Good Links (The Found Edition)

Here in the Boston Mountains, spring has come to thaw the good earth and the weeds have begun their sprouting. They grow fast, the weeds, the first green things of the season. There are daffodil shoots by my front door, too, a foreshadowing of something beautiful breaking.

Weeds are not the only things shooting up here. The boys are shooting up, and up, and up, and it’s not a far stretch to imagine them all as seven foot tall bottomless grocery pits. Ian, our third boy, has a stomach that empties into his hollow leg. I swear it. He’s always asking for more to eat. On Tuesday Taco Night (“Everything is Awesome”), he ate four tacos, an apple, an orange, a handful of chips, and another taco. He’s only six.

Lord, save us from the teenage appetites.

My appetites have shifted over the years, of course, have been turned more to art, music, and words. This week, I’ve found a few good works to slake my thirst. Enjoy.

BOOKS

I’ve been digging into Micha Boyett’s book (check out her new site!), Found, and let me tell you something: it is good. In it, Micha writes of her struggle to add-up, deals with the subtleties of a quiet works based righteousness. She explores the way of Saint Benedict, a way marked by less striving, by a kind of restful labor.

Micha writes of her long, broken prayers, how they never seemed to add up or amount to much. Having left a successful ministry position for full-time motherhood, she struggled with core identity issues. Would God love her enough? Would she be a worthy saint without some grand God-task? What if she never changed the world?

Is this a book that deals with motherhood? Sure. But deeper, this is a book that deals with the endless striving of modern Christian culture; this is a book for men and women alike. (We all suffer from our own identity crises, don’t we?) Grab a copy. Better, grab three copies and give two to a friend.

MUSIC

This week, the music segment ties in with geopolitics. “How,” you ask? Good question.

Yesterday, in an bold move to bring back the Cold War era, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a declaration formalizing Matthew Wilder’s 1983 hit, “Nobody Gonna Break My Stride,” as Russia’s alternative national anthem. Taking the stage with Crimean Solid Gold dancers, Putin declared, “Nobody gonna hold me down! Oh no! I’ve got to keep on moving!”

According to credible reports, state run television has been playing this video for the last twenty-four hours.

LINKS

The Malaysian Flight 370 debacle just keeps getting stranger. One day, they’re searching a stretch of ocean the size of the state of Pennsylvania, and the next day, they expand the search “to include a several-hundred-square-mile zone in the Indian Ocean as well as each of the seven or 22 additional spatial dimensions posited by string theory.” Follow The Onion for the most recent updates (sort of).

I love it when a fella writes good words about his wife, and Nathan Elmore has penned some of the best. He writes, “[h]ow can I say this? I suppose Amie is as good at nurturing smaller human beings as I am at putting fish sticks and crinkle fries on a tray and placing them into an oven…” Classic. Go check out Nathan’s space.

I’ve followed Ann Kroeker for years. She has killer editorial skills, is wicked-sharp with a pen, and is kind to boot. This week she writes about forming writing habits. “Don’t break the chain,” she says. Any aspiring writer (or recovering addict, for that matter) will want to read this. If you’re looking for a writing coach, or just some good advice on keeping the pen ink flowing, Jump over to Anne’s site.

John Blase:
“we live haunted by the remains of
a paradise half-seen in dreams.”
Go read this.

MUSIC--THE REDUX

For those of you who don’t know Nish Weiseth, you should. She’s an extraordinary doer, a wonderful thought-leader, and a connoisseur of good music. Last week she set the hook and reeled me in with Twin Forks.

Oh, my.

Thanks for stopping in this week! And if you’ve run across any good links of your own, let us know in the comments.