Fear and #Ferguson

Soooo it is the day after Black Friday, coming close to closing out a week joyously that we might all well just want to forget as we continue our hope that things “just get back to normal”.  We seem to hope that everyone just returns to their place, away from our place and stops complaining and protesting.  Al Sharpton can fly out to Philly where some poor rookie cop made a gruesome mistake and take the tourist protesters with him and we can get back to good old fashion St. Louis segregation (economic and racial) and be safe by empowering an underpaid group of primarily white males (whose lives are at risk every day) to profile and “broken windows” police the rest of us to peace and safety and bliss.

http://www.thenation.com/article/177842/its-time-end-broken-windows-policing

We are so afraid of the questions that have been raised…. again.  Forget about Michael Brown (with my apologies to the Brown family for their loss) and forget Officer Wilson (who whether he knows it or not will be haunted for the rest of his life).  Michael Brown is inevitable in our society.  Over and over again Michael Brown will continue to be gunned down.  Not every day.  Not every week, but certainly every month, year after year and the fact is that we as a society have decided we don't give a shit.  Let our underpaid police worry about it and take of it.  If they make a mistake we can crucify the poor cop and feel better about ourselves  and if they don’t make a mistake then killing people to keep us safe is just their job.

It is 2014 and the “wrong side of the tracks”, or highway still prevails in St. Louis and every adult who pays attention knows where the borderlines are.  We stay on our side of the tracks and the poor and the non assimilated stay on their side. If they kill each other or occasionally one of our policeman kills one of them… it is what Richard Nixon would have called “acceptable losses”.  We pay our police better on our side.  Our kids occasionally take their parents high powered automatic weapons and go on a killing spree. Then and only then our police need to shoot them down but otherwise God and only God can protect the officer that kills one of our fair and precious children.

We self identify as the most Christian nation on earth.  “In God We Trust” emblazoned on our money (think, just for a second how wrong that referencing God on our money should be for a Christian), the Ten Commandments chiseled into our courthouses, but we have totally rationalized the existence of an underclass that lives mired in cycles of poverty, violence and lack of education.  How can this be?  And don’t, PLEASE DON’T, for all that is Sacred quote Matthew 26:11 “The poor will always be with you.” as some kind of justification.  READ YOUR SCRIPTURE IN CONTEXT!  Christ was admonishing the law observes that since they had a brief opportunity to spend some time with their God incarnate, that perhaps they should take an opportunity to do so.

So we are afraid.  We say we are afraid of violence.  We say we are afraid of lawlessness.  We say we are afraid of REVOLUTION!  So we buy guns, we board up windows and we call out the National Guard.  We berate our politicians and leaders for not keeping us safe.  We cancel parades.  We don’t go “downtown” because it might not be safe.  

HOW MANY LIVES HAVE BEEN LOST IN THE FERGUSON RIOTS!?  

I am not perfect about it and I could be wrong but I do read the paper every day and I think a strong case can be made that the number is zero.  I pray for the business owners and people of ferguson who have lost property and might lose their businesses.  It is a tragedy, but no lives have been lost despite all the burning and looting and protesting.  But we, in Clayton are afraid.  There is also no reason that our police should be subjected to bricks, bottles and batteries being thrown and fired at them and I pray for their safety as well because they are our mercenaries in an undeclared war against whomever threatens our status quo.

I think if we would pause and be honest with ourselves we are afraid of the questions raised by the situation.  

Why are we comfortable with an underclass?

Why is it OK when they kill each other as long as they don't do it on our streets?

Why are their deaths only memorialized in the Law and Order section of the Post Dispatch?

Why hasn’t the privileged Christian Community lent their time and attention to their brothers and sisters?

Could the government do things differently to assist the suffering?

Why can’t we change the situation?

Why is it so hard?

Why can’t they just be like us?

Why do we want them to “be like us”?

Why do we need so many guns in so many hands?

What am I supposed to do as a Christian?

Are the government programs making it worse?

Why can’t the black community raise up leaders that are not self promoting?

Why can’t the white community raise up leaders that are not self promoting?

As a Christian, as a human, what am I supposed to do?

Sorry, these are my questions.  I pray that you have your own set and I pray it is not a set of questions about why “those people” are causing so much trouble.  As a Christian I beg you to remember that those people are God’s children and we are called upon not to turn our backs.  I am an old man (in my head I am perhaps an old Jewish man but that is neither here nor there but I am old enough to remember not only when Dan Fogelberg was alive but I remember when he was relevant.

“You better change, before the sun goes down.

You better leave, before you are, the last in town.

You better raise your fortresses, or tear them down,

tear them down.”

What a difference it makes when a community steps up. On South Grand they actually had property damage. They had protesters. They got out of hand and broke windows...a LOT of windows. They didn't board up in the face of loss that never happened, but when it happened they came out and made something beautiful. Something... thoughtful.  

I am not asking for anything other than we not accept a return to the status quo,  Think and pray about what God is calling you to do in response to the pain and suffering that he is showing to us.  Talk with people about it and stop being afraid of violence and looting and burning and property damage and start being afraid of why we cannot seem to work together and pray together to find answers.

PEACE!

The Peacock: Hipster Heaven...with Bacon!

Sooooo….The Peacock!

it is so rare for me to get to go review a NEW Diner in St. Louis.  Our breakfast scene is at best...sleepy and at worst...boring and unchanging.  Even when new places open like the new Courtesy on Laclede Station, it is just expansion of a proven formula.  So when I read about the Peacock I was elated. Although when I initially posted this review (and in my head) I kept calling the place the Flamingo (dementia) I believe I have it straight now.

Opened by the inimitable Joe Edwards in The Loop!  It is on first floor of a new building that I think is Wash U Student housing.  It is brand spanking new and it is open 24 hours a day which is pretty unusual, especially in that neighborhood.  I very admire Edwards.  I might look askance at his trolley but his unflinching efforts to make U-City a destination have really played out awesomely and along with the Pageant he is a civic treasure for the work he has done and he tends to do it all in a first class way.

Last week I could not sleep due to some issues related to my work and got up at 5:30 and headed over to the Loop.  I always like going there, just to drive up and down and with Mission Tacos and Salt n Smoke on the scene there are now more reasons than just hitting Vintage Vinyl to cruise Delmar.  The Peacock is toward the east end of the strip on the north side of the street.  There is...surprisingly...a  large neon Peacock on the outside of it which makes it hard to miss.  Street parking is ample at 6:00 A.M. and I don't think you need to worry about U City meters until 8 but check before you rely on me.

The place is...retro.  As you walk in they have a full bar which seems decidedly un-dinery but I would guess that in the business plan it will make up a nice little chunk of the revenue.  There is an internet jukebox but on this particular morning I did not check it out. it is all stark white and seafoam green.  There is about 40 stools which run along a snake like river of counter as well as ample booth and table seating.  the decor is a little hard on the eyes for the early riser and full of kitsch from Edwards ample nostalgia collection.  I think it will make for a great place to take people from out of town but the space is a little too big and cold and a little too “retro” and intentionally “cool”. The counters break up into three different areas of different height for counter and stool...gently rising as they move to the rear of the establishment. A light bar that occasionally and randomly changes color runs along the counter.

The wait staff was certainly more of that same theme.  My server was very pleasant and helpful and he was… pierced all over the place.  Just the visible piercings were in the teens and while not off putting it is once again, a lot for breakfast.  I saw two other servers who also both appeared to be typecast for hipster/waiter/waitress positions.  Still, the service was attentive, my iced tea glass was kept full and I have no complaints other than I started to get the feeling that this place was out hipping the pretentiously faux him City Diner which I have slandered in earlier posts.  When i read paragraphs like this I am always amazed that I am such an asshole but...well, there it is.  

The clientele were much more racially diverse than my typical haunts.  Lots of different folks and it skewed younger.  Perhaps some of the hipsters and college students don’t sleep when I sleep.  There was a couple sitting at the bar having cocktails which at 6:00 A.M. is impressive.

The Menu is… interesting.  But mainly because it lists a lot of options with V (vegan) or GF for gluten free.  This would be first 24 hour diner in the city to provide such information.  Among other options they present their version of the slinger “The Loop Sling”.  Although an abomination of a real slinger it is 2 eggs, meat, Waffle, potatoes with chili and cheese.   They also offer a waffle sandwich , chicken fried steak and biscuits and gravy, none of which are gluten free. Other than that it is a pretty standard breakfast menu along with a full dinner menu heavy on soups and salads. The back page gives you an “About Peacock Diner”

http://peacockloopdiner.com/about/

Which tells you everything you need to know.

The Food was really good.  I just had bacon and eggs with breakfast potatoes.  The potatoes were pretty average and offered in an O'brien variety as well.  I am a favor of the hash brown and eschew the “breakfast potato” but these were fine.  The eggs were I am sure free range and from well loved chicken but they tasted fine.  The lighting in the place is a little off for breakfast food but as I said...fine.  On my initial visit I also ordered the sausage which was good and nothing special. But...it was breakfast. On my second trip with my frequent breakfast companion we both ordered the "Sunrise" with bacon and it was excellent and came with a little roasted tomato slice that mixed nicely with my eggs. On the second trip on a Saturday morning at 8:30 they started slow but got pretty crowded by the time we bailed at 9:30. Once again a lot of diversity of clientele, and a VERY high hipster quality to the serving staff.... almost over whelming.  

They also served gluten free toast.  For those of you which have not had the pleasure gluten free toast is...not much.  On the other hand you almost never see it.  It is bland but like I said, a treat...of sorts.  It was not toasted enough but it came with good butter so I liked it.

The bathrooms...although I only visited the mens room it was very clean and family friendly with a changing station and a single handicapped stall that was slightly larger than my first home. No hand towels and a hand drier. As an old man I appreciate the clean bathroom.

The Prices are pricey.  Bowl of Cheerios or Raisin Bran $3.50.  An egg is $2.00.  Potatoes $3.00.  The complete breakfasts $8.50.  So breakfast with a tip for the hipster is 11 to 12 bucks with an iced tea.  All in all this was an interesting trip.  I can see taking out of towers here for a late breakfast and a walk around the loop. On my initial trip I was worried about viability but on my second trip i have concluded that Edwards has another winner.

The Buttery Revisited

Sooooo…. The Buttery.  I “discovered” (like I am  Columbus or something) the Buttery well over 20 years ago.  It is on the part of South Grand no one goes to anymore and everyone is hoping is just about to come back and in my life is has been a trash heap with pockets of brilliance.  It is the area between Gravois and Carondelet Park.  My dad’s “people” used to live around here.  The formidable castle that is Cleveland High School is a dominating part of the area along with the iconic Ted Drewes (the other one) and Giuseppe's which is sometimes still open.  On the North side of Gravois their is the bustling Tower Grove South/So-Gra hipster/ethnic collective where people sometimes get murdered but is otherwise a bastion of decent food, cocktails and music and the original, hated, hipster City Diner.  When I head south on Grand I have to pass it and their big banner “VOTED #1 DINER!” banner but I pass it and I curse the RFT under my breath….But I digress.

The Buttery, (I love that name) is the iconic, shotgun diner.  Exposed kitchen and counter with stools overlooking the action and then a scattering of booths flanking the counter.  It has a jukebox.  The bad kind with CD’s you can flip through.  It has a no smoking sign but it looks (and feels) like you should be smoking when you are in there.  The booths are the original faux wood veneer and always look as if the veneer is just about to peel off but is not quite peeling off.  

While doing the extensive research that you have come to expect from this fine, fine, journalistic, intellectual endeavor I found this on line.  Dont watch it with small children.  I only tend to visit these fine establishments at around 6:00 A.M. when things are pretty quiet but any Diner worthy of the name is open all night long and personally I thank the lord that they are because people like this don’t come to my house.  They have a place to go.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1G1bBdA79dw

In the hopes of being a more diligent reviewer I visited the Buttery twice in the last month.  On my first visit I pulled up about 6:30.  there are a few parking spots in back and there is street parking on Grand but in any kind of off light it feels sketchy.  You can also park in the rent A Center lot next door which warns you it is for Rent A Center customers only.  The door advises you of a lot of things:

1. CASH ONLY

2. NO SMOKING

3. NO PUBLIC RESTROOMS.

I think these are all excellent disclosures.

1. DONT TRY AND USE YOUR CREDIT CARD HERE!  WE DONT LIKE IT TO

CUT INTO OUR MARGINS And WE DON'T REPORT ALL OF OUR INCOME!

2. YOU CAN NO LONGER LIGHT UP IN HERE!  OSTENSIBLY GOOD NEWS

FOR THE SENSITIVE BUT PEOPLE SMOKED IN HERE FOR 40 YEARS

AND OUR CEILING TILES ARE STAINED WITH IT. ALSO, THERE IS NO

VENTILATION AND BECAUSE WE USE OIL AND BUTTER WHEN WE

COOK THERE IS ALWAYS A “SMOKY’ SMELL….GET OVER IT.

3. IF YOU ARE NOT EATING HERE YOU CANNOT POOP HERE.

On the first visit there was one gentleman eating at the counter but when I walked in the employee who appears briefly in the video above came in.  We exchanged pleasantries and he brought me an iced tea.  A pitcher of it was sitting on top of the ice machine and it was fresh brewed.  He offered me water as well which I declined.  On my second visit there at about 7:30 on a Saturday the place was hopping with about 7 patrons and two woman working the place.  In each case their ended up being a diverse group of people in the place which I added to.  You have the feeling when eating there that you are eating with “the people” rather than hated City Diner feeling that you are eating with the hipster/privileged.  

The waitress came quickly and took care of my iced tea and was very pleasant when taking my order.  In my celiac phace I can no longer partake of the chicken fried steak and such I ordered what is sadly becoming my standard of two eggs over medium, suasage and hash browns.  No toast (for religious reasons).

On the first trip it came it came quickly and looked like this:

The second time it looked like this.  Pretty nice consistency with different cooks.  The hash browns properly shredded (as God intended) and cooked as you can see to a light golden brown.  While not being certain I believe their staff could crisp them up for you very easily.  On both trips they had similar consistency.  The sausage was standard grade and nothing special but had a nice flavor and the eggs were cooked nicely for over medium.  If you can no longer enjoy the pleasures of toast, over easy is just too sloppy so...over medium it is.

The Bathroom

The Menu at the Buttery is simple, no frills laminated.  Breakfast on the front, and lunch on the back.  Everything is numbered which I assume would assist me when ordering drunk at 2:00 A.M. (Maybe on the next visit).  The menu items are “unremarkable” yet solid providing everything that a true connoisseur would demand.

The next time I am in I am ordering a steak and a pork chop and as always...I will report on my findings.  

Jukeboxes should be mandatory for all diners.  There is a romance to them and once again there is the drunk at 2:00 A.M. factor when you just need to hear some Bad Company.... and not feel particularly embarrassed about it (you should be embarrassed by it, by the way). I like it because it has CD’s in it still.  Not quite as cool as the really awesome ones with 45’s but still… and although I love “Touchtunes” and being able to pull down a lot of songs from “the cloud” there is something about flipping through that limited selection of CD’s to find “the good one”.  When I came in Hank Williams was playing…”Your Cheating Heart”.  Perfect.

There is a bathroom and you can use it if you are a patron.  You go through an unmarked door in the rear and there is a door to the ladies room, a door to the mens room and an open door to the back part of the kitchen.  It also is warm and unventilated.  But it was clean and very serviceable.  A little graffiti on the hand drier but other than that probably cleaner than my bathroom at home.  The door had a serviceable lock and if nature was making its ever more incessant demands, I believe I could find solace there for a few minutes and not feel like I was at risk for Ebola.  Good bathroom.  Please wash your hands.

Additionally I always enjoy the deep history of a place like this and indeed, although we do not know if St. Louis greats like Lou Brock or Stan the Man ever used this bathroom, we are certain that BJ did!

The Staff really is what makes the place.  Seriously.  On both visits, totally different staff.  They probably alternate Saturdays.  You do not get the feeling that they just drove in from Wildwood.  Nor do you get the feeling that they are “artists” living in the SoGrand “walk up” (pretending they live in Brooklyn) that their parents are helping to pay for.  This is their job.  They do it competently, politely and professionally.  There is a reasonable amount of age and tattoos on the staff and they might look gruff, but they are not.  Polite and professional they have a demeanor which says I am here to get whatever you want but please do not give me a lot of shit because I work hard.  At least that is what I got.  I like this place.  The Buttery is St. Louis South Side at its best.  Unpretentious.  Not a lot of money.  Trying to make it day after day.  Not ashamed of anything.  Not asking anyone for a handout.  Trying to get along and not spread any grief in the world and certainly not trying to pretend for the benefit of anyone to be anything other than what it is.  A place to eat.  Maybe to talk.  read the paper.  Gather your thoughts, and get some food that is quick, and hot, and good.  Long live the Buttery!  

Complicated Shadows

Soooo… last week it was about why bad things don’t go away.  Sometimes it is complicated. Tomorrow Michael Brown is buried.  Perennial hand puppet Al Sharpton will come in for a drive by eulogy expanding his brand on the death of another young black man.  We don’t know whether it will drive a new round of protests and possible trouble maker violence or whether a tired hot city just wants to “move on”.

And that road goes on and on into the sunset.

And my destiny is bound to move me on.

-Missouri

That was a bad song and a bad quote but it might resonate for people of a “certain age”.  Watching Lacey Clay on “Face The Nation” talking about militarization of our police.  Watching Jay Nixon on “Meet The Press” be quizzed on “his failures”.  It is all just a yawn now as we forget that there is a family that no longer has a son.  To be fair, at least three other families have lost a son this week.

Trevon Kirksey

Taron Selfie

Kajiemme Powell

All dead.  One also killed by a police officer but the death gruesomely filmed and his video death apparently passes muster.  The other two young men were just gunned down on the street and to be totally fair to our police, our government, our city, our Christian community and their neighborhoods, no one who was not a friend or relative gives a shit.

Who is lighting a candle for them?

Where is Al Sharpton for them?

Why is Antonio French not marching at midnight for youths actually murdered in the City of St. Louis?

Where is self promoter Maria Chappelle-Nadal and all her righteous indignation?

Who is lighting a candle for them?

What about Darrell Wilson?  No one seriously believes this cop came out looking to kill anyone that day.  At best he over reacted in a threatening situation… at worst… he really, really fucked up.  His life as he knew it is over.  But he is still alive.

Elvis Costello might have summed it up:

Well you know your time has come and you're sorry for what you've done

You should've never have been playing with a gun

In those Complicated Shadows

Well there's a line that you must toe

and it'll soon be time to go

but it's darker than you know in those Complicated Shadows

All you gangsters and rude clowns

Who were shooting up the town

When you should have found someone to put the blame on

Though the fury's hot and hard

I still see that cold graveyard

There's a solitary stone that's got your name on!

-Elvis Costello:  Complicated Shadows

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3n1VzT_yis

***

But we want to “move on”.  It is hot.  We are tired.  Ferguson needs to get back to business.  The kids need to go to school.  People need to “live their lives”.  Really?

A personal favorite of mine, Mike Doughty has a song called “Move On”.  I think he wrote it around the 2007.  

“Down in the mouth and not half right

But I can feel the changes comin' on

Bloom like flowers in bluest night

Bloom like the sunlight in my song

Dum dumb, dum dumb, dum

Dum dumb, bay, dumb, dumb

Move on, move on, dum dumb

Dum dumb, dum, dum dumb, bay

All of the words you can't say right

Burn my ass with anger to no end

I love my country so much man

Like an exasperating friend”

-Move On (Sunlight In My Song)

Tell it brother.  Speaking the truth with love.  Like an exasperating friend.  I am still trying to figure out what to do.  What my response should be.  How do I change me?  I live in a white, protected, privileged silo.  Physical violence, threat, confrontation, discrimination… they are not part of my life.

My Pastor is calling me out.  My wife is calling me out.  My life is calling me out.  Many people are talking and dialoguing.  That is good.

My wife is doing constructive and engaging things and I am proud of her, but what do I do?

I wanted to attend funeral services or memorial services for one of these young men killed this week that was not Mike Brown.  I couldn’t find the information.  Young men who are gunned down in the streets get a mention (normally one day) in the “Law and Order” section of the post.  There are no Obituaries for;

Trevon Kirksey

Taron Selfie

Kajiemme Powell

There are no funeral listings.  I don’t know what I would do at such a funeral.  Sit in back by myself.  See a families loss?  Pray with them?  Pray for them? Light a candle for them?  Remember for a minute that this man lived and died?  Remember that another one of God’s children has gone along to his reward in a way never contemplated by our creator?

So I am trying to figure it out.  What will I do?  Will I move on and look back and talk about the “tragedy of Ferguson” and pontificate.  Or I will I find a way to be part of a real change?  What are you going to do?

“Dum dumb, dum dumb, dum

Dum dumb, bay, dumb, dumb

Move on, move on, dum dumb

Dum dumb, dum, dum dumb, bay”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csVcI2v82KY

Sometimes it is complicated.  Indeed.

Strange Days... Mommy Make The Bad Things Go Away... and perhaps they should not.

file:Soooo…I often wonder why bad things won't just “go away”.   it has been a confusing week.  I woke up last Monday morning up in Michigan to news of “Ferguson” Missouri.  “A town near St. Louis” according to the New York Times and the BBC.  Evidently a young man had been killed on the street.  Evidently the young man was black and and the shooter was policeman who is white.  Michael Brown was the name of the now deceased.  The conditions of his shooting are at best suspicious and exhibiting of poor judgment by the officer and at worst look like an angry, brutal execution.

I was driving home on Tuesday and kind of thought this would all be “over” before I ever returned.  It is about a 9 hour drive home.  I have satellite radio and I realized that this was not going to “go away”.

Pictures of Michael Brown lying on the pavement...videos of michael Brown, lying on the pavement in what looked like a rain puddle but it hadn't rained.  Etched.  People giving accounts of a confrontation, a struggle, a shot, an attempt to flee, more shots, an attempt to surrender… more shots.  Etched.  And now it won’t go away.

Idiots on TV and radio.  Everyone personalizing the story to fit their narrative… at first.  Discrediting police accounts.  Discrediting bystander accounts.  Whatever you want to believe it was all there for you to spin out of the “facts”.

Police brutality

Black thugs

White flight

Profiling

Lawlessness

Execution

He had it coming

Racism

Entitlement

Resentment

Social Justice

Looters

Rioters

First Amendment

Stand Your Ground

“There is more to the story”

...whatever.  A man is dead.  Evidently killed by a cop who although alive, his life is forever changed by his actions and by the consequences.  Part of the community would take the law into its own hands and crucify him, or worse.  On the other end of the spectrum are the “innocent until proven guilty” crowd.  If there is any trip or trope more played out and more a picture of guilt and cluelessness than “innocent until proven guilty” I do not know what it is.  Yes… in the courtroom you have a presumption of innocence.  In the world… not so much.  In fact, not at all.  In a 24 hour media circus you are guilty until proven otherwise.

What is amazing is how clueless political leadership has been.  Of course it is not a party until the ass clowns like Al Sharpton arrive.  On the other hand when Dick Gregory shows up, reasonable people should pay attention.  But the local grandees failed pretty miserably.  The City of Ferguson, failed.  They couldn’t handle it.  They called the County and the county arrived with swat teams and riot gear...all dressed in the Hunger Games finery to point guns at unarmed citizens for the national press.  Mc Cullough stumbled and the black politicos piled on with Charlie Dooley relishing this and showing himself for the petty asshole he is by piling on and kicking Mc Cullough and the cops for their mistake.  Nixon waded in with calls to the President and the Missouri Highway Patrol and a charm offensive by Captain Ron Johnson.  That was smart.

One career has been made and that is City Alderman Antonio French.  

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2014/08/14/who-is-antonio-french-the-alderman-providing-updates-from-ferguson/

Pay attention!  He combined the ear, the apparent heart and articulated in a way that crossed all boundaries.  The same cannot be said Maria Chapelle Nadal.  She has grandstanded, and played to her base.  Very safe.  Very sad and even more important very dangerous.  She seems whiny.  French seems in touch and in tune.  Ferguson is in her district.  French is a City Alderman and he went out and stood on the line and Tweeted the whole experience and… a star is born.

His Twitter feed is worthy of following:

https://twitter.com/AntonioFrench

He is not going  to “Go Away”.  And I think that might be a good thing.  For the black community and for the white community, for the city and for the region.  We will see if he has the character to match his courage.  He looks like a mayor and if he wants, Congressman.  Once again, we will see but the point is that he is emblematic of my own change of heart about this tragedy.

Tonight we have a curfew. I do not know whether that is a bad thing or a good thing. The status quo was not acceptable because as far as bad they things...."They mostly come out at night...mostly".

White people and black people are marching together.  Everyone knows there is something badly wrong in a society that has resulted in every black man being a suspect every time he leaves his home.  Now we are having discussions that might be more nuanced.  Might be more reasonable.  Might be more interesting than the bullshit that has led us here with everyone clinging to their stereotypes and comfortable narratives.

The really hard line  conservatives and mouthpieces like Glenn beck have demonized the term “social justice”.  This is a classic Orwellian crime.  I do not think the Jesuits invented social justice but the idea that Christians have an obligation to work for justice for our fellow men, no matter what their class is a noble concept and I hope that this conversation continues.  I hear Glenn Beck quoting my personal hero Bonhoeffer the day…. confused, frightened and elated me.  I wanted to laugh, cry and puke but…  at least it is thoughtful.

Sometimes bad things.  Heartbreaking things.  Criminal things.  Sometimes they are not going to Go Away!  Sometimes God works through evil occurrence and sometimes when things do not Go Away… maybe they shouldn't and maybe we will be better for it. I think that is a prayer.