The events of the last week have sparked yet another round of outraged denunciations, feverish finger-pointing, and circular […]
Category Archive: Mercedes Smith
What a challenging year 2020 has been. This year will undoubtedly be one we look back on with […]
There is so much to do. The woman spends her day like most other days, running errands and […]
Stories are a wonderful, captivating thing. You meet characters that you connect with and care for, and explore […]
I really enjoy gift-giving. The excitement you feel when you purchase what you know is going to be […]
I am angry. I am tired of watching my friends suffer through nine plus months of unemployment. I […]
There are stories of Japanese soldiers dropped onto islands in the Pacific theater during World War II, ordered to […]
It is a hot October afternoon in the desert. Sweat drips down into your eyes as you make […]
I am not passionate about politics…at all. Of course, I hold a general ideology and perspective on how I think our country ought to be governed, but I find more value in pouring time and energy into fostering my relationships with the people around me who actually impact my life on a daily basis, than I do staying up to date on the nuances and intricacies of national or international politics. So, when I say that I sit here, a week after election day, saddened and disappointed, it has nothing to do with the projected winner. I’m frustrated by the inflammatory rhetoric I saw flying from both sides. I’m disheartened by everyone’s apparent inability to empathize with people who think differently than they do, or to even see a reason to.
There are two types of spaghetti eaters in this world: those who toss their pasta in the sauce, ensuring a nice even coating all the way through, while still allowing the pasta to shine and form the foundation of the dish, and those who smother their pasta so you can’t even see the noodles, which are nothing more than a convenient vessel with which to move said delicious sauce into your mouth. There are also those weirdos who skip the sauce altogether and just eat butter noodles (you know who you are!), but they are basically akin to the kid who sits in the back of class eating glue all day, so we’re not going to bother with them at the moment.
When someone mentions the church and politics in the same sentence, the picture most people flash on is a pastor standing in the pulpit, waving a red or blue flag, and telling you why it would make Jesus happy if you voted for a particular candidate or a specific proposition. It is an off-putting image for many, and accusations of preachers exceeding their authority or manipulating congregations often follow. To avoid this, then, churches swing all the way in the other direction, to where we do not want to talk about politics at all in the church. Keep church and state separate, as they ought to be. There is, however, a middle ground between littering the church lawn with campaign signs and making politics a taboo subject.
I love The Incredibles. Yes, I’m a woman in my 30’s, and I still unapologetically enjoy many animated films, especially ones that give […]
“Because I said so.” As a child, it was the most annoying thing you could hear from your […]
Two-hundred and eighty. From actors and public figures to government officials and emergency response agencies, Twitter has become […]
Words are an interesting thing. Rationally, you would think that a word has a specific meaning, and that’s […]
I remember playing “follow the leader” as a kid, where someone is designated as the “leader” with everyone […]
Right out of college with a degree in finance, my sister landed a great job for a regional […]
Just shy of six months after life ground to a halt because of a global pandemic, I think […]
I have a catchphrase that I’m semi-known for. Don’t get excited, it’s not like what you’d hear in […]
It seems we have forgotten that debate is a skill set. It is an art form that requires continuous refinement and strengthening, or it withers and dies. To be confronted by a dissenting opinion, to listen and understand an argument you don’t agree with, and to respond with a reasoned, factual rebuttal is a crucial part of any intellectual growth. Alas…the art of the rebuttal is slowly dying.