"Instructions for living a life: Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it." – Mary Oliver

Category: Resistance

  • Good Things Friday

    Good Things Friday

    Dinner Party “Have my school friends over” is on my list, and I am happy to report that it happened on Friday night. G was away in Noosa with his school friends, so I figured this was the perfect opportunity to have my school friends over for dinner. I reconnected with two of them at…

  • Rubbish Audit #1

    Rubbish Audit #1

    Note: I am privileged with time, education and resources that allow me to make choices that are not available to everyone. Each of us has to make decisions based on our circumstances and values. You can read more of my thoughts on this topic here and a related quote. So, this post is me doing…

  • I’m Voting Yes

    On Saturday Australia will go to the polls to vote on an amendment to our constitution. The question being posed is: “A Proposed Law: to alter the Constitution to recognise the First Peoples of Australia by establishing an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice. Do you approve this proposed alteration?” with the alteration being: The…

  • To save the time or not?

    I generally have a few books on the go at one time that include at least one (loosely) theological book (morning reading), one other non-fiction book (afternoon reading) and one fiction book (evening reading). Apart from having the right kind of reading for every time of day this also allows the books to more easily…

  • Settling Well

    A few years ago, I finally completed my M. Div. It’s 18 units, and I did one each semester, so nine years of studying, which I loved. My degree culminated in a year-long thesis on Revelation and how it might shape our response to the massive ecological damage humans inflict on the planet. Suppose you…

  • Our annual ritual is back on …

    Each summer, Dad drives down to the Otways to pick Silvan berries to make jam. If I’m around I usually try to go down with him along with whoever else happens to be hanging out down here at their house and wants to go. Last year we missed it because it was closed due to…

  • Critical Theory and Christianity

    I was listening to an episode of Undeceptions about Critical Theory last week, and I was reminded again of the incongruity of people who identify as Christian, reflexively dismissing theories that “aim to explain and transform all the circumstances that enslave human beings.” I could understand if the objection was that only Christ could complete that sort…

  • Ethical Consumption as Class Distinction

    Ethical Consumption as Class Distinction

    Connected to my last post, Dr Jonathon Cornford comments on how ethical consumption can become just another form of class distinction, a marker of difference from others. “one of the difficulties I have, and one of the reserfvations I have with ethical consumption is it still does remain the preserve of a choice of people…

  • Resistance and Privilege

    Cultural forces can be a little like a river that carries us through life without giving it much thought if we let them. Some of those forces we would consider good, and in this case, the current is a good thing as it moves us effortlessly in the right direction. However, other forces deform our…