With Earth Day in mind, I’m going to suggest you find the time to watch Bill Gates’ TED Talk about why he’s backing – and investing heavily in – a new kind of energy technology that has phenomenal potential to change, well, just about everything about the energy conversation. The challenges we face, as Gates describes, are monumental. But so also is the creativity and commitment of some of the folks leading the charge to find solutions to our problems. If you’ve seen Bill Gates give earlier presentations, it’s kind of neat to see his growth in terms of his confidence, his use of illustrations and data, and his ability to engage...

Fred Rogers was a regular and important part of my childhood and continues, well after his death, to continue to serve as an inspiration. Recently the Huffington Post re-ran a picture of “Mr. Rogers” with some advice his mother gave him on how to cope with tragedy. Many have found it helpful as they think about how to talk with their children about tragedy. Typical of his style, the advice is simple, practical, and clear: When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, “Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.” To this day, especially in times of ‘disaster,’...

Framing is everything. Do you call it “gun control” or “gun safety”? Are they “taxes” or “contributions”? Is your work in “fund raising” or “development”? The way you name these issues is not simply semantics, nor is it “spin.” The language we use contributes to the reality we perceive and interact with. This is never more true than when it comes to issues that touch upon cultural values. Which is why I think this TED Talk on mental illness is so important. We’ve heard a lot about mental health in the news of late, particularly the inadequate resources we have to help those suffering from mental illness and...

It’s snowing here. Yes, 4-5 inches of slushy, wet, heavy, but still very cold snow fell last night and today making a mess of driving, public transportation, and flights. And it’s April 11th. Some friends and I have agreed that the best way to deal with this is to trick ourselves into thinking it’s really late February, not mid April. But I when I stumbled upon this short video of a rather creative promotional by the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam’s famous art museum, I found another way: humorous diversion. The museum, eager to promote it’s re-opening, staged a recreation of one of native son Rembrandt’s famous paintings, “The Night...

I can’t believe I forgot to post this on April Fools’ Day earlier this week! If I had remembered, I would have described this as our latest and greatest strategy for improving the teaching at Luther Seminary through consistent classroom assessment. But I since I blew it, I’ll just tell you ahead of time that this is the video some colleagues and I put together for our annual Variety Show at Luther. Given what a mess things are here right now, it seemed like a good time to make fun of ourselves. And given my earlier note on gratitude for good friends (#6), this seems like the second best day of the week on which to post it....

I wasn’t sure where to put Shane Koyczan’s TED Talk performance of his spoken-word poem “To This Day.” It’s about bullying, and the lasting impact that the harsh words children speak to each other can have. That’s something I experienced as a kid, both as a receiver and giver. And both – being called names and calling others name – shape some of the memories of my youth I would most like to forget. So perhaps, I thought, I should put it under “parenting,” inviting parents and all those who care for children to take these taunts and slanders more seriously so that we may children our to honor each other and to be resilient...