Top 9: Highlights from my weekly e-newsletter in March
Homework.
While I don’t really miss it, I do miss the environment of learning that I enjoyed during my undergraduate and grad programs. I found most assigned papers burdensome, but I loved discussing what I was learning about with my friends over coffee (or Denny’s mozzarella cheese-stick grilled cheese sandwiches).
The cool part now is, I get to pick the genres I’m learning about and the resources I’m learning from. And I still like sharing about it with friends.
Every Monday morning I send out an e-newsletter - called the Weekly Checklist - with resources and tools from across the internet and around the globe. It’s like an espresso shot via email to start your week off right. And to give you a look into what those emails are like, here’s some of the resources I’ve shared over the last few weeks.
Here are my Top 9 highlights from the month of March (and you can sign up to receive the Weekly Checklist by clicking here):
I greatly admire Jean Vanier, and this podcast episode by the On Being Project is an absolutely beautiful interview with a saint. You should definitely check it out. Also, my favorite book by Vanier is Living Gently in a Violent World. (affiliate link)
"Whether we want to acknowledge it or not, how we talk about and engage in urban church planting can directly contribute to the injustices of gentrification. When we speak of “transforming the city” while building churches that cater specifically to incoming residents, we are little different from the overpriced organic food mart or coffee shop. When we bring in large teams to start new churches, we can contribute to increased property taxes and living costs, creating extra burdens for the city’s poor." You can find this quote and the larger article it is a part of here.
Recycling is heading towards a crisis. Before 2018, almost 70% of the world's plastic went to China. Now, almost none of it does. Here's the story on this drastic change and what it means for our recycling and trash.
“Take a fish from a Westerner and he’ll stick around for a day. Let him teach you to fish and he’ll stick around for a lifetime. (while eating a lot more fish than you will ever catch).” (Click here to check out a thought-provoking article about reverse-dependency issues within humanitarianism.)
No surprise here: more research shows just how bad fast food is for us.
Check out this research into the exploitation by landlords of those living in poverty. Looking at a new paper from the American Journal of Sociology, this article details the discrepancies in rent profit margins and their correlation with neighborhood poverty rates. One important quote from the article is: "[The authors of the paper] contend that the slum has long been a 'prime moneymaker' for those who profit from land scarcity, racial segregation, and deferred maintenance."
I just finished re-reading The Power of Habits by Charles Duhigg this month. It's an engaging book that breaks down the science of creating (or reshaping) habits. I've read it again as part of my EDGE Mentoring group and I'm pretty sure it's impacting me even more the second time around. (affiliate link)
Here's an interesting perspective on the death of nonprofits - by looking at a hospice center that closed in San Francisco. (A research fact from the article: The Nonprofit Quarterly has stated that the most likely age of organizational death is between 6 and 15 years.)
And, lastly, one quote I’ve been pondering recently: “Never confuse a single defeat with a final defeat." - F. Scott Fitzgerald
What do you think?
Let me know which of these 9 highlights you like the best by commenting below!
My belief is that in order to be like Christ we must keep learning as children of God & students of God's Creation. When we do that, we can live local lives from a global perspective.
Let’s live glocally.
-Jeremy
p.s. - Have you checked out my two latest blog posts? One is about what I learned as a missionary and the other one is a look at the Church's role in Creation Care.
p.p.s. - Sign up for my Weekly Checklist here and get more resources like this right into your inbox every Monday morning.
