Link Love

Every week, I curate a list of the best links and articles to make you think and keep you informed. Enjoy!

Every week, I curate a list of the best links and articles to make you think and keep you informed. Enjoy!

Thoughts on this week:

What I’m Reading in real life: This weekend, I read five books of poetry for my reading list. At least I'm making some good progress! If you want to see what I'm reading, check it out on my instagram feed. 

What I’m watching: I just finished the latest season of The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. I thought it was good. I'm also rewatching Young and Hungry to prepare for the Netflix launch of the new season later this month. 

What I’m listening to: I'm still listening to podcasts. RSVP is my latest favorite. 

What else I’m digging: Dog sitting for Rover! Dudes, if you have a dog and need someone to care for them, check out my dogsitting page.  

 

My Writing

Two years ago: I want Stan Lee to be My Adopted Grandpa and other musings on Dallas Comic Con 2015 (Popery, Pens, and Paperbacks)

 

What I read this week:

Popery (Catholicism/Spirituality/Religion):

  • The Politics of Traversing Difference—Acts 2:1-21 (Amy Allen) (Political Theology Today): I hate to spoil this wonderful article, but I have to share with you the very end in case you don't click through (but do, it's a beautiful story)."This, I believe, is God’s wish for the Church as a Pentecost community—not that we settle upon one common (or colonized) way of doing or communicating things, but rather, that we recognize the one power, the true Power, is broader than any one (or group) of us. I believe that God’s will for the Pentecost community is that we live together in our diversity (not in spite of, or overcoming it). To the colonial, homogenizing force of the Roman Empire, this must have been quite a threat. To the post-colonial, multi-lingual, multi-cultural churches in Namibia in the early 2000’s, I heard this message proclaimed and celebrated with hope. For us, today, in 2017, what do these politics mean? How might we live together and grow together across our differences, with God’s Holy Spirit as our guide?" What a great reflection on language and the Gospel message!

  • How to See an Old Church (Experimental Theology): I loved doing this when I was in Rome. 

  • Paving the path to social change guides the life of young Indiana sister (Catholic Herald): Loving this article shared by my college spiritual director about my sister and friend, Tracey, who she didn't even know. Tracey and all my sisters inspire me daily. <3

  • What Would Jesus Resist? (Historical Jesus Research): Read this. 

  • Prison Diary: How To Stay Cool (Experimental Theology): Why does no one care about this very important pro-life issue?

Pens/Pencils/Stationery:  

Paperbacks (Reading, Books, etc.):

Writing

  • How To Connect With Your Writing Tribe (The SITS Girls): I'm still looking for a writing tribe, but this is a good article!

  • When It’s Hard to Maintain Your Focus (Writer Unboxed): I found this article really helpful because it's sooo hard to focus right now on writing, reading, anything. But we have to keep going! 

  • Surround Yourself With Success (Writer Unboxed): This is a really great tip for writing and academia, and it's weirdly harder than you would think. Academics get burned out so easily that they spend more time complaining than really talking about each other's craft. I'm blessed to have one really good friend who talks with me about her dissertation and I talk with her about my reading. It's been so helpful!

Life in General:

  • Why a Pets at Work Policy Is a Good One (Fitbit): I'm blessed to have a dog who can go everywhere with me. I wish that everyone was able to bring dogs to work!

  • What makes you switch your ways? (Unclutterer): One of the things about recovering from what happened to me over Christmas break has been figuring out how to change my life, my habits, and everything else that fell apart or contributed to my life falling apart because of the sociopath. It's good to think about methods of motivating ourselves (and others) to change. 

  • There's an Important Reason We should be Having More Meaningful Conversations (Introvert, Dear): I really appreciate this great article and the ideas for how to go deeper in conversation with people. 

  • Critical Thinking Series: Reading as the Arena of Critical Thinking (Decolonize All the Things): I'm seriously thinking about giving this to my students on the first day of class in the fall. "If you don’t understand the benefits of reading or why it is useful to you and crucial for your own self development then you aren’t likely to take advantage of reading lists which are crucial to sustaining an anti-colonial political awareness to then apply to your actions.  Below  I discuss the importance of reading to critical thinking and praxis.  One of the greatest benefits of the methods of critical inquiry is NOT so you can argue with others but for you to argue with YOURSELF. " So important!

  • Our Mothers as We Never Saw Them (NYT): A great article. 

  • The Real Problem With Being Child-Free and Unmarried In Your Mid-30s (Huffpost): So, I might not feel the same way about my future as the author, but I do relate to this: "I realize I should probably sound more apologetic when I tell people I’m not married. Perhaps I should try a bit harder to make those around me less embarrassed when they meet me. I’m a disgrace. I’m a single lady. I was about to get drunk on lots of prosecco. I’m always the wedding guest — not the bride. And I don’t even own a cat." I guess I'm doing better than he because I don't drink a lot and I have a dog, but still. Stop judging!

Tough and Awkward Topics: 

To Make You Laugh and Smile:

Academia, Education, and Teaching: 

  • Accreditation Is Broken. Time to Repair It. (The Chronicle of Higher Ed): So, accreditation organizations are also running out of funds because they ARE LITERALLY NOT PAID for the work they do. "Why is the accreditation system falling down on the job? Because, as my research shows, by and large accreditors don’t have the budgets or staffing to do their job properly. Despite the tremendous burden of guarding the roughly $120 billion awarded each year in federal student grants and loans, a review of tax filings shows that the 12 main accreditors spend a shockingly small amount on measuring quality — just $75 million in 2013. For comparison, Corinthian raked in $1.3 billion in taxpayer money in one year. That is 17 times more than the combined sum that all 12 accrediting agencies spent monitoring quality at nearly 7,000 campuses over the same period." So, why are these people the ones harassing us into submission for preposterous accreditation requirements while our students can barely read at an 9th grade level?

  • Who Defines What Is Racist? (Inside Higher Ed): This is problematic all the way around. I would hate to be in that atmosphere right now. 

  • Analyzing Black Lives Matter Without Black People Involved (Inside Higher Ed): Ummm??? Who made this decision?

  • When Things Suck and You Still Have a PhD To Do: 7 Tips to Get Stuff Done (Academic Mental Health Collective): This line particularly spoke to where I am: "There is no shame or failure in being realistic about what you are capable of in this current moment. The amount of work you do is not a reflection of you as a person – whether that amount is high or low. It can be hard to believe this and drop the self-judgement. But if it’s going to make life easier for ourselves, doesn’t it make sense to do so?" There was a lot of shame involved in changing the dates of my exams, but I had to be honest about what I could do in that moment. I'm so grateful for a director who understands. 

  • Clinging to the Core (Inside Higher Ed): It's not often that my awkward little alma mater makes a large academic site, but when it does, it's because there's a huge hullaballoo going on that common sense could have stopped. "The university’s president, Thomas W. Keefe, acknowledged the idea has been enveloped in drama. But he said that Dallas needs to explore new ideas" Yes. Like getting a new president who doesn't refer to alumni as brats or students as dogs. Ahem. 

Simplicity and Minimalism:

  • A different kind of childhood (Restoring Mayberry): I have often enjoyed reading the posts at Restoring Mayberry, but this one, perhaps, more than any other, connects with my soul. He describes the friends he sees when he comes back to the states in this way: "One way or another, they grow angrier every year; they know in their bones that something has gone terribly wrong. Most of them know they’ve lost something, and search for it in different ways. Some of my friends build things in their shed, or cook, or in some way find pleasure in creating something. Some read books about people who lived more traditional lives, anything from Amish romances to medieval fantasy. Some drive off on weekends to hunt or fish, something to get them back to nature, and draw far more from their surroundings than from the animal. ... Some of these approaches do more good than others, but I don’t mock any of them; all these people, I think, are trying to fill the same void." What do you think about this article? I would love to hear your thoughts!

  • Here's How I (Painlessly!) Purged 80 Percent of My Closet (Apartment Therapy): So, I really enjoyed this. I've been getting rid of A LOT of things lately, and hoping to get rid of even more in the future!

  • I Planned My Wedding in 5 Days. You Could, Too. (NY Times): THIS. IS. AWESOME. 

Money, Budgeting, and Finance:

  • How To Stretch Your Dollars (Living Well, Spending Less): As usual, there's nothing truly enlightening in this, but it's a great reminder. 

Environmentalism, Farming, Food, Health, and Nutrition:

Dogs: