Assistant Village Idiot

Thus ends the best month in New England sports history. Be glad you lived to see it.

I have sat on this essay by a friend for over a week now, to see if anything brilliant to add occurs to me... Not much, actually. I will on...

Alan Jacobs does a wonderful parody over at First Things of Gibran's style, which sums up the Levantine lyricist's arrant nonsense ...

We are familiar with the accidental discovery of enormously important scientific ideas and methods. Everyone, it seems, was looking for som...

Whether future events are open or closed might not make much practical difference to us humans. Whether God has already composed the entire...

The part I liked best was Coco Crisp talking to Jacoby Ellsbury: "If you get on, you have to go. All of America is counting on you....

My father-in-law, a lifelong Democrat, asked me today whether I thought the electoral college system should be scrapped. This is an opportu...

From the very clever site Lark News: Emergent leaders call for ‘missional re-understanding of Jesus-followership and Christ-focus imbued wi...

Primo Levi, Auschwitz survivor Sooner or later in life everyone discovers that perfect happiness is unrealizable, but there are few who paus...

I haven't been following current events at all lately. I had become a bit obsessive about them, and decided that I was not able to take...

People in New Hampshire have been telling visitors and immigrants from lesser states about the gold on the State House dome in Concord for y...

I asked my son whether he knew anyone who was a spiritual giant. We have all read about such people - Dietrich Bonhoeffer ministering to h...

I mentioned l ong ago that I have some reputation for liking variety in music. I've decided that's not quite so. I like harmony, ...

I have spent many hours in nostalgiac reverie. Earl’s sermon a few weeks ago spoke about letting Jesus be lord of the past, specifically no...

I am of course rooting for my Red Sox. But I just can't work up any animosity against the Indian players. Paul Byrd is pitching, and h...

The quote from an online discussion Chong (St. Louis): Rob if you had to give a number for the amount of players that took steroids and/or h...

I have heard it said that one can not watch a soap opera for several months and still pick up again almost immediately and know what is goin...

Visiting sons 2 & 4 this week, I have driven around the Houston area, both with and without purpose. On the plus side, there are no poli...

Reading around the web, I have detected some discomfort among Christians on this topic of abandoning the idea of narrative. I think the wor...

Modern air travel prepares us well for eventual teleportation. You go into a local node, are made uncomfortable for some hours, and pop out...