Happy Halloween

Tonight, I’m hanging out with Hermione Granger, a Cardinals cheerleader, an angel with wings, and Tigger. Talk about your unusual group of usual suspects…
Struggling whether to “do” Halloween? Do yourself a favor and read this article from Ransom Fellowship. What do you think?

Links: Come and Get ‘Em

A couple of (mostly) current events links for you:

Dumbledore Gay? – I couldn’t say it any better than Alastair does
Happy Divorce? – a new industry is (unfortunately) blooming
Olympic Flame Goes Carbon Neutral – now if they could change that logo
Reality Shows on Tap if Writers Strike – not sure who I’m rooting for on this

If I Were a Snowbird (yada yada yada)

Yes, that’s me in the picture, taking on a wave. Megan and I are in southern Florida at a hotel in Deerfield Beach near Boca Raton for our How Kids Think research project. Apart from a couple of rainstorms at night, it’s been beautiful, with weather (and water) at 85-degrees – nice.
Though it would have [...]

Number One Way to Freak Out Freshmen

So today, as part of introducing an assignment to my New Testament classes in which they are to design and create a webpage, blog, Facebook, or MySpace site capturing one of the gospels other than the one we’re studying (Matthew), I happened to mention to my students I had Facebook myself (as well as two [...]

One Big Game of Chess

Fellow teacher (and chess coach) Thom Johnston took this picture of Megan and the girls at Westminster’s annual Carnival this past weekend. Our two oldest had a good game and played for quite a while, while their little sisters pretended to understand all the moves.
The picture makes for a good metaphor of what the next [...]

Dorothy Sayers on War

Just finished a little 100-page book titled Creed or Chaos?, a collection of essays written by Dorothy Sayers at the height of World War II. Consider the timeliness of these quotes:
“The people who say that this is a war of economics or of power politics, are only dabbling about on the surface of things. Even [...]

Sakulu

We’re mourning today: Sakulu Damulira, the Ugandan boy we’ve sponsored through Compassion International for the past five years, has died. A big storm blew through Sakulu’s town of Masaka (two hours from the capital city of Kampala) and downed some power lines. Sakulu, 8, apparently stepped on a live wire and was killed instantly, a [...]

Overheard

One student defending to another why she had “such a stupid song” on her music player:
“It’s an iPod,
not a wePod!”
Ah, the community of technology.

Not Like Fall at All

No, this isn’t our yard or leaves, but I wish it/they were. Megan took this shot of our oldest during their trip to visit my sister three hours north in Illinois.
Here in St. Louis, our trees have the majority of their leaves (still green), and our yard just keeps growing. We had 80-degree temps this [...]

At The Pageant Tonight

Megan and the girls are heading out of town to visit my sister and her family in Tremont, IL, and I’ve got four free tickets to the The Pageant tonight for the Ticketmaster New Music Spotlight show with local/regional bands The Feed, Red Water Revival, John Henry & the Engine, and Caleb Travers & Big [...]

American Pantheon of Gods

This week in Biblical Ethics, we’ve been studying the First Commandment – considering God’s Person and right in calling us to faithfulness as part of his covenant with us, as well as studying a few of the many gods (Asherah, Baal(s), Chemosh, Dagon, Marduk, Molech) that Old Testament cultures (including Israel) created instead.
After the Old [...]

David Brooks: “The Odyssey Years”

My favorite New York Times writer, David Brooks, had an interesting piece Tuesday on a new stage of life he’s calling “the odyssey years”. While I didn’t pay him anything to write it, his is a fantastic endorsement of a certain book I’d shamelessly recommend. But I digress. He writes:
“There used to be four common [...]

Faith’s Only Worth Is in What (or Whom) It’s Placed

John McCain’s recent interview about religion, combined with Barack Obama’s declaration about faith and how it plays “every role” in his life, reminded me how much politicians (and most Americans) talk about faith as if it’s an actual deity itself.
McCain said last week in this Beliefnet interview:
“We have to rely on our faith sometimes to [...]

When I Grow Up, I Want to Be Jon Stewart

Jon Stewart is brilliant. Watch this short interview with Chris Matthews about Matthews’ new book, Life’s a Campaign, and marvel at how quick (and right) Stewart is (hat tip: Jon Barlow).

Trust Me, They Don’t Have a Pill Big Enough for Ours

(Taken by Megan while driving through Louisiana, MO, after this year’s Apple Festival)

Question of the Day

One of my students came into my classroom to wait for school to start this morning. After pulling some books out of his bag and checking his calendar for the day, he said:
I can’t believe how much I have going on!
Mr. Dunham, do you have, like, a lot of stuff to do?
I love high [...]

Educator Interview

(For my Educational Foundations class at Covenant this semester, I was assigned to interview a teacher and write a paper connecting his or her perspectives to the various educational theories – and they are Legion – that we’ve been reading about for class. Ken teaches at a public school, is a member of our church, [...]

Note to Self: Sophomores

When introducing the Law and ethics of the Old Testament, understand that first-period sophomores will doubtfully be as excited as you about the relevance, beauty, and love expressed by God in giving them (at least not anytime before nine in the morning).
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow; so are 15- and 16-year [...]