Barking to the Choir

Barking to the Choir

 

I’d jump at the chance to take a slow boat to China with Greg Boyle.  He has an inspired sense of the ultimate nature of things, and a laugh from downtown.  Talk about playful, loving and deep.

Boyle is a Jesuit priest who has buried more than 200 young human beings he knows and loves, all killed because of gang violence.  Killed by people he also knows and loves.  Some 30 years ago, he founded Homeboy Industries in Los Angeles, today the largest gang intervention, rehab and re-entry program on the planet.  His second book was published recently.  It’s titled “Barking to the Choir: The Power of Radical Kinship.”  The choir, to Boyle, is everyone who longs and aches to widen their “loving look” at what’s right in front of them.  I’m glad I don’t have to pony up a fin every time I’ve underlined something I never want to forget. Read More

"The push to change the words “nigger” and “injun” in Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn, because the so-called offensive nature of those terms might limit today’s readership and appreciation of that literary classic, is a wonderful opportunity to reflect on how we avoid taking responsibility for our feelings––and therefore miss the chance to become more awake, more whole, more useful friends to one another."

The Essay: The Gold in Niggers and Injuns