Marilyn R. Gardner's Blog, page 58
June 17, 2016
Moralistic Therapeutic Deism
I had a moment this week where I fell into the magnetic force field of moralistic therapeutic deism. It seemed a good idea to repost this piece I originally wrote in October 2013— My husband Lowell recently read a book entitled, Soul Searching, by Christian Smith and Melina Lundquist Denton from Duke University. In it [...]
June 16, 2016
“Letting Them In”
Two times a year, I facilitate a patient navigator/community health worker course. It is a core training that helps to prepare this workforce for working in clinic and community settings in the United States. The course is a hybrid of both in-person and online modules and runs for around 16 weeks. At the end of [...]
June 14, 2016
Podcast at Tandem Nomads
I knew as soon as I met Amel Derragui that, despite the age difference, she was a kindred spirit. Amel was born in India of Algerian parents. Since childhood, shehas lived in 8 countries and 13 cities, giving her a perspective and broad view of the world. Between birth and age 5, Amel switched between [...]
June 13, 2016
The Healing Word
It is Monday morning and already the work week has assaulted me. My ‘to do’ list seemed to procreate over the weekend and I opened my email to many demands. It was a weekend full of family and life, which made the news of the Orlando shooting in a nightclub even more poignant.Having been off [...]
June 10, 2016
Belonging & Fitting In
I was in the middle of writing a blog post when Lowell showed me this section in Brene Brown’s book Daring Greatly. The quote shot straight to a deep place in my soul. Brown had identified and articulatedso clearly the struggle I was trying to capture in the post I was agonizing over. I’m abandoning [...]
June 7, 2016
A Challenge to Christians During Ramadan
I am on the mailing list of a large mosque in the Roxbury area of Boston. While Egypt’s minarets give us a journey through history and Turkey boasts Ottomanstyle mosques, the mosque in Roxbury is modern. It sits across from Roxbury Community College, its dome and minaret smaller than those in the Muslim world. I’ve [...]
June 6, 2016
Thoughts on Sharing our Stories
“Perhaps the greatest danger of our global community is that the person in LA thinks he knows Cambodia because he’s seenThe Killing Fieldson-screen, and the newcomer from Cambodia thinks he knows LA because he’s seenCity of Angelson video.” ―Pico Iyer At a dinner party years ago, our host, a man from England, was waxing wise [...]
June 3, 2016
Summer Fun Ideas that Promote Sanity and Potentially a Wider View of the World
These are ideas for(mostly) free stuff that can happen anywhere in the world.Teenage daughters should take note. Go for a walk. Create a scavenger hunt in your house, backyard or courtyard. Make playdoh. Play with playdoh. Brainstorm strange flavours of pancakes…make the top three strangest even if it means making up the recipes! Make window [...]
June 2, 2016
Really?
Toddler falls over railing at zoo into gorilla area. Gorilla killed to save toddler. Public outcry from impulse culture addicts. Parent crucified by public opinion. Have to delete all social media, go into hiding. Told they are the ones who should have been killed. Meanwhile,in Syria: NOTE: Quote from Kay Bruner in The Curious [...]
June 1, 2016
The Story of a TCK Friendship
The first picture that was taken of me with my friend Lois was on the shores of the Dead Sea. There we are, two little girls – one blonde, the other dark-haired; one taller, the other shorter. We are holding hands with our fathers and we are oblivious to the fact that our lives are [...]
