What I’m Into – November and December 2014

I’m linking up again with Leigh Kramer to share what I am into. Though my goal is to share some of my favorite things with you monthly, the craziness of December for a musician simply did not allow me to do anything before now. Be sure to let me know what you’re into in the comments!

Books

A Year of Biblical Womanhood: How a Liberated Woman Found Herself Sitting on Her Roof, Covering Her Head, and Calling Her Husband “Master”
by Rachel Held Evans

Are you there, Rachel? It’s me, Margaret. I read your book and laughed out loud and realized we would be best friends if you only knew that I feel as if I could have written “cleaning seems little more than an exercise in decay management, enough to trigger an existential crisis each time the ring around the toilet bowl reappears.”

Actually, for me it’s unloading the dishwasher that triggers an existential crisis, but I can still relate. I bet you hear that from all the girls. Is this what being a fangirl feels like?

In seriousness, this book was extraordinary. I had feared that it might be too glib about matters of religious faith or too smug about matters of feminism, but it is written with humility and humor that keep it from falling into either of those traps. I’m not sure how much value my recommendation has since I seem to have been the last person in the world to read this book, but I heartily recommend it.

The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates by Wes Moore

We read this book as an “all-school read” and the author visited us in the fall.  The story of two boys with the same name whose lives take very different paths, this book never strays into moralism or piety. It is a clear-sighted appraisal of the challenges faced by young people in certain environments, and never tries to present easy answers or tie the story up with a bow. The Other Wes Moore is a thought-provoking page-turner.

Time To Choose: 365 Ways To Live A Christian Life Online by Adam Coughlin

Adam Coughlin has been on the vanguard of evangelization in the new media. With this book – available in ebook or “old-fashioned” paperback, he offers simple, Scripture-based advice for how to bring one’s faith to social media. Each meditation begins with a Bible verse and reflection, and concludes with a related goal for the day. The book targets those new to technology, and those who are comfortable with technology but new to sharing their faith. He has even set up a Facebook page for those who want support on their journey.

Other

Ta-Nehisi Coates

I know that I had read his work in the Atlantic before this summer’s monumental “The Case for Black Reparations”, but his work didn’t stick in my memory until recent months. He has been writing with candor and ardor about Ferguson and the Eric Garner case and how those connect to his experience as a black man in America. I wonder if he gets annoyed that it took so long for people to start to pay attention to what he has been saying all along. I wonder if he would be annoyed that I almost always mispronounce his name.

His opinion piece in NYT on The Good, Racist People broke my heart, and his Twitter feed keeps me on my toes. I haven’t read his memoir The Beautiful Struggle
yet but it is on my list.

Verdi Requiem and Sweeney Todd

I am cramming on both of these pieces for upcoming January performances, and it is a delight! Check the performance calendar for more details.

Sacred Space Books

Once again the simple prayer books from the Irish Jesuits have seen me through a special season. Every evening of Advent I used these books to explore one of the readings for the day and to reflect both on the Scriptures and on my life right now. As an added discipline I tried to come up with a tweetable thought to share via Twitter each night. I was pleased and surprised at the conversation those night-time prayertweets provoked. It’s not too early to order your copy for Lent!

Wedding Planning

To say I am “into” wedding planning might somewhat alter the definition of “into” that we have been using thusfar. Perhaps it is not something that I am eager about as much as it is something in which I find myself submerged and slowly drowning. Eventually I will have the wherewithal to write The Definitive Post on Planning, but for now it is enough to know that I am sick of trying to convince people that I really, truly, want to be simple, that I accidentally sent one of our potential caterers an email meant for my fiance, and that out of respect for my brother (who will be my only attendant) I am searching for a dress without a train so that he won’t have to floof it.

We are 103 days from the wedding. That’s right, I still don’t have a dress or a caterer. Stop looking at me like that.

What have you been into this month?

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