b.rox

What’s in an Acronym I work at an HBCU. That acronym is not recognized by my spellchecker, nor was it in my vocabulary until I came to work here. It stands for “Historically Black College or University,” a term which requires even more unpacking. In a nutshell, the story is this. Once upon a time [...]

Sometimes it’s tough working with faculty. They have the summer off, and lots of them take extended vacations. Then they come back raving about what a fantastic time they had. Which is great, except sometimes I start to get a little jealous. So I thought I’d take a moment to remind myself of some fun [...]

Project Conversion is still getting into my head. I came across a phrase there one night, a phrase that stuck with me: the spiritual rogue. It got stuck in my head, and the next morning I came back to the site and looked for it and couldn’t find it and thought I’d dreamed it. But [...]

For the past six months or so I’ve been following the fascinating spiritual adventures of Andrew Bowen at Project Conversion. The concept is simple to grasp: He converts to a new religion each month, and he writes about it. Anyone who knows me well will understand why this sort of public art/life/video matrix is so [...]

In addition to being my boss’ birthday, tomorrow is supposed to be Judgment Day according to Harold Camping. No, it’s not the end of the world. That’s coming in October. Just for the record, I may as well make my own prediction: There will be no rapture tomorrow. However there will be plenty of discouraged [...]

I’m not quite in my right mind today, thanks to some cold medicine I took this morning. So this might be the perfect time to revisit The Good News Bible Hour #14. The always-amazing Eric Spears (nee White) just excavated this video from his personal collection a few days ago, digitized it and posted it [...]

I’m not much for resolutions but I do have some goals for this year. Finish ROX #96. Really need to wrap this one up. It’s been four years since our last episode. Where has the time gone? Prepare a presentation on “The Role of Blogs in the Rebuilding of New Orleans” for the AERA 2011 [...]

The time has come … for destroying those who destroy the earth. Revelation 11:18 (New International Version, ©1984)

Strange times we live in. Here’s a Christian pastor, C. Joshua Villines, who says we should take Christ out of Christmas. Compare that to noted Pagan, T. Thorne Coyle, who wishes we’d all put Christ back in Christmas. They both make interesting points. As far as I can tell these two essays were written independently [...]

It’s been almost two weeks since I got back from POD 2010, and I still haven’t managed to write about it. But I find I can’t write about POD 2010 until I’ve addressed POD 2009. POD stands for the Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education, and it’s pretty much the big conference for [...]

Over the last few weeks I’ve been fiddling with constructing my family tree on ancestry.com. (Thanks to my old high school friend Georgie for getting me hooked.) I managed to trace one line back as far as Torvild Ljøstad, my great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great [...]

I recently noticed a small backyard shrine in my neighborhood. I wasn’t quite sure what to make of it at first. I thought maybe it was related to Vodou or Santeria. Then, last weekend, I noticed the owner had put up a sign (English and Spanish) saying “Welcome to the Shrine of Santa Muerte.” The [...]

Yesterday morning I took my first yoga class ever. Through Living Social, I got a deal on three classes at TriYoga in Mid-City that was just too good to refuse. Even though I’ve never done yoga before, it’s something I’ve regarded positively for many years. Ironically enough, for years I’ve often urged Xy to try [...]

Dark Green Religion: Nature Spirituality and the Planetary Future by Bron Taylor My rating: 5 of 5 stars Here’s a rarity — an academic book that is also a page-turner, at least for me. I couldn’t put it down. This is a broad survey of an emergent global phenomenon which might be called earth worship [...]

Some people criticize the green movement for being almost like a religious faith. Others say the green movement has lost touch with its spiritual roots. Now Dark Green Religion by Bron Taylor has landed on my reading list. I’ll report back if I figure anything out.

Happy belated Lammas or Lughnasadh or whatever else you may call it. (I guess it’s over now. I get confused with these traditional-style holidays that last from sundown to sundown, essentially extending into two days of our modern calendar.) This is a time, in the Northern Hemisphere anyhow, to celebrate the beginning of the harvest. [...]

An Experiment by Mohamed Musthafa / CC BY-ND 2.0 If there is, as you believe, a benevolent Creator who is all-knowing and all-powerful, then surely He wants me to be the best person I can be. Surely he wants me to be true to my heart and my reason. After all, if He exists, then [...]

Today I celebrate a quarter-century of atheism. A quarter century? Why yes. Here is an entry from my journal 25 years ago today: October 28th, 1984 10:58 PM Sunday God. I used to believe in God. But do I now? I don’t think so. I can’t see any reason to. And if I must accept [...]

Does this image of the Ten Commandments ring any bells? Well, if you know me, it should look vaguely familiar. Those are my teeth. It’s a remix by a Flickr user “zeevveez” in Jerusalem which uses a photo I took of my own teeth just over four years ago: That’s what I love about Creative [...]

Dear Aunt Ron, Thanks for Persephone’s birthday gift. It will probably take her a while to grow into those clothes, but better too big than too small. I also appreciated the letter you included. Rest assured, I won’t “disown” you for the suggestions you make regarding Persephone’s religious education. In fact I am touched that [...]