The Two Takes

Her Take: I’m excited about this week’s topic because I get to share the second-best life lesson I ever learned with you. Well, why don’t I give you the BEST life advice too, as long as I’m at it? THE BEST was when I came home from school crying because people were bullying me for my weight. I looked up at my wise and impossibly ancient (he was maybe 40 at that time) father with tears in my eyes, yearning for guidance, and he gave me his sage counsel. “Tell ‘em to kiss yer ass.” I’m still not sure if he had been listening or if he thought I asked for the absolute quickest way to get suspended from Lutheran school, but I took his advice anyway, at least internally, and still do. Now, the second-best life lesson came from my mother, and I hate to overshadow it with what is arguably my best story from real life ever, but it sets us up for what we really need to talk about now. Flash forward to when I’m about 22 years old, and I find out that my Then-Father-in-Law h...

His Take:  Sometimes, we need some alone time to get our head on straight and deal with everything that’s going on in our lives. Especially in today’s world, where if you carry a cell phone, you’re literally connected to billions of people at all times. No breaks. Not ever. Heck, I share a place with my wife and my cat and sometimes I just need some time to myself. That’s where meditation comes in. I think meditation comes with a stigma. That you have to put on Depok Chopra and sit in a dark room with only candles for light and a tiny little water fountain off to the side and throw weird chants into “the universe”. Sure, that’s one form of meditation. But luckily meditation, like ice cream, comes in many different kinds. Biblical meditation, guided meditation, there’s way too many kinds for me to list here. Let me just tell you about the two kinds of meditation that I do.  First, I do a sort of “shut it down” meditation. I’ll sit quietly in a chair, close my eyes and just...

This week we bring you two Part Twos from last week and put to rest, for now at least, the 'argument' we're having about 'Woke Culture'. Her Take:  If there’s one thing that the white guys in my life will agree on it’s that they could live happily-ever-after for the rest of their lives if I’d never again point out that something they’re saying (or doing, or thinking) is coming from a place of White Male Privilege. And I get it.  It’s uncomfortable to have that laid right there on the table like some big, gross, super-white stinky fish and have to contend with it. I’m sure they feel like I’m trying to start a fight but, just ask my older brother, if I’m trying to start a fight with you, you’ll know.  Yes, I’m sure I sound confrontational, but be gentle with me, I’m pretty new to this whole trying-to-be-socially-concious thing. Also, to be fair, I’m dragging my own privilege into the argument. I was raised in an almost totally homogeneous area of Centra...