Kevin D. Hendricks's Blog, page 25
August 28, 2017
Synchronous Vacation Photos
I love seeing photos that are near reflections of each other. I don’t know what to call this—synchronicity, mirror images, whatever. There has to be a better way to describe them. But I love them.
While on vacation this year I managed to add a new chapter to several such photos:
1986: Me, my brother, and my dad (Grand Lake, I think)
2002: Me and my wife (Estes Park)
2014: My wife and I (Grand Lake)
2017: Milo, Lexi and me.
I’ve always thought the Wall Drug tourist trap in South...
August 26, 2017
We Should Offer Universal Empathy Instead of Relational Empathy
Today I was reading the quick book, Dear Ijeawele, or A Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (it’s actually a great little parenting guide), and came across this line:
“Teach her to question men who can have empathy for women only if they see them as relational rather than as individual equal humans. Men who, when discussion rape, will always say something like ‘if it were my daughter or wife or sister.’ Yet such men do not need to imagine a male victim of cri...
August 25, 2017
2017 Solar Eclipse: My Perspective in Geneva, Nebraska
On Aug. 21, 2017, a total solar eclipse passed across the continental United States. The last solar eclipse in the U.S. was in 1979 (the year I was born), and the last one that went through the middle of the country was 1918.
It’s not quite a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, but it’s pretty close. We’ve got a string of upcoming total solar eclipses in the U.S. in 2024 and again in 2045 (and one in 2099 that will go across Minnesota, if you plan to still be around then). You can certainly trave...
August 20, 2017
It’s Time to Join the Hard Work of Fighting Racism
The news out of Charlottesville and around the country in the past week has been bewildering. It’s bizarre to watch a president struggle to condemn racist hate. It’s encouraging to see people come together and condemn this hate, but at the same time I can’t help wondering how we got here in the first place.
We’ve overlooked too much, sat by in uncomfortable silence, allowed injustice to go unchecked for too long.
All this talk of taking down statues is helpful, but we need to be careful that...
July 1, 2017
How a Book Lover Deals With a Reading Slump
People who know me know that I like to read. A lot. I read 158 books last year, and that was pretty average for me. This year? Not so much.
We’re exactly halfway through 2017, and so far I’ve read 40 books. Last year at this time? 104.
40 books is still a lot of books to read in a single year, let alone six months. But it’s still way below par for me. For the last five years I’ve read well over 100 books a year, once over 200.
So what happened?
I’ve been in an extended reading slump.
It star...
June 16, 2017
Minimizing Terrorism by Integrating Muslims
Recently on The Daily Show, journalist Sebastian Junger and producer Nick Quested discussed their documentary Hell on Earth about the ongoing civil war in Syria. They made an intriguing comment about why ISIS terror attacks haven’t happened in the U.S. as much as they have in Europe:
“Thank God this country has been spared most of the kinds of attacks Europe has been suffering the last few years. The theory for why that is, is that the Muslim population in America has been really successfully...
June 15, 2017
Muslims & Christians Coming Together for #LoveSomalia
The first weekend in June, more than 15,000 people came together in downtown St. Paul to pack meals for the famine in Somalia. The nonprofit Feed My Starving Children organized the mobile packing event, setting up their warehouse in the RiverCentre.
At the end of the #LoveSomalia event, nearly 5 million meals had been packed. My family attended for a shift on Sunday, doing our small part to pack a few boxes.
What’s amazing about this story is that Somali Muslims approached an unapologetically...
June 10, 2017
Robert Street Tunnel on Hold for No Good Reason
Just when I was starting to blog about other things (two posts in a row!), the tunnel comes up again. This time the proposed River-to-River Greenway and Robert Street tunnel in West St. Paul received high-profile coverage in the Pioneer Press.
Unfortunately, it’s not good news:
Plans for the tunnel are on the shelf for now as officials wait for retail development to play out nearby.
As the article explains, there’s potential for development on both sides of Robert Street where the tunnel woul...
June 8, 2017
Author Readings & American War by Omar El Akkad
This week I finished reading American War by Omar El Akkad. It’s a fascinating speculative story about a second American Civil War 50 years from now.
Two days after finishing, I turned on the radio and there was Omar El Akkad talking about his book. Even better, he was making an appearance in St. Paul the next day. Score.
A Word About Author ReadingsI love seeing authors in person. It’s such a unique way to get a glimpse into who they are and how they create. It’s an opportunity that takes t...
June 7, 2017
Time for Minnesota’s First Female Governor?
Today I met Tina Liebling, a Minnesota state representative who is running for governor in 2018. It feels so early to be thinking about the 2018 campaign for Minnesota governor. But if I’ve learned anything about the 2016 campaign it’s that we need to be more involved.
Everybody complained in 2016 that they didn’t like any of the candidates. Well, if you want a candidate on the ballot that you like, you need to get involved early and support the candidate you want to see.
Candidates So FarSo...
