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May 18-20, 2016 Warsaw, Poland

Brenna O'Brien

Front-end engineer at TED, community builder who loves math

Brenna is a front-end engineer at TED, where she works with JavaScript and Ember.js to build TED’s internal tools. Committed to building community and making programming more accessible, Brenna is an organizer of NodeSchool Toronto, a volunteer instructor for Ladies Learning Code, and a former bootcamp instructor for HackerYou.

Brenna loves mixing code with math and geometry, which led her to create, and continues to inspire her experiments with SVG and D3.js. One day she hopes to achieve her dream of starting a David Bowie themed browser standards group called TVC39.

The myth of the “Real JavaScript Developer”

Friday, 16:05

  • Teamwork
  • Vanilla JavaScript

Making the jump from HTML & CSS to JavaScript can be intimidating. For many JS beginners, this will be the first programming language they encounter. And if that wasn't challenging enough, there's also immense cultural pressure to live up to unrealistic standards of what it means to be a successful JS developer today.

In this talk, we'll debunk the myth of the “real JavaScript developer” - a magical creature who knows it all, writing perfect code in the hottest new framework without ever needed to stop and take a break. We'll look at simple strategies to help beginners on their journey learning JavaScript and also come up with a more realistic definition of what it means to be a successful JavaScript developer today.

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By sponsoring Front-Trends, you'll reach thousands of professional web developers (both at the event and online once videos are posted).

Check out our sponsorship opportunities or get in touch with us at [email protected] for more information.


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Featured Post

Cash back apps...my favorites! How about you...are you saving too?!

Cash back...what a wonderful thing! There are several different ways that I earn cash back while shopping in the store, or while shopping ...

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Goggles 4 U....72 hour sale!!!

Goggles 4 U is a great way to get affordable glasses!!!  I have been enjoying my glasses from them since November.

For the next 72 hours, you can save BIG!!!

Check out the prices and coupon codes to use.
Goggles 4 U website

It might be time to order another pair, just for fun!  :) Pin It Print Friendly and PDF

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Post a Comment

Thank you for taking the time to leave a comment! I always enjoy hearing from my readers! :)

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AAA PDF Password Remover 2.00

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AAA PDF Password Remover is very powerful and easy-to-use!

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AAA PDF Password Remover supports to decrypt, unlock 40-bit Encryption and Adobe Advanced 128-bit Encryption.

AAA PDF Password Remover can be run independently,does not need Adobe Acrobat.

AAA PDF Password Remover is a free trial software application from the Encryption Tools subcategory, part of the Security & Privacy category. The app is currently available in English and it was last updated on 2006-02-25. The program can be installed on Win95, Win98, WinME, WinNT 4.x, Windows2000, WinXP, Windows2003.

AAA PDF Password Remover (version 2.00) has a file size of 3.06 MB and is available for download from our website. Just click the green Download button above to start. Until now the program was downloaded 742 times. We already checked that the download link to be safe, however for your own protection we recommend that you scan the downloaded software with your antivirus.

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Released Date 2006-02-25
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HIDEOUT! Series: Citadelle Laferrière

Citadelle Laferrière

This addition to the HIEDOUT! Series goes out to the South American readers or those with access to a boat!

Built by Henri Christophe, a key leader during the Haitian slave rebellion, at the beginning of the 19th century to guard against the French, whom Christophe was adamant would return to reclaim Haiti (might we add they didn’t).

Now a world Heritage site, Citadelle Laferrière stands atop Bonnet a L’Eveque mountain near the town of Milito. It took 200,000 workers to build this enormous fortification and

One of the most important advantages of this fortress aside from the obvious, that it’s a fortress is within the 40 metre tall walls are enough food storage facilities to store food for up to 5,000 people for up to a year and also include large numbers of bathrooms, dungeons and baking facilities (ovens and the like).

One might think that a building like this would mean thousands and thousands of visitors each year but according to the Global Heritage Fund (GHF) “Today, less than 1,000 paying visitors visit the Citadelle Laferrière annually, despite its being one of the most important sites in Latin America.” So this dramatically reduces your chances of having to fight of 100,00 other people with the same idea as you.

Now the downside is that to get to the citadel, involves a large hike and thus limits what you could feasibly bring with you.  However, if one was smart, you’d bring things like seeds and due to the surrounds of the citadel, there are a number of fruit trees growing fruit such as mangoes and could become an important part of your survival.

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HIDEOUT! Series : HM Prison Beechworth

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Quick thought

I’m not the best writer. I’ve never been called prolific and nobody in my journey thus far has pegged me as the next great literary talent.

I’m black, young (by the greater standards of the old guard who I sometimes look at as the Gate Keepers of all things conventionally-success-like) and I’m from a part of the world that isn’t renowned in the literary sense.

Not for nothing, my country is filled with intelligent and incredible people who enjoy reading, but when 54% of the country is illiterate, it stands to reason that writing isn’t as high on the “hone-a-skill-and-be-great-in-life” list.

I know, I’m rambling, that’s probably because English is also my second language.

My point is, I’m not the best writer out here, nor do I have very many people visiting my corner of the interwebs, but I sure as hell enjoy doing it and I’m good enough to stand on my own two feet and take pride in the worlds I create, the people I develop and the stories I like to tell.

Could I be better, sure, when is anybody ever perfect in anything? That’s a rhetorical question because I firmly believe that Beyonce is perfect in all things, if you have any opposing views, though respected, I have to ask you to come fight me.

Someone recently told me that we live in a world and operate in societies that sometimes won’t tell you how inadequate you are, but will rather show you by the number of doors they refuse to open for you. I didn’t believe it at first; me and my optimistic, idealist self believed that if you really wanted to make something happen, you’ll find a way. However, upon reflection, truly objectively observing the kind of messiness that happens not only in my backyard, but across the ocean as well, I have to give credence to those observations.

There’s a systematic devaluing agenda already put in place in spaces people like me were never meant to inhabit. Sometimes it’s so ingratiated into the fabric of that world that its perpetrators have no idea they’re exacerbating the function and contributing to this big, “bad”, outdated machine until someone points it out.

I’m not here to talk about some grave injustice against me because of the colour of my skin or the fact that I live in a part of the world some might not want to invest in, or find favour in, but I am here to say that despite the challenges placed before me (of which I have very little to no control over), I still believe that I’m a worthy investment.

If I was to be discounted, I’d rather it be because I’m very emotional, I am not very nice when I’ve not had a meal in a minute, I have seven different types of laughs and all of them are ugly, I don’t get fidget spinners, and I’m a little bit elitist (but I’m currently being reformed).

Left behind

Growing, I dubbed myself “the late bloomer”
I was late to walking, talking, running, learning and growing.
I was late in my journey into and through puberty
And I was late in understanding both the importance and dangers of my skin and its hue.
The older I became, the clearer it was that I was also late in my understanding that I was never the late bloomer I thought I was.
It wasn’t that I was late for anything
It was that I was, for some divine reason, always left behind.
They all fell in love first; fell out of love first, had their hearts broken first
Grew into their skin first
Found themselves first, graduated first, embraced independence first
Created families first and succeeded first
While I remained.
Still blooming.
Left behind, not to suffer, as I’ve oft lamented
But to learn; to understand the depths of my strengths and abilities.
To prepare for the coming tides, because they will come
The love, the heartbreak, the family, the success, the fulfilment
It will come
And when it does
I will shed this moniker
And wear a new one
Because I will no longer be left behind.

FIRE – Unknown

““Family always finds its way back” That was her mantra. Sometimes I’d catch her staring at me, deep in thought. It was like she was plotting something from the very beginning, like she knew I was never enough and that one day, one day she’d have no use for me and I would end up alone, broken, weak and held prisoner by a mad man.

I was never the strong one; that was my older brother. He had the looks, the charm and the slick tongue that found a way to get him just as much into as it did out of trouble.

I was never like that. I was never like any of them.

That had to be why she sold me. I hope I was worth it.

“Fire of the Lord” That’s what our surname meant. So my mother, who spoke more and more about the importance of family the bigger her belly got, drilled it into our heads that all we had to do was follow the smoke, because that’s where the fire will be, that’s where family will be.

But I couldn’t do that even if I wanted to. It’s been days since anyone’s offered anything more than a cold, tasteless meal and a quick senseless beating.

The beatings are something I kind of miss now.

Part of me hates myself for thinking like that, but I can’t help it. When he beats me, the man my mother sold me to who always smells like cigarettes, at least then I know I’m not invisible. At least then, in between the screams and the cries and the begging, I know that he sees me and he knows I’m still here. Without the beatings, I’m scared that he might forget about me and the food will stop coming.

I wish I had been invisible before I was brought here. If my mother hadn’t seen me and I had been part of the furniture and nobody felt threatened by me, or if I was quiet and didn’t eat too much, maybe then my mother wouldn’t have done what she felt she needed to do.

If I was smart enough, though, I would have seen it coming. She did warn me. She’d always tell me that I didn’t belong with them. She told me I was beautiful and delicate and too precious. She must have been lying. Nobody throws away something that’s beautiful.

I’ve been in the dark for too long. The boarded window just below the ceiling is the only thing that gives away the day and night. Right now it’s too dark, so it must be night.

My mother must have had her reasons for giving me up, so I can’t hate her for doing what she did. We’re not a rich family; it’s just the three of us, probably four now, and so each of us has to work hard and make sure we provide for the family. This was her way of providing for the family. I can’t hate her for surviving.

It just means that I have to survive too. Maybe if I showed them that I can be strong too, that I can be a fighter and I can work hard too, maybe then my mom will keep me.

All I have now is a box with two matches, a wooden door, boards against a window and the clothes on my back.

If I make a big enough fire, maybe they’ll see the smoke and come find me.

This is how I’ll prove to them that I can be better, before the smoke takes over my lungs and before the fire takes everything, maybe they’ll see that I’m just like them. Maybe they’ll see that I’m family.”

Soweto rising: 1976 – youth day

Today, South Africa celebrates and recognises the power of a youth willing to stand for what’s right.

Today, my country mourns the lives lost in a struggle children as young as thirteen inherited, a struggle designed by a people, a government and legal system that placed premium and prejudice to the colour of one’s skin.

The message isn’t “by blood and fire, all wrongs can and will be made right”. It isn’t that a victory only exists when there has been a loss; the message is that a system designed to cripple a group of individuals will not survive. The message is that let us be equal in success and privilege as those children were in death, as man and child, mother and daughter were gunned down without pause.

Today, my country raises up the youth, now living or passed, of 1976. When the streets of Soweto were on fire, when classrooms, hallways and playgrounds were silent and an army stood tall and proud, armed with fists, voices and bodies, against a government armed with rifles, gas and the rule of law.

Today we remember their strength, and celebrate our own.


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Posts Tagged ‘Feast Days’

A quick update. I was getting bummed out because my tempo runs were getting slower every week with my HR getting higher. Well tonight, after 7 hours of standing in direct 100 degree sun at the Tewa Pueblo Feast Day, sweating my tail off I joined the Striders for our regular Thursday night run. At first I thought I really sucked because I was trailing behind the main group, struggling but still not keeping up. At the finish I checked my watch to find tonight’s 6 mile loop was two minutes faster than usual and I had the lowest HR yet. Finally after 10 weeks, maybe my body is responding.

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Sunday, February 13, 2011

Banana Shakes

It's become routine now for my grandchildren to request these.
The twins expect them after dinner with us!
Elora wants one after school the days she is here.

Great way too, to use up bananas.
I slice and freeze them as soon as they are ripe.
We never have old bananas that we throw away, like we use to.

 They just do not taste as good if the bananas aren't frozen.
 I also try to freeze them flat, rather than in clumps, because they blend better that way.

Put several slices of banana in the blender, some milk (any kind), 3 ice cubes, a little vanilla. If it is too thick to blend, then add a little water, or some more milk. Sorry there are no measurements...probably about 1/2-1 c of milk or more to each banana. They always turn out very yummy.

(NO don't put shampoo in it.
I didn't realize that was in the picture.
I had just washed my hair in the kitchen sink before making the shakes.)

The twins are going through a picky eating phase right now. So if they don't eat a good dinner, I will add some protein powder to the shake.

The other night I was making one of these while Jonas was standing right by my legs, his little feet together and his hands clasped, just staring up at the blender. I stepped away for just a moment to get something across the kitchen and he immediately started sobbing. Just an all out grieving sob. I realized he thought I had changed my mind and he wasn't getting his shake after all. So as soon as I got right back there by the blender, he was happy and patient again.

You have to try these. They really do taste like a frosty banana ice cream, only better. There is just something about those frozen bananas!

Travis LeMaster said...

Those shakes sound great, and the kids look like they are enjoying them!

cristie said...

we eat a lot of frozen bananas around here too. thanks for sharing. xox

Scrapally said...

Great way to use up bananas! I think my banana shake will have a little hershey's syrup in it. :)That picture of the twins drinking their shakes is darling!!!

Grandmotherfairy said...

They sound yummy...I remember when I was little they used to have banana icecream on a stick...kind of like a fudge you remember those?

Susan Rozier said...

Jonas is certainly an effective communicator!!! So, so funny.

The shake sounds delicious. I freeze half bananas, but didn't ever think about slicing them first--good idea.

Can the twins tell the difference when you add the protein? They are cute kids. Love, Susan

darlene said...

I have a daily "shake" of banana, coconut water, spirilina and raw, unsweetened cocoa powder. Probably sounds gross, but it's an acquired taste, and I love it!

darlene said...

By the way, the bananas HAVE to be ripe or it doesn't taste good. They have to have brown spots on the peel. That's when you know they are sweet.

Grandma Honey said...

Darlene~Except for the cocoa powder, that sounds really good to me. Is your coconut water the 'So Delicious' brand?

And I've never tried the bananas that ripe. I think they would be too sweet for me that way.

Susan~ I use brown rice protein and the babies can't tell it's even in there.

Scrapally~ If I once put choc syrup in those shakes even once, the kids would ALWAYS want them that way.

Grandmotherfairy~ I DO remember the banana icecream on a stick! I think they were covered with chocolate. :)

Sue said...

What a great idea! I am going to start freezing my bananas, too.

And what a darling story about Jonas.

Heather said...

They are so cute! I bet my kids will love these! Thanks for the great idea!

Robin said...

I will be trying these too !! thanks for the great ideas to use with my grandbabies once they get here !! lol

grandmapeg said...

That's a fun idea! Do you use soy milk for you when you make them? That picture of the twins is so cute and Jonas does have a great way of communicating to his Grandma Honey!

Grandma Honey said...

I use soy milk for the grandkids (since we don't have any cow's milk), and rice milk for me. said...

I loved this post...and I want to try your sugar cookie recipe...everyone's is so different...yum...and I agree that homemade frosting is THE BEST! I'll have to make this banana shake for Luke...he went to Ecuador on his mission and LOVES bananas. :)

Ammy said...

Our bananas always go ripe too fast and I end up wasting them a lot. Freezing bananas is a good idea. I will remember to add protein powder to Josey's...she doesn't eat all that great right now...Thanks for the pointer!!!!

Eileen said...

I love banana! And I will definitely try these. Thanks!


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The Proclamatory Rule of the Gospel

On 27 November 2014 I gave a talk titled “St Isaac the Syrian, Apokatastasis, and the Renewal of Orthodox Preaching” at the first Theotokos Institute Conference in Cardiff, Wales. An expanded, footnoted version of the talk will be published in the journal Logos: A Journal of Eastern Christian Studies in 2016. I am grateful to the Theotokos Institute for the invitation to deliver this address and for the helpful and encouraging responses from the conference participants. I have divided my talk into three sections: (1) St Isaac the Syrian and Apokatastasis, (2) the Proclamatory Rule of the Gospel, and (3) Preaching the Kingdom. Please do not reblog or reproduce these articles without permission.

* * *

What difference does apokatastasis make to the churchly preaching of the gospel? All the difference in the world! How we understand the conclusion of the gospel story will necessarily inform and shape how we tell the story.

Approximately a decade ago I decided that I could no longer remain in the Episcopal Church. Suddenly I found that instead of having to deliver Sunday sermons, I was “privileged” to listen to them. I have heard dozens of homilies (Roman Catholic homilies, Maronite homilies, Eastern Orthodox homilies). With a few exceptions, they have shared one dominant feature, exhortation—specifically, exhortation embedded within a conditionalist linguistic structure. Orthodox and Catholic preachers alike appear to believe that their principal homiletical task is to urge their hearers to behave differently. Let’s just skip the evangel and get on with the exhortational rhetoric. Orthodox preachers tend to emphasize ascetical behavior, Catholic preachers moral behavior; but the message is the same—try harder! Or to put the matter in the language of the sixteenth century Lutheran Reformers, Orthodox and Catholic priests preach law.

The discourse of law shares a common transactional structure: if … then … It can be presented in positive terms (the language of reward and merit) or negative terms (the language of penalty and punishment):

If you work hard and get straight A’s on your report card, your mother and I will give you a new car.

If you mow my lawn and trim the hedges, I will pay you $50.

If you do not turn in your term paper by the end of the semester, I will flunk you.

If you arrive late to work one more time, I will terminate your employment.

These and all similar pledges make the outcome contingent upon the performance of the promisee. They pose to us a future for which we ourselves are responsible to actualize. If we fulfill the specified conditions, we will bring about the promised result, either as reward or punishment.

We are all intimately acquainted with this kind of transactional communication. It is the discourse of commerce, our civil and criminal judicial systems, and religion. It is the language of our Pelagian world. We determine our futures by the contracts we make. Law functions as demand upon our performance, and upon this performance falls the weight of the utterance. Once a conditional promise is spoken to us, we had best get busy, either to obtain or avoid the consequent. Conditional promise, in other words, presents the future to us as demand, obligation, and threat. It structures the fallen world in which we live; hence it is not surprising that legalism so often penetrates into the preaching of the Church.

Unconditional promise also has its own characteristic linguistic pattern: because … therefore … Here I cite examples with explicit Christian content:

Because Jesus is risen, your future will be glorious.

Because you are baptized in the Spirit, you are now capable of living a life of faithfulness and love.

Just as conditional promise posits a specific kind of future, so does unconditional promise; but note how differently these two kinds of utterance impact our lives. When God speaks to us a conditional promise, the burden of its fulfillment falls totally upon us. Existentially, it doesn’t matter if we are also told that God will help us by his grace. What matters is doing, or not doing, what needs to be done. Herein lies the difference between heaven and hell. But when God speaks unconditional promise, he assumes responsibility for our future, independent of our performance; he is its guarantor. In the unconditional promise God presents the future to us as eschatological gift.

“If you repent of your sins,” the preacher declares, “God will forgive you.” On the face of it, the pronouncement is clear-cut. Divine absolution is offered on the basis of the fulfillment of a prior condition. If we wish to obtain reconciliation with our Creator, then we had best put our noses to the grindstone and get on with the work of repentance. Reformed theologian James B. Torrance calls this legal repentance. Of course, somebody will need to explain to us what repentance involves—but that is by the by. The critical point is that the responsibility and burden of fulfilling the stipulated condition lies on our shoulders. And at every moment hangs the threat of failure: What if I am unable to achieve a whole-hearted repentance? Will God forgive? If I die in mortal sin, can God forgive?

But now consider the difference when forgiveness is declared in the mode of unconditional promise: “Because Jesus has borne your sins upon the cross, God forgives you; therefore, repent and live in the Holy Spirit.” Suddenly everything changes. By his Word, God raises us from the condemnation of sin and grants us a future no longer bound to the past. He enters our lives as a liberating power. Whereas in response to the conditional promise our activity is directed to the fulfillment of the specific work demanded of us, in response to the unconditional promise our lives may now be lived in the freedom of the Spirit. Repentance is no longer a task that we must accomplish in order to obtain absolution: it is the fruit of a freely bestowed absolution. In other words, forgiveness is logically prior to our penitential response. Torrance calls this evangelical repentance. Life in Christ thus becomes a joy lived in thanksgiving and tears, discipleship, holy works, ascetical discipline, and the worship and praise of God. At every moment we are surrounded and upheld by the divine mercy. We were lost but have been found, blind but now we see, dead but now we live in the power of the kingdom.

Immediately our minds raise a host of objections. I am acquainted, I think, with most of them. They boil down to a single concern: if God declares me unconditionally forgiven, does that mean that I am free to disobey the commandments of God with impunity? Or to state the same concern in its universal scope, will all be saved? What about free-will? At this point we are brought back to the robust and confident hope of St Isaac of Nineveh.

So what difference should apokatastasis make to the churchly preaching of the gospel? Above all, it should encourage and authorize our pastors to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ precisely as good news. No more qualifications and compromises; no more ifs, buts, and maybes. The gospel is a message of triumphant hope, or it is not gospel at all.

Brothers and sisters, Jesus is risen! He has transcended death and now lives with death behind him. In our fallen world, all of our promises ultimately turn into dust and ashes—we cannot pledge a future we do not possess. At any point death may intervene and thus nullify our commitments. But by his paschal victory Jesus of Nazareth now possesses the final future. Only the risen Christ can make an unconditional promise and mean it unconditionally. In the words of Robert W. Jenson: “If Jesus has death behind him, then his intention for his followers, defined by his particular life and death, must utterly triumph, there being no longer anything to stop him” (“On the Problem(s) of Scriptural Authority,” Interpretation 31 (1977), p. 238).

If Jesus were Attila the Hun or Joseph Stalin, the resurrection would be horrifying news; but the resurrection of Jesus is the best, most wonderful, brilliant, and transforming news because of who Jesus was and is. Neither death nor life, neither principality nor power, can defeat the love by which Jesus the Messiah lived and died. His intentions for his brethren, his intentions for all of humanity, his intentions for you and me, must and will triumph—utterly, completely, gloriously. The preaching of the gospel is simply this—the annunciation of the resurrection, with all of its consequences and implications for our lives.

Eastern Christians know this—surely we know this. At the Vigil of Pascha we declaim the words of St John Chrysostom:

Enjoy ye all the feast of faith: Receive ye all the riches of loving-kindness. Let no one bewail his poverty, for the universal kingdom has been revealed. Let no one weep for his iniquities, for pardon has shown forth from the grave. Let no one fear death, for the Savior’s death has set us free.

The indicatives of the gospel precede the imperatives; the evangelical narrative prefaces all doctrinal teaching and qualifies all ethical and ascetical exhortations. Pastors may dare to boldly promise the kingdom, for the Crucified lives and has given himself as surety.

But not only does Jesus guarantee the promise of eschatological fulfillment, he is, and must be, its ultimate speaker. Every address is the personal presence of someone. In this lecture I am presently intruding into your life with my idiosyncratic, and perhaps controversial, reflections on preaching. But were I to stand before you and unconditionally promise you eternal salvation in the kingdom of the incarnate Son, then it could not be simply me addressing you. I cannot rightly make such a pledge, for I cannot realize and consummate its promised future. Only the One who has death behind him can do so. Only the conqueror of death may bestow the final future. Hence when the preacher dares to proclaim the gospel in its radicality and power, there is the gladdening and inspirited voice of Jesus Christ. The making of eschatological promise must be his act, his presence, his Word, his kingdom. “If the gospel promise is true and unconditional,” Jenson writes, “then the event of the living word, of one person speaking the gospel to another, is the locus of God’s reality for us. Where is God? He is where one man is promising good unconditionally to another, in Jesus’ name” (Lutheranism, p. 102). Or as our Lord has taught us, “Where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am between you” (Matt 18:20).

I propose the following grammatical or hermeneutical rule for our preaching: so proclaim the story of Jesus Christ that it elicits from our hearers nothing less than faith or offense. Or to put the rule in its most succinct form: proclaim the gospel in the mode of unconditional promise. Robert Jenson calls this a meta-linguistic rule, George Lindbeck a meta-theological rule. Their point is the meta-. The rule does not specify the content of our preaching—that content is given in the Scriptures and the Sacred Tradition of the Church. The rule, rather, prescribes and instructs how to rightly proclaim this content: preach the gospel of the crucified and risen Son of God, not as law and obligation, but as a word that liberates sinners from the bondage of sin, conquers despair, and empowers believers to live lives of holiness, prayer, and radical discipleship. The proclamatory rule invites preachers to speak into the world the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ.

(Go to “Preaching the Kingdom”)

© 2014 Alvin F. Kimel

This entry was posted in Preaching, Robert Jenson and tagged , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

11 Responses to The Proclamatory Rule of the Gospel

  1. I think that a better preaching of the consequences of sin is that it blinds us to the truth. I know when I sin, I fall into worry and despair and sometimes forget that Jesus didn’t die for the righteous but for the ungodly. I always need to remind myself of this that if I wasn’t a sinner, I’d be of no need for a savior and yet the savior says “Go and sin no more”. Thank God for the sacrament of confession!

  2. mkenny114 says:

    The frequently raised objection to universal reconciliation that ‘if God declares me unconditionally forgiven, does that mean that I am free to disobey the commandments of God with impunity?’ is, I think, not so much of a problem as the one that says ‘God declares me unconditionally forgiven, now I can stop worrying and just carry on as usual.’

    In effect, I think the number of people who, presented with the news that God had not only offered them unconditional forgiveness but that He would ultimately liberate everyone from their sins and reconcile everyone to Him, that would respond by slipping into antinomianism is actually rather small. A greater problem is perhaps that people, upon hearing this proclamation, would think it okay to just continue middling along through life, acting out the part of ‘basically a good person’ and not reaching for the demands of true, self-sacrificial love that we are called to by Christ.

    Is there not a real danger that such a proclamation would lead the non-believer to think that, ultimately, there is no need to radically change their life, let alone to join a church; and for someone who is already a Christian, that there is no need to seek out the true locus of the Church in its fullness, to convert and (if, for instance, they are a non-sacramental Christian) avail themselves of the grace mediated through the sacraments?

    • Fr Aidan Kimel says:

      Michael, thank you for this excellent comment. There are several ways to respond to the quite legitimate concern that you have raised.

      First off, it’s crucial to note that following the proclamatory rule does not mean that our preaching is restricted to saying things like “God loves you unconditionally,” and it certainly does not mean saying things like “It doesn’t matter what you do, no need to repent, all will be well.” The proclamatory rule is a grammatical rule. Its purpose is to guide our preaching, not dictate its content, though the unconditionality of divine grace is also an essential element of that content.

      Nor does the proclamatory rule exclude the rhetoric of threat and warning. It is self-evidently and descriptively true, for example, that certain kinds of behavior and life-commitments will lead us into ever-deepening misery and alienation both from God and from our neighbors. The preacher rightly warns his congregation of these dangers and rightly urges his people to repent and alter their lives. Perhaps he may even have to bluntly say to them, particularly with reference to a particular kind of behavior: “If you do not repent, you will go to hell” (though in my long pastoral experience, I have never had occasion to speak this way to my congregations). Perhaps he may even need to say to his congregation something like this:

      But all will be well, for the little god of your poor content will starve your soul to misery, and the terror of the eternal death creeping upon you, will compel you to seek a perfect father. Oh, ye hide-bound Christians, the Lord is not straitened, but ye are straitened in your narrow unwilling souls! Some of you need to be shamed before yourselves; some of you need the fire (George MacDonald)

      The concern you raise is one that all genuine pastors worry about: how can I renew my indolent congregation that appears to be only Christian in name? My experience as a pastor and preacher suggests that mere summons to repentance ain’t going to change anybody’s life. They have heard it all before. What is needed is a kind of insightful preaching that penetrates into the heart of the indolent and addresses the sicknesses and fears that keeps us from responding wholeheartedly to the gospel of Christ. In this way the preaching of the unconditional promise becomes permission for and empowerment of genuine repentance. And here is the great challenge for the preacher!

      Underlying all of this is the often unstated belief that only the preaching of the law, with its threat of eternal damnation, truly converts. Preaching becomes stick and carrot. First we terrorize, then we offer a way out. Bulgakov describes this approach as a penitentiary theology that strikes hearts with horror and paralyzes filial love. My 3+ decades as a preacher has confirmed my conviction that only the preaching of the love of God in its radical unconditionality generates the conversion that we pray for.

      Finally, I suggest that the worry that you so well express (and all of us worry about this) betrays a failure of faith in the gospel itself. I recall hearing an Orthodox homily on the story of Zacchaeus. I vividly remember the preacher using the story to remind us of the need for our synergistic cooperation with grace. After all, didn’t Zacchaeus climb the tree? And I vividly remember my interior response to this sermon: “No, that’s not the point of the story! Zachaeus is converted by our Lord’s summons to get out of the tree and dine with him!”

      • mkenny114 says:

        Thank you Fr. Kimel for a very gracious and substantive reply. I also have to say that I pretty much agree with everything you say here! I particularly agree with your point about the preaching of love generating more genuine conversion of heart than the preaching of warning or fear (although the latter tactic will need to be employed from time to time). Also, the point you make about fear such as the ones I raised betraying a failure of faith in the gospel itself is a very good one indeed, and something that is always worth reminding ourselves of (i.e.; how much do we actually trust God and His promises?)

        However, what you say here is concerned with what is preached once people are in the pews (which is fair enough, seeing as this is, in the main, what your article was about!) and what I am really concerned with is the impression given to those ‘on the outside’ – either outside the Orthodox Church (for example) or outside Christianity altogether. For such people, if the Church were to announce tomorrow that all will be saved, I worry that there would be very little impetus for them to sit themselves down in the first place, and hear the clarifications you have mentioned in your response. There would instead be a very strong temptation for many to stay right where they are and carry on living as they are.

        • Fr Aidan Kimel says:

          Michael, you are correct: my concern in this essay is with preaching to the baptized. It is precisely the fact that the baptized now live with death behind them (Rom 6:3) that makes conditional promise inappropriate, unhelpful, and perhaps even destructive when preaching to the baptized. But it might be that some form of conditional promise is appropriate when evangelizing the nonbaptized: repent, be baptized, and you will receive the Holy Spirit (etc.). Thinking out loud here.

          • mkenny114 says:

            Yes, this is I think fundamental to the preaching of the Gospel – that God has done something new and something incredible, and this is one point at which I can really feel some common ground with someone like Martin Luther. All is grace, and even our response to the grace given is not a condition but part of the gift we receive. On that note, I just read the link you provided in response to Brian’s excellent question (the letter from Gerhard Forde) and I think he captures all this quite well.

            Given that this is the case though, I don’t think it is right or appropriate to preach to the non-baptised something different to this. We either preach God’s unconditional offer of forgiveness to everyone (and deal with the thorny consequences that might present) or to none at all. I really think this is an either-or situation, and to preach conditional salvation to people when one believes that the offer God gives to us is unconditional is an offense against Truth, no matter what the practical benefits may be.

  3. Andrew says:

    This is wonderful Father thank you! Am I correct in saying that what is being presented here is not the preaching of apokatastasis per se but how the fervent hope of apokatastasis influences the way the Gospel is preached? Where do you suppose this preaching has been for the last 1000, 1600 years Father? . I can’t help but think that this question has something to do with the mystery of why St John’s Gospel is so different from the Synoptics. This is very very encouraging Father Aidan, thank you.

    • Fr Aidan Kimel says:

      Absolutely correct, Andrew. You have perceptively identified the heart of my address. Indeed, it is quite possible for one to affirm the proclamatory rule while at the same time denying, or at least not clearly affirming, universal reconciliation. Robert W. Jenson immediately comes to mind, as does T. F. Torrance. Both begin with God’s salvific act in Jesus Christ and both refrain from “deducing” apokatastasis, yet both would agree that the divine love is to be proclaimed as both unconditional and triumphant. In my article I take a somewhat different tack, as I begin my reflections from the eschatological end enacted and made known in Christ.

  4. brian says:

    This is well stated indeed. To be honest, I think this is the gospel of Christ. The moralizing alternative is humanly understandable, but I don’t think it is the gospel. Christos Yannaras recent book, Against Religion, covers similar territory.

    I’m not sure I can articulate this next bit as I’d like. I’m at work and I’ve been wrestling with the angel of God lately. This is partly to reflect upon mkenny’s thoughts as well. Here’s the rub. If Christ’s victory presages, ultimately, a total redemption of the cosmos, then it is an ontological transformation that must necessarily play out in a manner that brings every creature into freedom; liberty, properly understood, is participation in the life of the Triune God.

    Now, it seems to me that this involves every creature, every rock, every plant, animal, person: this is the large vision one can discern in Bulgakov and Berdyaev, for instance. I think that this involves a radical change — resurrected existence is largely unimaginable, though one that has some intrinsic and necessary connection to our ontic, time-bound experience in this fallen world. So, I don’t want to dismiss or devalue what we are undergoing here. Just the opposite! I merely wish to point out that our eternal flourishing depends upon a manner of being we can only imperfectly guess at.

    Why all this? Well, I think moralizing religious responses have several roots. One is a legitimate concern for deep metaphysical change, not simply a juridical pronouncement of “not guilty” that leaves a person enslaved to sin and darkness. Part of it, however, can be a function of the competitive ego that refuses the mystery of God’s charity. Another factor, however, is a failure of eschatological imagination. People simply try to apprehend the meaning of the gospel from within an imaginary that is too bound by the categories we are familiar with in this fallen world.

    Regardless, here’s my perhaps too simple question, but it seems to me that it is simple. Perhaps I am missing something: Even granting concerns that the gospel may incite indifference or spiritual sloth in those who hear it, isn’t it still a matter of whether it is true or not? Say a ton of people embrace an antinomian outlook or spiritual turpitude — does that refute the gospel? If one says, “look here, it’s having a bad effect; better go back to hellfire preaching” — isn’t the correct response — “Well, hellfire sermons of a traditional sort give a false impression of God; and that kind of idolatry may be worse than the evil you see.” But more importantly, “the gospel is true, so even spiritual lassitude will end, the poor responses to God’s love will end, the failure to love rightly will end, but God’s love will not end. Christ is victor. Amen.”

    • Fr Aidan Kimel says:

      Hi, Brian. Thank you for your good comment.

      Jenson makes an important distinction between first- and second-person gospel proclamation and third-person descriptive discourse, which is the language of theology. I will briefly discuss this in the concluding section of my essay. Perhaps that distinction may generate further reflection on our part. Almost 30 years ago I wrote to Gerhard Forde about this (which simply shows how long I’ve been wrestling with these questions), and he responded with a very thoughtful letter, which you may want to peruse.

      The fear of antinomianism is understandable and common. It is a fear that the Apostle Paul confronted head-on in Romans 6″ “Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?” Paul’s response is illuminating: you have been baptized–you are no longer the kind of person who wants to exploit grace.

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Sunday, January 22, 2017

Valentine's Snack Pack #Giveaway

Hello! Valentine's Day is almost here and this prize would be a great gift! Thanks for stopping by! Enter below and your valid entries will be counted at time of drawing! Be sure to check out all the deals, steals, and giveaways here and on the right side bar!
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There's a Child Out Here, People. That's the Reality.

Join me on my journey through parenthood. BYOHelmet.

Eight Months October 1, 2009

Filed under: Uncategorized — aggieonboard @ 6:02 pm

Remember when Andrew used to sit so nicely for his monthly photo, taken right on time?

And his mommy dressed him in cute outfits?

And his signs were printed so nicely?

Now? Not so much.

So many pictures lately…you guys are going to get spoiled. When FIL repossesses his camera the photo bazaar will end. At least until Santa brings me one (hint, hint).

4 Responses to “Eight Months”

  1. Chardonnay Says:

    Those footsie PJs are the CUTEST!

  2. Mandy Says:

    the last one made me lol.

  3. Miranda Says:

    I love him! He’s a cutie!

  4. Cat Says:

    that last picture – priceless.

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Food & Hotel China 2016

November 9-11, 2016
Shanghai, China

The 19th International Exhibition for the Food, Drinks, Hospitality, Foodservice, Bakery & Retail Industries.

The Premier Business Exhibition for the global food and hospitality sector in China

22 years of FHC in China. 20 editions in Shanghai alone.

The exhibition of choice for exporters and importers of food and beverages. More International companies and country pavilions than any food exhibition in China.

2,150 food and wine exporters and distributors from 66 countries participated at FHC and ProWine China 2015.

Visitors are decision makers and buyers from China’s retailers 40%; Importers and distributors 35% and hospitality sector 25%.

53,295 visitor attended FHC 2015, 55% from Shanghai; 39% from other regions of China and 6% from overseas.

Organsied by CIE a member of Allworld Exhibitions, responsible for Organisation Asia’s leading food and wine trade exhibitions. 14 shows in 9 Asian countries.


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AW 13 \ Framed But Changed

Autumn Winter 2013 is Inspired from American director Godfrey Reggio’s1982 experimental documentary film called “KOYAANISSQATSI” which in Hopi language translates to “life of moral corruption and turmoil” and depicts relationship between nature, humans and technology. Powerful music by Philip Glass and time lapse and slow motion photography with shocking visuals showing rockets exploding in the air are the hallmark feature of this no dialogue film. With an official collaboration with Swarvoski Elements, hand-woven fabrics have been designed and developed with Swarvoski crystal threads woven with in the fabric alongside Stainless Steel, Cotton, Mohair, Angora and silk using age old traditional weaving technique of Tangail and Jaamdani crafting engineered handloom couture. The collection confirms our belief in strengthening the relationship between traditional skills and progressive manufacturing techniques. With an element of progression and experimentation this collection is a new kind of juxtaposition of materials and techniques developing path breaking body of work within the context of contemporary Indian handlooms. Deep Blue, Purple , Black, industrial grey with Reds and Greens, define human involvement with nature and technology. Silhouettes are geometric with engineered angular forms, referencing energy establishments and urban landscapes


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10,000-Hour Experts

Expert Bikini Wearing

The 10,000 rule was suggested in the 90s by Dr. K. Anders Ericsson who is a Swedish psychologist and “is widely recognized as one of the world’s leading theoretical and experimental researchers on expertise.  The 10,000 hour rule says that it requires 10,000 hours of intentional practice to become an expert in something. That something can be anything like batting, bowling, bikini-wearing, chess, lawn tennis, ping-pong, classical guitar, belly dancing, watching porn, dentistry, kidney replacement, brain bypassing, writing, blogging, or stealing from the national coffers. Though the 10,000 hour theory was first suggested by Anders Ericsson, it was Malcolm Gladwell who popularized the theory in his bestseller, Outliers, and since then success and competence has never been the same.

Because calculators are so cheap, It is now widely known that 10,000 hours of practice means a person must diligently practice at their field for around 3 hours per day for 10 years, or 6 hours per day for 5 years, or 12 hours per day for 3 years, or 24 hours per day for 1.5 years. There seems to be much empirical evidence to suggest that experts are not born or simply created when appointed to the board of a state enterprise, or even when awarded a consultancy contract by a friend in Government but must practice diligently to become an expert. Naturally, this rule also applies to fools, liars and thieves who all suffer from insomnia and seem to practice their art every waking minute hence become expert fools, liars and thieves quicker than say a chess player can even approach  Grand Master level. This revelation might be shocking to many who call themselves experts after just a few years of some undergrad course and then a few months of post grad work, all from a shady university whose lecturers were trained via Google.

Though a person needs to clock those 10,000 quality hours to become an expert, one can still sound like an expert in less time due to the common effect called the one-eyed man in the kingdom of the blind rule. This is what most wannabe experts depend on to boost their egos and incomes along with the wearing of  tight fitting clothes and the owning of a firm butt.

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One of the largest Dutch NGOs, Cordaid is reorganising in response to changes in how aid is allocated. As part of this process, it resolved to become much more transparent. Following its experience in Connect4Change, Cordaid is deploying RSR across the organisation to publish its entire portfolio of around 1000 projects. RSR is also the underlying content management tool for its new website, which is improving communications internally and externally. Akvo will support all Cordaid’s partners across the globe, training them to use Akvo RSR.

Cordaid website

Cordaid – Opening Up (Cordaid website blog, January 15, 2014)


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I am heartbroken.  I cannot bear the weight of my Twitter, Instagram and Facebook feed… and yet, I must. We all must.  We must look full in the face of the parade of #MeToo posts.

We must see, and be changed.

We must listen to the women and girls, and some men, telling their truths, bravely drawing aside the curtain to reveal their scars.

Almost all the women I know have a story of abuse, from the brutish and violent to the excused “boys will be boys” or the laughed-off workplace violation. There are no socioeconomic barriers to the systemic nature of these stories, they have happened in schools, bars, churches and locker rooms, at universities, bus stops, internships, doctor’s offices, and workplaces around the globe.  The common denominator? The devaluation of women, of her right to ownership of her body. The systematic shaming that forces her into silence until something so egregious happens that she is forced to tell her story out loud.

We’ve all heard it:

“It’s a compliment, love!”,

“You’re a tease, what did you expect?”

“Don’t make mountain out of a molehill.”

“This is how you get ahead in this biz.”

“You were asking for it… by drinking / flirting / wearing a short skirt / wearing makeup”

How do we make sense of this, how do we answer the competing voices with clarity, bravery and compassion?

This morning I had reached a point in my memoir manuscript which I had merely placed in parentheses “… (X kiss…/ att’d rape.. / rescue).

I couldn’t bring myself to write That Story.  It was too hard, too real.  “No one wants to read that much truth”, my inner voice said. But the flood of #metoo posts gave me courage. Courage to tell this story;

This story, I had been conditioned to believe, was my fault.  Because, in a world quietly dedicated to the comfort and happiness of men, the very fact of being sixteen and at a party, gave a boy two years my senior permission to use his hormone-fueled strength to force himself on me. This story that, but for the care of another boy, who remains a friend to this day, could have ended with me being yet another girl raped at a party.  It is a little over 26 years ago, and yet I can still feel the adrenaline and panic cutting through the wine in my blood stream, I can still feel the bruises blooming on my thighs and abdomen, marks left as he tried to force me into submission. I remember being embarrassed in front of my savior, like I had caused him an inconvenience. I remember being grateful that I wouldn’t have to reveal to my parents what really went on at those “safe” house parties with trusted friends. But, most of all, I remember the shame that I had allowed myself to be in this position.

It was not the first time someone had violated me.  I had already absorbed the message that girls are for boys’ enjoyment, that our primary function was to look pretty, be amenable and available. To disagree with any of the above was to make yourself outcast – a fate worse than death. My erstwhile rapist however, suffered no sanction, he continued to be invited to parties and seeing him would send me straight for the door, or the bar, whichever were closest. I was in the wrong, I had asked for it. So I hid.

I look back over the years and silently chronicle the occasions along with my sisters; from groping in bars and bus queues, to men three times my age ogling and chatting me up while on work experience in a Crown Court, to the almost daily struggle to be seen as a thoughtful, capable, serious human and not just a set of parts to be admired or sexualized.

The most difficult and redeeming thing about writing a memoir is examining our story with clear eyes and thoughtful judgement.  Our history impacts our future, and unless brought into the light and seen, really seen, can haunt our present with its ghosts.  I had, until really recently, internalized a sense of shame and fear around sex, shame that has its genesis on that hot July night in 1991. I was constantly conflicted about being seen as attractive, a simultaneous blessing and curse, especially in Christian ministry. I have carried this baggage well into my walk with Jesus, into my marriage, and as I sit here writing I have to fight the internalized conditioning; the voice shouting at me that I’m making a fuss about nothing.

It ends here. I will tell my stories, and I will fight for women and girls to be protected from experiencing the same. I will raise men who hold their fellow men to a higher standard, and who will believe the women in their lives when they have the courage to tell their story.

My sweet husband sent me this text this morning, and I had to pull over when Siri read it to me:

“You never know how strong you truly are until being strong is your only choice.”

Bob Marley

I am so proud to be part of a community of women who are willing to brave the glare of public scrutiny and tell their stories. Together we are strong. Together we will change the world.

Fight on, sisters. You are seen!

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Unwrapped Orange

2016-05-23 07.56.25

When cleaning up after the kids (yet again!) I noticed a familiar pattern in an orange peel one of them had left behind. It appears that our daughter came to the same conclusion about how to unwrap a sphere that my Unwrap and Flatten SketchUp Extension‘s algorithm did, too.

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NO this, NO that…What CAN you send to school for lunch?

I know that many parents struggle to find school lunch ideas, even without restrictions.  For some, finding themselves in a nut-free school or allergen free classroom is a huge inconvenience.  Although my daughter’s school is not nut or allergen free, I know that many of the other parents make an effort to send in lunches that are safe for her so she can sit with friends without worrying about their food or hands touching her.  For the record, I am not suggesting that everyone should pack allergy free lunches.  I just like to share some of the things we pack in hopes that others might see something they like and can use.  I have been asked many times what I send for lunch and I feel like the options are extensive, despite being dairy, egg, peanut, and tree nut free.  Below is my post from last year with all of the lunchtime details.  I promised to add more to it, so here they are.  I have photographed lunches these first two weeks of preschool so you can see what I send.  Notice that there are two in several of the pictures.  My non-allergic daughter goes to school a few days each week and she eats the same lunch as my allergic daughter.  It’s not “special” food.  It’s just FOOD.

School Lunch:  Keeping it Simple (The original lunch post)

Turkey rolls, tomatoes, steamed green beans, berries, and popcorn.

Quinoa salad, turkey rolls, tomatoes, carrots, cucumbers, strawberries, fruit smashie pouch, and juice.

Turkey rolls, steamed green beans, carrots, tomatoes, mixed berries, hummus, crackers, fruit smashie pouch, and juice.

Nectarine, raisins, and hummus with veggie dippers: green peppers, carrots, sugar snap peas, cucumbers, tomatoes.

Rice cake, turkey rolls, tomatoes, green peppers, and apple slices.

Turkey rolls, green beans, tomatoes, apples, crackers, and hummus.

Apples, green beans, red grapes, green olives, somersaults sunflower seed snacks, tomatoes, and turkey.

Tomatoes, red grapes, frozen peas*, frosted mini wheats, raspberries, sweet potato sticks, Triscuits, and hummus.

Hummus, crackers, sugar snap peas, tomatoes, kalamata olives, cucumbers, blueberries, and carrots.

Fruit smashie pouch, honeydew, strawberries, mini banana muffins*, kidney beans, carrots, green beans.

A few notes:

*1) I pack the frozen peas straight from the freezer.  I don’t thaw at all.  If I pack the night before, they thaw by lunch time.  If I pack the morning of, my girls eat them frozen.  They actually love them frozen as much as thawed, if not more.

*2) I made a double batch of mini vegan banana muffins before school started and popped them in the freezer (wrapped in sets of 4).  I take out a pack of 4 the night before I want to pack them and put them in the fridge.  They are thawed by morning.

3)  You will notice I pack a lot of hummus.  I have learned to include a spoon because no matter how many dippers I give, the fingers will end up in the hummus by the end if there is no spoon.

If your kids really love their nut butter sandwiches, fear not.  There is an option even if your school is nut free.  We are big fans of WOW Butter.  It is school safe and has the texture of real peanut butter.  The flavor is great too.  There are a lot of alternatives on the market, but after trying many of them, this is our favorite.

If you peel back the label, there are even little sticker labels to put on the sandwich wrapper so you can be sure it won’t be mistaken for peanut butter.

*All views expressed in this blog are my own…until I change my mind, at least 😉

10 thoughts on “NO this, NO that…What CAN you send to school for lunch?

  1. Hi, Emily! We met the other day in Target at the checkout line and you told me and my teen son about YoDish and your blog. I am excited that I finally got around to looking at your blog and reading a bit more about your story. We’ve reached the re-introduction of foods part of our journey and already know that we have an egg sensitivity. I have a feeling gluten and dairy are going to be problems, too, but we will see. Your blog is going to be great, I’m sure, in helping me figure out some of how to handle all this! I’m looking forward to using YoDish while we are out of town and having to eat out! I hope the iPad Mini glitch has been fixed! 😉 Thanks again for your telling me about the blog and YoDish. It was SO nice to meet you!

    • Hi! I was hoping I would be hearing from you. It’s always exciting to me to see someone else buying allergen friendly products. I’m sure the re-introduction must be exciting and scary all at the same time. I’m glad you’re getting some answers though. Hopefully in the end, your list of foods to avoid will be a short one. As for the app, I figured out the problem. If you search for YoDish (as you did) in the App Store, it will come up as an app for iPhone. Just select ‘install’ on the iPhone app anyway, even though you’re on an iPad or iPad mini. It should work even though it says it’s for iPhone. It will look like the iPhone app, so it won’t fill the whole screen, but it will work. Gluten, egg, and dairy are all options for setting your specific restrictions in your profile. If by the end of your process, you find that you need to avoid foods that are not profile options, just send me a message and we will add them. I hope you’re able to add some dish reviews while you’re traveling and, most of all, that you have a fun and safe trip! Thanks so much for the message!

  2. I noticed the WOW butter. That is a great alternative for nut free; however, my daughter is about as allergic to soy as peanuts. She has had a few episodes with breathing issues with soy; it is not nearly as severe as with peanuts, but just the same she cannot have soy. If your child can have almonds, I highly recommend BARNEY butter. It is made in a dedicated peanut free and gluten free facility. It tastes wonderful and is the best i have had. It is hard to find where I live but I am sure if you live in the Charlotte area, you will have no problem. I know that WHOLE FOODS and FRESH MARKET sell it. You can also order it online. The consistency is so close to peanut butter that my daughter even has a hard time eating it…just because it reminds her of the horrors of peanuts. I get so aggravated with companies thinking that everything they produce has to come in some form or flavor with peanut butter.
    I have used the BARNEY almond butter as a substitute in recipes. Works great.

    • That sounds fantastic. Unfortunately, my daughter is also allergic to tree nuts, egg, and dairy. I have often wished we could use almond products, especially for dairy substitutes. I don’t like to depend too much on soy, but WowButter is the exception for us. It’s our best alternative. You raise a great point though. There could be allergies to anything in a given classroom, so it’s important to know what allergies exist in your child’s class and how severe they are. At least you can make an informed decision that way about what you choose to send. We could do away with the soynut butter in a heartbeat if it threatened another students safety. There are so many safe foods out there. Thanks for the info on Barney Almond Butter. Hopefully someone else reading will be able to give it a try!

      • Hi BertieorBirdie! If you mean making healthy, allergen free lunches, yes it is so simple! You just have to know which brands to look for and think outside of the “sandwich and chips” box. Check out my Facebook page for many many more lunch ideas. I post a photo most school days, so there are many you can look through if you need ideas. Thanks for reading and for the comment 🙂

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Good and Bad News For Entertainment Giant Live Nation

(AllHipHop News) Shareholders of the entertainment company Live Nation had some things to cheer and jeer this week, after the corporation’s financial statements were released Tuesday afternoon.

According to Billboard, the multimedia conglomerate saw its revenue rise 8% last year. That’s equates to a $5.8 billion haul, but the company’s net lost doubled from $83 million in 2011 to $163 million in 2012.

Most of those losses are the result of former chairman Irving Azoff and 26 other employees’ departures from Live Nation last December.

Live Nation Entertainment, Inc is the world’s biggest concert promoter and ticket seller. The company was created when Live Nation and Ticketmaster merged in 2010.

The merger was highly contested by artists, music fans, members of Congress, and major tech companies like Google, Microsoft, and eBay who believed the new mega-company consisting of artist management, music recording, ticket sales, and promotion would monopolize the music industry and drive up ticket prices.

Live Nation’s Ticketmaster division’s revenue grew 4% to $1.37 billion with the value of tickets sold through Ticketmaster increasing 8.4%. The total number of tickets sold rose 4.5% to 147.7 million in 2012.

The Artist Nation music unit (which is home to Madonna, U2, and Jay-Z and his Roc Nation label) saw an operating lose in 2012. Again, $5.5 million of those loses were attributed to the departure of Azoff. Another $62.7 million was a one-time charge to bring down the value of Artist Nation as compared to its projected value at the time of the merger.

According to Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino 2013 is already off to a great start for the company. Over 9 million tickets for shows this year have already been sold which is a 58% increase from last year. Ticketmaster is opening offices in Asia and Latin America and will be adding music festivals to its lineup.

“During 2012, the company increased revenue by 8 percent and grew all our business segments while continuing to invest in our long-term ticketing platform,” said Rapino in a statement. “Looking forward to 2013, I am confident that we will continue the successful growth of the core business.”

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Thank Me A Little Later: Drake Pushes Album Back, Will Perform At VMA’s

(AllHipHop News) Nothing Was The Same…not even the release date. According to multiple retailers including Amazon and Best Buy, Drake’s third album will arrive in stores a week after its original September 17th date.

No word on why Drake pushed the album back or if he will strike a deal similar to Jay Z’s Samsung deal for Magna Carta Holy Grail and release the album digitally a week earlier than the September 24th date.

However, the Toronto MC taketh away and then he giveth back.  MTV reportedly have confirmed that Drake will in fact be added to the already star studded list of performers at this year’s Video Music Awards.

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Fabolous Reveals When He’s Dropping Next Album

(AllHipHop News) Fabolous dropped the The S.O.U.L. Tape 3 mixtape at the end of 2013. Now the Brooklyn rapper says he is finishing up his next studio album Loso’s Way 2: Rise to Power and expects the project to be in stores before the Fall.

[ALSO CHECK OUT: Mixtape Download: Fabolous – The Soul Tape 3]

“Record labels has it processes, so you gotta work with that. I’m looking toward a summer release,” said Fab in an interview with RealTalkNY. “I wanted to tighten a couple of screws on the album. I put the mixtape out while I did that.”

Loso has already posted a video for TST3‘s  “Young OG” and plans to release visuals for the track “Cuffin Season” in the near future.

[ALSO READ: Kap-G Ft. Fabolous “Cocaina Shawty” (Prod by Pharrell)]

Watch Fabolous talk about his latest mixtape and his next LP in the video below.

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Cipha Sounds Says He's Done With The Morning Show

(AllHipHop News) Hot 97’s Cipha Sounds has been a mainstay on New York City morning airwaves for years. The veteran DJ is now looking to move out of that time slot for another gig.

During the recent Juan Epstein podcast, Cipha expressed his interest in taking over the 3 pm period on Hot. That time became vacant after Angie Martinez took a position at Power 105.

[ALSO READ: EXCLUSIVE: Buckshot Discusses Majors vs Indies, Mainstream Radio, & Working With Hip Hop Legends]

“I’m not coming back to mornings,” said Cipha.

The Morning Show co-host has been filling in during the afternoon. He mentions that he is “auditioning” for the permanent position, but other potential female hosts have been interviewed as well.

With Ciph potentially leaving the morning spot, names for the new show have been discussed at the station. Peter Rosenberg revealed interim program director Jay Dixon is considering renaming it “Ebro In The Morning with Rosenberg.”

Both Rosenberg and Cipha also discuss how the new boss at the station allegedly did know that Cipha was a personality at Hot and was unaware of his connections with established artists. They do think Ciph has a good chance of being Martinez’s fulltime replacement.

[ALSO READ: The Breakfast Club Announces Angie Martinez Joining Power 105]

Cipha also shares that he was presented with a job offer from Power twice in the past. According to Ciph, the first proposal would have started him in the afternoon at 105 and then he would transition to the channel’s morning show. This was prior to the creation of the current Breakfast Club lineup for Power.

He also claims he was offered double his salary from Power. There are now reports that Angie Martinez’s salary was doubled to joined the rival channel.

“How could I ever leave Hot 97? What would Angie and Flex think of me if I left Hot?” Cipha said explaining why he stayed at the station. “I’d be a f**king embarrassment… Angie’s like ‘Yo, I’m out. When Angie left I was like, ‘This f**king b***h.'”

Cipha explains the sarcastic “b***h” comment was just his reaction for him passing on a position at Power because he thought Angie would be upset, but she was the one who jumped on the chance to make the move.

[ALSO READ: Hot 97′s Funk Flex Puts Power’s DJ Envy On Blast For “Snitching”; Envy Responds]

Listen to the Juan Epstein podcast below.

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#NewHeat: DeLorean – Perfect Black (Mixtape)

After floating over Big K.R.I.T.‘s recent It’s Better This Way album, Houston’s own DeLorean is back with a new project of his own, releasing a fresh new mixtape titled Perfect Black. While his “Picture Me Swangin” single drew new eyes to the southern emcee, his new tape is already garnering new ears as well, thanks in part to features from Scotty ATL, Big K.R.I.T., Big Sant, Jack Freeman, Bruce Bang, Bam Rogers and more.

Following the release of his well received Hood Politics series and last year’s Look Alive, at 13 tracks the project offers the perfect building block as Delo’s name continues to ring inside the Lone Star State and beyond.

Stream Perfect Black in full below courtesy of Nah Right & Audiomack:

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Styles P, Jadakiss and Some Beautiful Women Drops Straight Crack On “22 Convent”

(AllHipHop Music) Styles P and Jadakiss are a duo that has never been formally announced, but they make really dope music together. Now, after so many years, they come back with yet another banger. And, they brought Tatted Up Holly, Kimberly Colon, Ayisha Diaz, Yaya Flawless, and Jadakiss. The video plays out like a modern day version of “Set It Off.” The cinematography is dope. Scratch that: Riveting. The viewer really gets realistic view of these ladies lives and the extreme struggle that goes with it. No spoilers here. You have to see the star-studded ending of this mini-movie.

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Is Bow Wow Dating This Singer?

Photo via Bow Wow’s Instagram

Bow Wow recently posted a photo with a new special lady.The photo was captioned, “head rubs are the best,” and this left everyone trying to figure out who was the lady rubbing on his head! Many speculated that it was singer Keyshia Cole, and it has been said that Keyshia is actually the woman in the photo and in Bow Wow’s life. Apparently the two have known each other for a very long time, and they allegedly connected on a different level when they crossed paths at a club recently. Allegedly Bow Wow is sprung over Keyshia, but Keyshia wants to take things slow since she’s still legally married. Is Key an upgrade from Erica Mena?

Bow Wow

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This story was originally posted on Passport 2017.

Ask a millennial to define herself and you’ll likely hear words like “eco-conscious,” “tech-savvy” and “go-getter.” Ask anyone else and you’ll probably hear just one: lazy. That stereotype—of the spoiled, entitled, live-at-home millennial—is what Apathy is Boring hopes to shatter with its 2017 campaign, 150 Years Young. Forget lazy: Apathy is Boring is out to prove that young Canadians can be motivated to become active agents of change.

To make that happen, the 150 Years Young campaign will champion civically engaged youth in five cities across Canada in hopes of inspiring other young Canadians to feel that they too have the capacity to become more empowered and socially aware.

Taking inspiration from Humans of New York—a hugely successful photography project chronicling the everyday lives of New Yorkers— ambassadors in Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Edmonton and Vancouver will seek out and share inspiring stories about civically engaged Canadians aged 18 to 30.

Using captioned photos posted on social media, Apathy is Boring ambassadors will go beyond the moment-in-time HONY concept and chronicle the myriad ways that their millennial subjects contribute to and care about their communities. They’ll also go past the parameters of social media, staging “creative interventions” in the five participating cities from May to July 1.

At each intervention, the curated posts will be projected, billboard-sized, on the side of city buildings in high-traffic downtown spaces such as Montreal’s Mile End or Ottawa’s ByWard Market. Here, city ambassadors and volunteers will host Street Talks to generate conversations about millennial engagement and the significance Canada’s 150th should have for young Canadians.

In addition to the ambassador-chosen millennial subjects, 150 Years Young will also open up the conversation to anyone who uploads their own #150YY story to Instagram, Twitter or Facebook in an online campaign that runs until this September. There’s a lot more than selfies going on in the millennial mind—get involved and prove it in 2017.

Follow 150 Years Young (#150YY) on FacebookTwitter and Instagram.


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Review: Idol of Bone

Reasons for Inclusion: Jak is agender and doesn’t use pronouns, several other characters have magically changed sex/gender in the past. There is a lesbian couple that includes a trans woman. The Meer and Delta cultures seem to correspond to something other than western/white cultures.

My Review:

(4/5 stars)

Idol of Bone is a dark and complicated story set in places that span from rich temples to cozy underground villages to the hopeless shadowed streets.

Ra comes in existence on a snowy night. She is welcomed by the Moundholder villagers, including Jak, who rejects gender and doesn’t use pronouns, and Ahr, who has a dark past of his own that intertwines with Ra’s former life.

Ra is one of the Meer, a race once treated as gods for their ability to conjure matter out of thin air. The Meer were exterminated in an uprising by the Deltan people, and Meerhunters still roam the country looking for remainders- looking for Ra.

Delving any further into the plot would involve spoilers, so I’ll move on to the gender diversity in the book.

Jak is agender and pansexual, and the Moundholders don’t seem to object to any of that. They might think Jak’s lack of gender is unusual, but they still respect it. The townspeople have stricter gender roles. When the lesbian couple in the book, Ume and Cree, are in public, Cree dresses as a man. Her partner, Ume, is trans, and apparently passes as a woman to most people. The people of the Delta, the society Ume and Cree fled from, have laws about gender presentation and treat any “transgression” as a crime.

Gender is treated as an important part of identity. Anyone who intentionally misgenders a character is a villain. The antagonist raises a child slave as “it”, stealing the child’s identity. Rediscovering gender is crucial to this character’s development. But gender isn’t required to be a person- Jak’s choice to go without it is just as valid.

I’m looking forward to reading the rest of the trilogy and seeing where the characters go from here.

 (ARC received from publisher)

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The Original
Online Alpaca Marketplace
Colusa Riverside Alpacas
Breeding for Industry & E.P.D. Excellence
David & sheila Scroggins
4360 Indian Creek Rd
Lincoln, CA 95648
Type:  Female Huacaya
Status:  Bred / Proven

Birthdate:  6/24/2006

Registration: ARI Registered
ARI #:  30597815
Color:  White
  Service Sire:
MSA Hemingway's Bogart

Due Date:  April 2015

- View Lineage Chart
- View Cria/Offspring
- ARI Certificates
- Histograms

SB Chelsey's Girl

  RFA D'arcy

Summer Solstice Renaissance Ridge  (More Density Genes)

Listed at $4500 by David & sheila Scroggins of Lincoln, CA

Print Listing | Certificate | Histogram

Summer was purchased to bring some density to our foundation. Summer is a solid production dam who any breeder could get many quality alpacas in the years to come. This sale is an exceptional value for any buyer. If purchased she will come with a breed to Prophecy or Prince William. The breeding she comes with is worth the this price alone.

We have three daughters of Summer who we are using for our foundation breeding program. Let summer start to bring density and fineness to your breeding program. She is an easy breeder, great mother and gives birth with ease. She will feed any cria, which is really an incredible asset, an attribute difficult to find in the alpaca.

If you look at Summer's histogram at age 10 it quite impressive, she has an AFD of 23 but her SD is still below 4 at 3.9 microns. Even more amazing is her CV is only 16. Those values indicate she is very valuable as a breeding dam.

Summer's EPD profile is as follows for 2016:

Trait Value Acc Rank 1%
AFD -1.834 0.573 551 of 21089
SDAFD -0.503 0.572 656 of 21089
SF -1.826 0.651 650 of 21089
%F>30 -7.261 0.653 346 of 21089
MC 2.597 0.555 2780 of 21089
SDMC 1.32 0.59
0 of 21089
%M 0.627 0.474 15434 of 21089
MSL 0.734 0.486 6531 of 21089
FW 0.346 0.447 5471 of 21089
BW -0.85 0.232
0 of 21089

Summer's EPDs are more than respectable. Summer is above the national ranking in a number trait values. In the world of EPD breeding she will improve her cria fiber traits 5 of the 9 fiber character traits above the national herd norm, a very respectable production dam outcome requirement. Now, bred to one of our gifted EPD studs, she will really improve her offspring. Start to integrate EPD superiority into your herd with Summer and her cria. Prophecy's Accuracy rates are very high giving her breeder much confidence in her ability to pass along her genetic fiber traits.

Price: $4500
Huge Sale Price

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Left Side

Right Side

Rear View

Frontal View

Frontal View

MSA Hemingway's Bogart  (Service Sirez)
    Heritage: Full Peruvian

    ARI Number: 828970
    ARI Color: White
Service Sire: Lineage Record
Peruvian Macara 4652 Peruvian Hemingway G171
White, Peruvian White, Peruvian
This listing was last updated on 1/14/2017 [Report a Descrepancy on this listing]

Our family has 8,710 breeders, with more joining every day.

Join Now!


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Her Darkest Nightmare, by Brenda Novak

5 makes you want to leave the light on stars!

I was dying to get my hands on this book after I read her novella Hanover House where you get introduced to these characters.  These books definitely differ from her Whiskey Creek series which is more romance.  These books are more suspense/thriller than anything.  I had guessed some of the plot twists in this one but not all of them.  Very well done Brenda Novak, way to lead me into a false sense of security, then boom plot twist.

These books focus on a psychiatrist named Evelyn.  She has had such a traumatic past I can’t even understand why she would want to work with the same type of criminal that attacked her.  If you didn’t read the novella it’s okay you can still start with this book. (although I would highly suggest it).  As I said previously Evelyn is now working with psychopaths so that she can determine how better to spot them or track them so more people don’t get hurt.  I tell you what some of these guys scare the crap out of me.  I really enjoyed Evelyn’s character and how her backbone grew throughout this book. I was afraid she was going to stay timid throughout the whole book.  Of course she can have some lingering hang-ups after everything that has happened but she doesn’t seem to let that affect her to much.  Her distrust of mostly men is definitely something she needs to work on.  The fact that she is stranded with these guys in a remote town in Alaska adds to the suspense there is literally no-where for anyone to go. I love how she is slowly starting to open up to Amarok.

Oh Amarok has the patience of a saint; he definitely wants to be involved with Evelyn but has a hard time disassociating her from Hanover House. He sees this prison as nothing but a problem for his town.  Amarok is a state trooper for Alaska and he is in charge of the welfare of his people.  Bringing this prison here is bad news and it’s not helping that he has conflicting emotions for the head psychiatrist. Evelyn keeps putting off their age difference as a reason for them not to get together.  However Amarok sees right through her façade to the real reason she doesn’t want to be with him.  She can’t seem to trust men, he’s willing to be as patient as he needs to let her trust him. While he is trying to get Evelyn to let him in he is also trying to protect her from  the evil that lies within Hanover House.

On a side note I love the pets that Evelyn and Amarok have, they are a great addition to the story.  As I said in the beginning while I did see a couple of the plot twists some were very unexpected. I’m not sure whether to be worried that Brenda Novak can think like these psychopaths or not… On a side note I would like to know how she researched this Alaskan town.  Do they really call it a snow “shovel” on their trucks in Alaska?  We call them plows here…

Thank you to St. Martin Press , Netgalley, and Brenda Novak for the advanced copy in lieu of my honest review.

Goodreads link here.

book blurb…

Kindle Edition, 432 pages
Expected publication: August 30th 2016 by St. Martin’s Paperbacks
Evelyn Talbot knows that a psychopath can look perfectly normal. She was only sixteen when her own boyfriend Jasper imprisoned and tortured her—and left her for dead. Now an eminent psychiatrist who specializes in the criminal mind, Evelyn is the force behind Hanover House, a maximum-security facility located in a small Alaskan town. Her job puts her at odds with Sergeant Amarok, who is convinced that Hanover is a threat to his community…even as his attraction to beautiful Evelyn threatens to tear his world apart.
Then, just as the bitter Alaskan winter cuts both town and prison off from the outside world, the mutilated body of a local woman turns up. For Amarok, this is the final proof he needs: Hanover has to go. Evelyn, though, has reason to fear that the crime is a personal message to her—the first sign that the killer who haunts her dreams has found her again. . .and that the life she has so carefully rebuilt will never be the same…

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Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Kathleen and Michael Lacapa's Less Than Half, More Than Whole

In the first year of my graduate studies, I came across a book that deeply touched me. The illustrations are terrific, but it was the content of the illustrations that meant so much to me. Page after page had something that spoke directly to me, a Pueblo Indian, living in today's society. To some, it may sound odd to say "living in today's society" but that phrase is important. Necessary. Vital. So many books about Pueblo Indians cast us in the past, in romantic contexts, or somber ones, or ignorant and racist ways, or just plain wrong (see my entry on Ten Little Rabbits, which is in my post: Indian Bunny. No! Now it is Brave Bunny).

This book was different. Its pages showed Native teens in t-shirts. One holds a basketball. In another, a man leans against a fence, with a red ball cap on his head. Another depicts the inside of their home; Native art and basketry is shown. As I read the story itself, I came to a page that has this word "Saiya" and another with "TaTda" (I'm unable to place diacritic marks). I KNEW how to say those words. I knew what they meant. One is grandma and the other is grandfather.

My daughter's recent experiences at school made me think of that book. She didn't need it herself. Her identity as a young Pueblo Indian woman is strong. It speaks to us, though, because of what it can offer to others who know so little about American Indians of today. People see skin color and make a lot of assumptions. Being Native, being Pueblo... it is more than how you look. Less Than Half, More Than Whole is a gentle book that helps its readers think about the complexities of culture, of skin color, of identity. I highly recommend it.

Tuesday, February 27, 2007

The University of Arizona, Tucson is home to Sun Tracks, one of the first publishing programs that focused exclusively on creative works by American Indians. Authors in the program include Joy Harjo, N. Scott Momaday, Simon J. Ortiz, Carter C. Revard, and Luci Tapahonso.

One of my favorites from Sun Tracks is Mud Woman: Poems from the Clay, by Nora Naranjo-Morse. It came out in 1997 and is two things: a collection of her poems, and a series of photographs of her clay creations. You can read one of her poems here: Mud Woman's First Encounter with the World of Money and Business.

Those of you looking for Native poets for high school students should add MUD WOMAN to your collection. The preface provides background and context for the art this wonderful volume contains.

Sunday, February 25, 2007

Jim Fortier's Alcatraz Is Not an Island

Blogging today---not about books---but about a documentary that ought to be in middle school and high school libraries. It is called Alcatraz Is Not an Island. Directed by Jim Fortier (Metis and Ojibwe), the film is about American Indian activism in the late 60s. Fortier focuses on the November 1969 occupation of Alcatraz by a group of American Indians.

I show the film each semester to students in my section of Intro to American Indian Studies. Prior to this, they had never heard of this incident. How many of you, readers of this blog, know about that takeover? It lasted 19 months and included negotiations with the Nixon administration. Films like this will go a long way to dispel stereotypical ideas about who Native peoples are.

PBS broadcast the film a few years ago and still has their website up: Alcatraz Is Not an Island. You can get a copy from Berkeley Media.

In addition to the film, get Troy Johnson's books about the takeover. They are filled with photographs taken during the occupation. Some of the photos are at Johnson's website. You can get one of his books, You Are On Indian Land! Alcatraz Island, from Oyate.

Fortier was on our campus (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) last week. He put together a montage of several of his films. Green Green Water, in particular, caught my eye. It is about hydroelectric power and its effects on First Nations people in Canada.

I'm also looking forward to the completion of his current project, Playing Pasttime, which is about All-Indian Fast-Pitch Softball. My colleague and friend, LeAnne Howe, is working with Jim on this documentary.

There's information about him on the NMAI website but spend time on his own webpages, learning about all his projects: Turtle Island Productions. Fortier's work is important, and I highly recommend it.


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Sunday, February 24, 2008

The crossword puzzle in yesterday's Washington Post had this clue:

Native American infant

Course, there were seven spaces for the word, and, most people would say "papoose" and happily fill in the boxes. Their answer would be correct, but let's take a minute to think about the word.

"Papoose" is kind of like "squaw." Both words are used as though every Native nation in what is now called the United States of America, and in Canada, too, called their women "squaws" and their babies "papooses."

In the early pages of Little House on the Prairie Pa tells Laura that she'll see a papoose when they get to Indian Territory. And, at the end of the book, as Laura watches the Indians pass by their house, she sees one and cries out "I want it!" Like that baby is a toy? Something she could have?!

In fact, both words are rooted in a Native language, but there are hundreds of tribal nations, and hundreds of tribal languages. We don't all speak the same language.

Here's info about papoose, provided by the Oxford dictionary:

1. offensive a young North American Indian child

I don't think it is offensive.  It just isn't used right. Same thing with "squaw".* The thing for all of us to do is understand that "Native American" and "American Indian" lead us to think that all Indians are alike and speak the same language, dress alike, etc. If we move past that idea to think about a specific tribal nation, we're in a completely different place. What is the Navajo word for baby? What is the Cherokee word for baby? What is the Hopi word for baby? See what I mean?

*Update, December 22, 2015
Taking a moment to say a bit more about "squaw." There are efforts to reclaim the word. See Margaret Bruchac's essay. I don't think it can be reclaimed.