Something I wrote on the occasion of the retirement of Cecil Roberts, president of the United Mine Workers of America for the past 30 years.

If you're using this article in any of your classes this term I'd be happy to Zoom into your class to discuss it.

Had a great time a couple of weeks ago with this amazing gang, plus Oren Lyons and Jake Edwards.

the least tangle or kink in the coiling would, in running out, infallibly take somebody’s arm, leg, or entire body off

a sullen white surf beat against its steep sides; then all collapsed

Nothing says "viewpoint diversity" like (*checks notes*) restricting curricula to a mandated viewpoint.

166 faith leaders in Texas & 193 faith leaders in Missouri urge state lawmakers to oppose bills mandating posting of Ten Commandments in public schools (publicwitness.wordandway.org/p/nearly-200...). These hundreds of faith leaders prove such bills aren't about Christianity but #ChristianNationalism

Thought I'd throw this out there just because I was thinking about it again this morning.

Since Trump is busy unilaterally renaming bodies of water down south, thought we’d get started up in New England. How’s this?

Americans purport to take religion seriously, but so many Americans don't even know much about the religious traditions and institutions they identify with and claim as justification for their socio-political views.

Religion is complicated. Obviously. In the US over the past few decades the general public discourse seems to have reduced "religion" to "Christianity," and "Christianity" to a particular socio-political brand. But religion won't be so easily contained.

MAJOR BREAKING: Pope Francis has written a letter to US Bishops saying he’s following “major crisis” of “mass deportations;” takes on Vance saying “The true ordo amoris that must be promoted is that which we discover by meditating constantly on the parable of the “Good Samaritan”

Pope Francis’ letter to U.S. Bishops is incedibly powerful. This stands out to me especially. Every purported Christian faith leader who has endorsed or stood silent before Trump’s ugly immigration policies needs to be confronted with this statement. www.vatican.va/content/fran...

This is ridiculous.

So when all was said and done, the only country that opened it's prisons and sent crazy murderous criminals to prey upon innocent American citizens, was us.

welcome back Don Quixote (1605)

I sometimes find myself reminded that there are many, many things going on every day that reveal that we live in multiple, different realities.

Banning trans kids from sports solves *none* of the problems that Americans are facing. Let’s be real: Trans kids aren't the reason we can't afford groceries. Trans kids aren't the reason young people are giving up on ever owning a home. Corporate greed is.

Nobody wants a student essay as a product; we want students to learn to compose their thoughts in written form as a process. I mean, would you have a machine run your laps or play your scales for you? In which case we would not say you had run or played.

It’s funny that we are all acknowledging that private health care is an absolute bureaucratic nightmare designed to limit treatment at the expense of patients’ lives and lots of people still believe that trans kids are just walking into medical facilities and getting treatment without question.

I'll introduce what I've been working on lately with this link to my most recent publication, a short piece on thinking religion through the planetary connections of the 19th century whaling industry: www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/15... The whole special issue on religion in extractive zones is great.

amazing that packer wrote this about an election result in which no one got above 50% of the vote. the thing you have to understand about the commentary class is that many of them are embarrassed elites who are overly credulous toward right-wing populist claims for reasons of self-loathing

Mexico's President Claudia Sheinbaum response in a letter to Donald Trump's tariffs threat against Mexico for immigrants crossing into the United States. We all know how much Trump fears and hates powerful women. 👇👇👇👇👇👇👇

If your government has $10 billion to invest in new nuclear power - the earliest that nuclear power will be available will be in 2034. That $10 billion can build more than 10x the amount of solar + wind + batteries in under 12 months. Opportunity Cost Lesson 101.

“Don’t feed the trolls” also extends to bad opinion pieces in papers of record. They run them bc people react to them the most. If we stop linking to bad columns and instead post thinkers we find valuable (& generate convo around it), incentives change. It’s not easy and takes constant practice!

Wrote this up more fully, same bottom line on Washington: there is no carve out for slavery. "Slavery was not an incidental factor in his life. It was part of all that he did and accomplished. His world was made by, and bound by, the centrality of slavery." 1/ time.com/7173647/geor...

Greetings all!!! Ian from Fire Draw Near here. Glad not to be in the other place any longer!!! campsite.bio/firedrawnear

Coming up next week here at Gonzaga, we're excited to welcome Phil Arnold and Sandy Bigtree to campus.

Exciting news that American Religion is now an open access journal and all issues are available for free. And, they’re open for submissions for future issues. www.american-religion.org

I'll introduce what I've been working on lately with this link to my most recent publication, a short piece on thinking religion through the planetary connections of the 19th century whaling industry: www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/15... The whole special issue on religion in extractive zones is great.

I'm loving that Jessica Burbank and John Russell have teamed up for a new podcast--theirs is a perspective I want to hear more of in the aftermath of the election (and more generally). jessjohnpod.substack.com/podcast

This is a great conversation with Ian Lynch of Lankum and Conner Habib on singers as storytellers, Irish identity, Sean-nós singing, horror, folklore & the politics of (some) Irish songs. Also highly recommend Ian's Fire Draw Near podcast on the history of folksongs. spotify.link/r6snCTXGkDb

If you haven't listened to Lankum yet, or to Ian Lynch's amazing Irish traditional music podcast "Fire Draw Near," why the hell not? Best stuff out there these days!

Five bands you've seen more than five times, in no particular order or ranking: Grateful Dead Phish Ani DiFranco Bob Dylan John Hartford

i remember when archive.org was just like 3 screenshots of the Yahoo homepage and ten thousand Grateful Dead live tapes

This is a great podcast episode from an under-examined archive of American religious history. Enjoy! www.dead.net/deadcast/dea...