a mystical möbius — curating facts, ideas, text, and media to create a contemplative space.   . ~~~~~ War like no one has ever seen before? Oh, I know, the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, has threatened that very thing if the West tries to interfere with his "rape-joke" plans for Ukraine (cf. 3rd paragraph here). … Continue reading War like never before →

a mystical möbius — curating facts, ideas, text, and media to create a contemplative space. . ~~~~~ Optimistic? I always try to remain hopeful. 'Optimism,' on the other hand, has been pretty scarce in my view of the world for the past half-dozen years. In today's missive, I am choosing to be optimistic and imagine … Continue reading Another Apocalypse? Already?! →

a mystical möbius — curating facts, ideas, text, and media to create a contemplative space. . ~~~~~ Space to avert one's eyes Most evenings from 5:30 to 6:00 I engage the nightly cry. . . . err, ah, I mean The Nightly News.  So, I know that sometimes things are just too much, and we … Continue reading Two things can be true at once →

a mystical möbius — curating facts, ideas, text, and media to create a contemplative space. . ~~~~~ Gravity flashback What do you remember about October, 1962? I remember that, a couple of summers earlier, a neighbor on my (Midwestern, middle-class) block contracted to have some extensive construction work done in their back yard. The neighborhood … Continue reading Putin’s criminal aggression →

a mystical möbius — curating facts, ideas, text, and media to create a contemplative space. . ~~~~~ ~~~~~ Counter-narratives [cont.] So, these past four weeks we’ve been in conversation with Last Best Hope, George Packer’s recent book, and we'll conclude that today. We do recall that in part 1, we considered free America; in part 2 we … Continue reading Four perspectives (visions)[pt.5] →

a mystical möbius — curating facts, ideas, text, and media to create a contemplative space. . ~~~~~ ~~~~~ Counter-narratives [cont.] So, these past three weeks we've been in conversation with Last Best Hope, George Packer's recent book, and we continue that. We recall that in part 1, we considered free America, in part 2 we looked … Continue reading Four perspectives (visions)[pt.4] →

a mystical möbius — curating facts, ideas, text, and media to create a contemplative space. . ~~~~~ ~~~~~ Counter-narratives So, we've been in conversation with Last Best Hope, George Packer's recent book, and we continue with that this week. We recall that in part 1, we considered free America, and in part 2 we looked … Continue reading Four perspectives (visions)[pt.3] →

a mystical möbius — curating facts, ideas, text, and media to create a contemplative space.  . ~~~~~ ~~~~~ Free America [cont.] As we saw last week, in his book, Last Best Hope, George Packer identifies that free America has an anemic understanding of "freedom" that fails to be grasped by the holistic nature of freedom. … Continue reading Four perspectives (visions)[pt.2] →

a mystical möbius — curating facts, ideas, text, and media to create a contemplative space. . . Serendipity This week I stumbled across an opportunity to engage UMKC's annual Carolyn Benton Cockefair Lecture  (being presented as a webinar due to the pandemic). To prepare for the lecture, I read the speaker, George Packer's, most recent … Continue reading Four perspectives (visions) [pt.1] →

a mystical möbius — curating facts, ideas, text, and media to create a contemplative space. .. Do no harm The Wesleyan stream of the Christian legacy offers three simple, significant rules to guide our steps in life. As you see, the first is very pointed:  . . I say "very pointed," because applying and enacting … Continue reading Dueling realities →