countless reasons given for justifying anti-Semitism around the world. I don’t like any of them. Why this minority population deserves to be consistently demonized defies all reason. There isn’t a century in the last 2000 years where people…