One of my favorite bookstores

A view of one of my favorite bookstores taken from the NW corner in July 2004.

Tags: Books, Bookstores, Oregon, PDX, Photoblog, Portland, Powells, and Powells City of Books.

The Beeb is watching you . . .

In The Editors blog Daniel Pearl, deputy editor of BBC World's Newsnight writes:

We often have students with us on work experience. Twice in the last 6 months I've come across blogs in which people trailing the programme have written things about the team. When I approached one of these people, her resonse was that the blog was supposed ot be just for her and her friends!

It wasn't the confidentiality issue that bugged me, but that anyone would think that we as programme makers don't have as much right as everyone else to read what you're all writing, especially if you are writing about us. So what do you think? Stick it on your blog and I'll respond.

Well, I do have one thing about the BBC that has bugged me for quite some time. I've never quite been able to find a reason for something that they do. I see this as my chance to maybe get someone to answer.

The only time I get to see BBC News on the telly is when it's on late at night for a half hour on my local PBS channel, so this isn't really something I've noticed on TV as much as I've seen it all over news.bbc.co.uk. It is the habit of writing "Nasa" instead of "NASA" which is what the US media outlets as well as NASA itself uses. I've even read the UK version of Eats, Shoots and Leaves, which I do know is a book on punctuation, but I was hoping it'd say something about acronymns and the usage there of in the Queen's English. But it didn't. And the New Yorker has given me doubt that that book even gets punctuation right.

But I digress. What I'm trying to find out is why the Beeb uses "Nasa" instead of "NASA" in print. If the Beeb is really watching the Blogosphere, maybe just maybe, I'll get an answer.

Tags: BBC, Daniel Pearl, and NASA

Turtle in the Sun

A nice shot of "wild in the city" that I thought I would share. To see a bigger image of the photo and get a better look at the sun loving turtle just click on it and it'll open in a new window.

Tags: Photoblog, Texas, and Turtle

A Prayer Request

Please pray for the listening process (the Bishop's listening process* to be exact) currently underway in the diocese from which I blog. Please pray that ears, hearts, and minds will be open to the voice of the Holy Spirit. That they will be open enough for the voice of the Holy Spirit to drown out preconceived notions and personal opinions. And pray that we will learn to value our relationships in Christ over the issues that are dividing us.

(*The Bishop himself refered to it as "my listening process")

Tags: Anglican Communion, Bishops, Episcopal Church, Episcopalians, Holy Spirit, and Prayer

My Opinion

I was born an American, but I, as an adult, choose to be an Episcopalian. I grew up in a Baptist congregation, but the balance of the three legged stool, the beauty of the liturgy, the poetic language of the Book of Common Prayer, the encouragement to use the mind one had been given by God, the rhythmic cycle of the church year, the unbroken chain of the Apostolic Succession, and the richness of our Anglican traditions drew me in. From the first Episcopal service I attended at Grace, Astoria, I knew I had found my spiritual home. I remember being impressed in Confirmation class when I learned that the Episcopal Church had even remained united throughout the war that was civil in name only. I knew I wanted to be part of a church where we value our relationships in Christ over the issues that divide us.

Furthermore I would like to point out that in the 25th Chapter of Matthew, when our Lord separates the sheep from the goats, His main concern seems to be about how the different groups treated “the least of these.” We are told “Come, you that are blessed by My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave Me food, I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed Me, I was naked and you gave Me clothing, I was sick and you took care of Me, I was in prison and you visited Me.”

At this point in history we have the ability to eradicate extreme poverty. I was very proud to be an Episcopalian when I heard that our General Convention had adopted the Millennium Development Goals as a major mission priority. Every three seconds a child dies from poverty related causes, every eight seconds the death is from water borne causes. Three hundred die during the average Sunday sermon. That’s way more than the number of people who belong to the same parish as I do. These children are dying and all y’all are talking about who gets to wear which pointy hats? Children are dying without the chance to grow up and become contributing members of the Kingdom of God here on earth. Many are dying without ever hearing the Good News of the Gospel of Christ. We need to let God decide who gets to wear which pointy hats and stop telling God who God can and can’t call. We need to remember the words of Archbishop William Temple, who said, "The church is the only institution that exists for the benefit of those who are not its members."

It is the job of the Holy Spirit to separate the wheat from the tares. It is our job to be like the sheep mentioned in Matthew 25.

Tags: Anglican Communion, Bishops, Episcopal Church, General Convention, Make Poverty History, and ONE Episcopalian

Happy Fourth of July

This was taken in the Summer of 2004 in Portland, Oregon. Have a safe and happy celebration of our Independence.

Tags: Fireworks, Fourth of July, and Photoblog

A Photo Collage

I used parts of 29 different photos from my collection to make this collage.

Tags: Artwork, Digital Photograhy, Me, Photo Collage, Photoblog, & Photoshop CS