5.07.2013

News of Note


I have a request.  How do you keep up on in-depth national and world news?
What papers do you read?
What apps do you use?
Who do you follow on Twitter?

This is an ongoing "growth area" for me. I'd love to hear your recommendations. Below are a variety of stories worth noting that I've come across in the past week. What stories have captured your heart?

Also - a silly aside: through Blogger, there's a way to check and see how people have stumbled across this blog.  Amazingly, two people have done a google search for "grandpa pants with hospital shoes" and ended up here at Holy Everything.  I think that is hilarious and wonderful.  I do not remember when I posted about grandpa pants with hospital shoes, but I'm glad I did.

Onward to the news.....



This is a helpful resource to check daily.  BBC One-Minute World News Update. {via BBC}


I need a better, deeper understanding of the situation in Syria.
This was a helpful resource I found last night. {via Shortformblog}
What sources have helped you understand the Syrian civil war?



I haven't explored this much, but World Affairs Council regularly posts video and audio footage from talks presented by highly regarded scholars and politicians.  The topic range is broad.  Looks like a good resource.  


Pink dolphins are nearly extinct! {via Huffington Post}


Wow.  All throughout elementary, middle school, and high school, I was allowed to play sports.  It is definitely something I took for granted.  


Willie Manning is scheduled to be executed in Mississippi today.  Our prison system was not something I knew much about (or cared much about, sadly) until I took a class in seminary: "Ministry to the Incarcerated and their Families."  It changed my heart and deepened my awareness of crucial areas of concern within our criminal justice system in the United States.  There are MAJOR areas of concern, folks.  MAJOR.

In the case of Willie Manning, it's not 100% clear that he's guilty.  There's a lot of gray areas.  And while I generally embrace gray areas, in cases of the death penalty, there is NO GRAY ALLOWED.  

Ever since I heard this story, I've had a knot in my stomach.  The death penalty is extreme beyond words.  Shouldn't we be 100% sure before resorting to it?  People have been killed by the death penalty and later found innocent. Whose responsibility is this? I think we all have a responsibility here.

 There's a possibility that the governor of Mississippi could grant a "stay" until the DNA evidence {which DOES exist} can be tested.  But there are only a few hours left for that to happen.  It seems like common sense to me. Just do the testing. The Atlantic wrote a powerful piece entitled "A Ghost of Mississippi" for this month's issue. I encourage you to read it today.  The last paragraph is haunting:
It's hard to understand what Mississippi is afraid of. Either the testing will incriminate Manning, or it could help break the case in a new direction. Either way we'll know more than we do now about what happened that awful night in 1992. If Manning is executed next week without those results, if his sorry story ends here without us knowing whether that scientific evidence incriminates or exonerates him, his ghost won't just haunt Mississippi forever. It will surely impact the national debate over how much we are willing to know about the truth of these cases, and about the men we are condemning to death.
If you are left with a knot in your stomach, it isn't too late to do something:

Innocence Project {write an email}


As always, love and hope persevere.  And even in times when we feel powerless, we can pray.  Pray for the families of the victims who have been grieving and heart-broken for the last 21 years. Pray for the original jury members and the Mississippi Supreme Court justices. Pray for Willie and his family. Pray for lawyers on all sides. Pray for the prison guards who will be there tonight when/if he is executed.

I took this photo this morning on my way to the end of the driveway to take out the trash.
It reminds me that the snow melts, the sun shines, and transformation is always possible.


May your heart dwell in hope and possibility today, dear friends.

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