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Authentic faith inherently political

Sometimes I imagine heaven as the church basement of my childhood. I grew up in a picturesque Southern California town nestled in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains, where our bustling non‑denominational evangelical church seemed to anchor the community. The church basement was where life happened: funeral lunches, wedding receptions, family movie nights, holiday potlucks and more. It was a joy-filled place where I could simply show up and know I would be fed, known, and loved. That basement felt like home and maybe even heaven. In that church, I was faithfully taught the ...

The League of Women Voters empowering voters

The League of Women Voters grew out of eighty years of protest. In 1890, the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) was formed with the sole purpose of securing the right to vote for women. When this goal was achieved in 1919, NAWSA merged with the National Council of Women Voters to create a new organization, the League of Women Voters of the United States. Referred to as a “mighty political experiment,” it aimed to help newly enfranchised women exercise their right to vote.  On March 24, 1919, the Minnesota Legislature granted the women of Minnesota  the right ...

Conducting amateur archeology

I have been doing a bit of amateur archeology lately, digging deep, excavating through layers of an all-but-forgotten past. This process is sometimes painful as it causes me to review the awful fashion and haircut choices I made when I was growing up. Digging through old family photos can cause a guy to become caught in a vortex of nostalgia. What happened to that young, carefree boy who seemed to have the fashion sense of a hobo? The kid who had an at-home haircut that appeared to involve a bowl placed on the head? The happy-go-lucky lad who looked as concerned about his ...

A Bad Bunny with a good message

I like Bad Bunny. There, I said it. I lost a few readers there. I don’t speak Spanish. My daughter Abby does. (Shout out to Abby’s high school Spanish teacher, Gail Bromenschenkel. You done good!) Abby has lived in Spain, Guatemala, and Colombia. Many of her friends are Spanish speaking. Some years ago, Abby put me onto Spanish music. It’s my music of choice when I’m jogging the lake trail. Juanes, Shakira, and Morat are favorites. Bad Bunny has joined my playlist. I don’t speak Spanish. But I enjoy the sound of the language. It has a beautiful cadence and rhythm, ...

Healthy love starts young

February is recognized nationally as Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month, a time dedicated to raising awareness about the realities of unhealthy and abusive relationships among young people. Led by organizations such as love is respect and supported by initiatives from the National Domestic Violence Hotline, this month encourages communities to have honest conversations about respect, boundaries, consent, and healthy communication. Teen dating violence affects millions of adolescents each year, yet it often goes unrecognized or unreported. By increasing education, promoting ...

State Capitol gets new security, why can’t schools get the same priority?

Feb. 15 marked National School Resource Officer Appreciation Day. As a fairly new recognition, started in 2022, many people don’t even know it exists. You might not be fully aware of what a School Resource Officer (SRO) actually does, or the critical role they play in school safety. Guns often dominate the headlines when we talk about keeping students, teachers, and school staff safe, but other measures, like having trained SROs in our schools, need to be front and center in the conversation. In the wake of the Annunciation School shooting last August, parents, administrators, and ...