Internet work and internet links

what marks our offline lives?

What I’m Thinking About

Lately I’ve read several handfuls of think pieces about a certain commencement speech. I understand them. I’ve appreciated many of them, especially as they have moved from critique to reconstruction. We are often compelled to write because our work as writers is to reimagine the world. We want to reshape the parts that offend us and lead the way into a better world. All the commentary has made me linger over a few ideas, but I don’t want to address the speech today. Because of this post by Karen Swallow Prior and this post by Seth Haines, instead I started thinking about four words that I want to mark my work both offline and online.¹ And these are in no way directed at people who wrote about the speech. They had many good things to say. I had quite a few critiques, but other people have already said them.

Nuanced: It is my goal to add nuance and complexity to conversations and issues, which is why I’m everyone’s favorite person, of course. Often there is no one right answer. It can be true that the thing for your family was the right thing and that it absolutely would not work for another family. Where I see a black and white line or a theoretical analysis, someone else may be experiencing an embodied reality that I have not considered.

Confident: I am want to be just fine when other people choose a different path. Sometimes I want the validation of other people doing the same thing to believe that I was right in my choice. I don’t want to be dependent on that. I want to be guided as best I can be and make the best choices I have and hope that everyone else is doing the same. This also gives me the freedom to be friends with people who are different from me. 

Trusting: I don’t have to be the Holy Spirit for anyone. I can trust God to do that work. Instead of making up rigid rules, I want to encourage people to listen to God’s voice. I am not attempting to accumulate a crowd to myself. It is enough work for me to figure out the complexities of my own life without imagining that I can know the details of everyone else enough to direct their lives. 

Local: I love to write. I’ll be writing here, or somewhere else, as long as I’m capable of it. But I firmly believe that the world needs people who will get involved in the life of the community even if that means there is not time to debate opinions and positions on the internet. Do the actual work with actual people knowing that is a much messier choice than self-righteously showing up online.² Do you care enough about whatever it is to sacrifice to work toward a solution?

It is a gift to be able to write. It is a gift to have attended seminary. I want to cultivate those gifts inside this framework. Be curious. Ask questions. Hear from other perspectives. Be slow to conclusions, especially about people. Tell the truth, which sometimes means saying “I don’t agree with this and here’s why.”

What I’m Loving

I’m reading Disability and the Church by Lamar Hardwick (again) because I’m writing a 3,000 word book review for a seminary final next week. Hardwick has written a book that is a manual for reconsidering your (probably nonexistent unless you have a family member with disabilities) thoughts about disabilities and incorporating people with disabilities into your church community and leadership.

The Understory by Lore Wilbert , which just released this week, has been the book I’ve picked up in every spare moment and nodded off to in bed each night. It’s a deep reflection on grief and loss, but also growth and maturity, all while exploring the forest floor. The forest floor would have been enough for me, but Lore is also one of my favorite writers.

Pieces on Substack:
Five Simple Ways to Nourish Your Mind
On Listening
”a place for keeping”: writing as a practice of care
Desperately Seeking Motivation

Around the internet:

A biking and art retreat: my husband laughed and said it sounded perfect for me but like torture for him.
This is my favorite thing on the internet.

In our home:

It’s the last half-day of school and I’ve been celebrating this whole (very busy) week. There’s two weeks left of seminary!!
My kindergarten drew a picture of a cat for a classmate and made one of the paws a heart. It brought me such delight!

What about your life? What are you thinking about? What links are you enjoying?

1. Not the only four, of course. But definitely four.

2. To the extent that you are able, of course. I know some people are limited to the internet because of health and other reasons.