Urban Onramps

Plenty of people are worked up about this: CNN.com: Ruben Navarrette: The hypocrisy of repeating the “W” word

I’ve got a chapter called “A Pound of Social Justice: Beyond Fighting for a Just Cause” in the new book, An Emergent Manifesto of Hope. Tell me if you want to get it but are having a hard time getting your hands on a copy. Here’s an interesting book review by Roger Overton over at the A-Team blog, where he makes very short summaries of each chapter in the book. Here are Roger’s concluding thoughts:

One thing that should become clear to readers of this book is that the Emergent Church is not, nor is it seeking to be, a monolithic movement. Voices in this book range in their views of theology and the role of the Bible in their ministries- some calling the church to fulfill its biblical mandates and some others straying from biblical teaching.

An Emergent Manifesto of Hope is valuable in that it presents a variety of Emergent practices and theologies in the words of its promoters. Those who are looking to participate or to better understand the movement will benefit from reading the volume.

I still can’t get Echo and the Bunnymen out of my head. It’s not just because they were all over KROQ while I was in high school.

UPDATE: What did we do before Wikipedia? Wikipedia: Echo and the Bunnymen

UPDATE 2: Speaking of Rudy’s recidivism, what the heck is that Pearl Jam song “Daughter” about? Eddie Vetter is a genius, cuz the lyrics say nothing and are very short, yet he sings with such passion, you think something is about to happen.

The Extreme Fundraising Blog

This topic has been making the rounds for a while, and here are three takes on the fact that Bush’s house in Crawford is a model of proper environmental stewardship:

– The Secret Life of GWB, Closet Environmentalist?
– Bush’s Ranch House ‘Far More Eco-Friendly’ Than Gore’s
– and the article that (apparently) started the latest round of fuss: Meanwhile, back at the ranch

I like listening to the Gospel of John, chapters 7-9, in The Bible Experience. Jesus says some deep stuff. Hearing the words of Jesus spoken by Blair Underwood gives me a fresh, uh, “experience” of the teachings of Christ.

Berkeley Rican has a very realistic depiction of Green Eggs and Hams. I can’t for the life of me figure out what he was doing that generated this concoction.

The year was not 2002, but around 1800 - Christopher Hitchens writes in City Journal about “(Thomas) Jefferson versus the Muslim Pirates.”

There were many Americans—John Adams among them—who made the case that it was better policy to pay the tribute. It was cheaper than the loss of trade, for one thing, and a battle against the pirates would be “too rugged for our people to bear.” Putting the matter starkly, Adams said: “We ought not to fight them at all unless we determine to fight them forever.”

The cruelty, exorbitance, and intransigence of the Barbary states, however, would decide things. The level of tribute demanded began to reach 10 percent of the American national budget, with no guarantee that greed would not increase that percentage, while from the dungeons of Algiers and Tripoli came appalling reports of the mistreatment of captured men and women. Gradually, and to the accompaniment of some of the worst patriotic verse ever written, public opinion began to harden in favor of war. From Jefferson’s perspective, it was a good thing that this mood shift took place during the Adams administration, when he was out of office and temporarily “retired” to Monticello. He could thus criticize federal centralization of power, from a distance, even as he watched the construction of a fleet—and the forging of a permanent Marine Corps—that he could one day use for his own ends.

Coloring Girl has a series of personal, transparent, and fascinating posts, just keep scrolling down.

Urban Onramps Double Super Secret Agent rmedrano sent this link and info:

“African American & Hispanic Unity” Essay Contest
sponsored by Historically Black College & University Community

The “African American & Hispanic Unity” Essay Contest is available to:

1. Graduating High School Seniors
2. Undergraduate College Students
3. Graduate College Students

Scholarship Rules:
You must write an essay that is between 500 and 2,500 words explaining your thoughts and solutions to the following points:

1. Why should African Americans and Hispanics in the United States work together as minorities to address political, cultural, communication, and community issues?
2. What can be done to strengthen the relationship between the African American and Hispanic communities living within the United States?
3. How and why should Historically Black College & Universities continue to support the needs of African American Students and possibly the needs of the growing Hispanic (and Afro-Hispanic) population in the United States?

Deadline For Essays:

* June 1st, 2007

Scholarship Payout:

* September 2007
* $1,000.00
* Must prove enrollment in a college or university in the United States

Submitting Your Essay:

First create a user account: http://forums.hbcuconnect.com/register.php

Essays need to be submitted as NEW THREADS here in the HBCUCONNECT user forums under the “Essay Contest Forum”. You can edit your submission as many times as necessary before the deadline…
All essays will be made readable only by you until our deadline for submissions has been met. Once the deadline has been met, we will open up all threads for PUBLIC viewing while we select finalists. Once finalists are selected we will post a poll to allow for public voting for winners.

In order to manage your submission you will need to create a user account and post your essay using the following link:

http://forums.hbcuconnect.com/newthr…newthread&f=52

Sincerely,

HBCU CONNECT STAFF
750 Cross Pointe Rd. Suite Q
Columbus, Ohio 43230

Dig it.

Someone found this blog by searching at Google for “emerging church beijing.” Nice to know I’m the source for that sort of information

CBS News: “”If President al-Bashir does not meet his obligations, the United States of America will act,” Bush said.” Economic sanctions and US resolutions are in the mix. Obama says it’s not enough. If you think it’s all about oil, here’s a backgrounder that discusses the role of oil in the Darfur conflict: A spreading arc of African conflict is rooted in a toxic mix of colonialism, poverty, oil and political ambition.

It went down for a few minutes. Now it’s up. But for those few minutes I panicked. Wired magazine has an article about people who are parking their computer applications inside the Google Apps suite: Livin’ La Vida Google: A Month-long Dive into Web Apps. I use gmail exclusively (my harambee.org email forwards to my gmail account) and I use Google Calendar for my calendar. I use Google Documents sporadically (mostly cuz it’s really easy to share docs, when you need to share a doc).

Andrea Peyser in the New York Post: Out of the Horror Emerges a Hero

I don’t know why, but I got really angry as I read this article. These innocent people had no chance, no moment. They were just shot methodically by a cold-hearted killer.

That’s the title of my wife’s workshop at this year’s Urban Youth Workers Institute.

• Kafi is sick this morning. I think it’s mainly from tiredness. We’ve been working long hours. We both had a 13 hour work day on Monday, and that was just Harambee work. When you are a mom and a dad, the day is longer - as you moms and dads know.
• My friend Ruben Navarrette, Jr. is in the next town on a speaking engagement. I’m hoping to track him down.
• Finishing a Harambee newsletter. And a Harambee proposal. And a Harambee planning doc. And… you get the picture.
• Northwest Neighbors raised $25,000 on Saturday night, toward their goal of a $100,000 endowment for their ministry to children and youth in the Villa Parke section of Pasadena. Congratulations, Jason, Scott, Sara, and friends.
• Jacque Robinson is the winner of yesterday’s Pasadena District 1 run-off between her and Robin Salzer.
• My nephew Jamaal is on track for July graduation from Azusa Pacific University. July 27 to be specific. I’m proud of him. He’s done a lot of good, hard work. And he’s listened to my instruction all along the way.
• Sam’s doctor visit yesterday went well. I spent four hours with him doing that. We were checking funny looking things under his arm, but the doc said it was nothing.