*culture is not optional

Surviving your baby’s first year

by Amanda Caldwell

A book list by the mother of a toddler explores experiences from birthing to sleeping.

Last topic standing

by Kirstin Vander Giessen-Reitsma

The pine forests of Kentucky offer insight into maintaining healthy diversity of interests.

Reading for a global perspective

by Byron Borger

Book guru of Hearts & Minds Books recommends resources for studying and pursuing global justice.

Feasting on film

by Erin O’Connor-Garcia

A list of mouth-watering movies and the delectables to accompany their viewing.

Answering to the Coca-Cola Company

by Raymond Blanton

On the topic of the caustic wit of novelist and screenwriter Terry Southern.

Kirstin’s recommendations 7.11.08

by Kirstin Vander Giessen-Reitsma

Young adult fiction about race and the abuse of power and classic music from Louis Jordan and Patsy Cline, two of the most influential U.S. artists in the 20th century.

Hijab Display

by Daniel Garcia

Don't Do It

by Raymond Blanton

The memory palaces of Joseph Cornell

by Henry Bakker

Exploring the philosophy of an artist whose collage work is suggestive about the nature of time and memory.

The purpose of sex

by Janel Kragt Bakker

On the unitive, procreative and recreational functions of sex.

Reading the stash

by Denise Frame Harlan

What does your stuff say about you?  To you?

Is Google making us stoopid?

The Atlantic Monthly

Nicholas Carr on how the Internet is changing our brains.

I am a sea

Killing the Buddha

The problem of Christendom’s worn-out language according to Patton Dodd.

The filthy, stinking truth

Salon.com

An interview with Katherine Ashenburg, author of The Dirt on Clean: An Unsanitized History.