By: Wallace Kamau on October 11, 2019
There is an interesting story in East Africa that Swahili language was born along the East African coast through the interaction of the indigenous African Bantu language group with the Arabs. The story goes that Swahili is healthy in Tanzania and Zanzibar, fell sick when it got to Kenya, died in Uganda and was buried…
By: Tammy Dunahoo on October 11, 2019
Chess is believed to have originated in Eastern India, c. 280–550, in the Gupta Empire, where its early form in the 6th century was known as chaturaṅga (Sanskrit: चतुरङ्ग), literally four divisions [of the military] – infantry, cavalry, elephants, and chariotry, represented by the pieces that would evolve into the modern pawn, knight, bishop, and rook, respectively. Thence it spread eastward and westward along the Silk Road.[1] While reading The…
By: Karen Rouggly on October 10, 2019
I was never a gangly teenager. Sure, I was awkward, and unsure, and brash, but never gangly. My husband, however, was very gangly. While I never knew him in that time, I see pictures that go from boyish bowl cuts to all neck with a protruding adam’s apple in the span of one school year.…
By: Andrea Lathrop on October 10, 2019
Disorienting. This is the best word I can find to describe The Silk Roads and its effect upon me. Frankopan takes on a mammoth challenge to tell the long, convoluted history of the silk roads throughout Asia and the Middle East and to “inspire those who read this book to look at history in a different…
By: Harry Edwards on October 10, 2019
Reading this new historical tome by Peter Frankopan, The Silk Roads reminded me of my favorite quote which sums up the atrocities in the Middle Ages: “Men will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest.”1 It’s a gruesome picture but in many ways accurate. Frankopan’s project…
By: Nancy Blackman on October 10, 2019
All photos courtesy of Chris Chan Shim (@royyaldog on Instagram) Do you want to skim the surface with idle chat as you size me up wondering where I’m from? Do you care that I have to check the “Other” box every single time! No frustration here. Nope. How much of this book –…
By: Greg Reich on October 9, 2019
As a father I promised myself that I would not default to the common response “because I said so” that my father often gave me when I was a teenager trying to negotiate less stringent rules as I grew older. I can’t say I was 100 percent successful but the majority of the time as…
By: Jer Swigart on October 9, 2019
I was in the second grade when my habits of reading were shaped. The program was called “Book-It” and the method was designed around repetition and quantity. The idea was that competition was the ideal lever to pull in order to generate children who were fond of reading. That, if we learned to read, with…
By: John Muhanji on October 8, 2019
It has always been a practice by my Kenyan tribe to take their time to do something in life. They have always believed that hurrying to do something is a waste of your energy, for you will find yourself at the same place you were. This was a practice in the early period of life…
By: Rev Jacob Bolton on October 8, 2019
This past summer has been one of great transition for my family. We moved from the New York City area to near Washington DC, changing jobs, schools, careers, and homes. Though at times quite difficult, this transition has provided us with many new opportunities. The opportunity for me to craft my pastoral identity in a…
By: Darcy Hansen on October 7, 2019
Over the course of his years of study at Portland Seminary, my friend, John Ray, would stay with us during his times of face to face learning. Each time, without fail, he’d ask me two questions: 1) “Have you read_____________?” and he’d fill in the blank with the latest and greatest text or author he…
By: Steve Wingate on October 7, 2019
We’ve not done it that way before! I stopped counting how many times have I heard, “We’ve not done that way before!” However, I unsympathetically resembled that remark while traversing my way from where the Heathrow Express terminated at the Heathrow airport on my way to the United ticketing agent. I had never been…
By: Shawn Cramer on October 7, 2019
Tools for the Era of Open Innovation A shift in the knowledge landscape has introduced a new era – the era of open innovation. Long gone are the days of Edison and Tesla battling one another in their private laboratories. A new era dawns: one of purposeful sharing of insights and discoveries internally and externally,…
By: Nancy VanderRoest on September 22, 2019
Distractions are inevitable! T.S. Elliot explained, “Distracted from distraction by distraction creates distraction.” That clears up the dilemma! (lol) Webster defines distraction as a thing that prevents someone from giving full attention to something else. Newport explores how distraction can be detrimental to us in both our personal and business worlds. The author’s goal is…
By: Wallace Kamau on September 21, 2019
Jesus is teaching on the shores of lake Gennesaret where Simon peter and his friends have toiled the whole night trying to catch fish with no success. He asks to use their boat to preach to the crowd, and then asks Peter to cast his net deeper but Peter is hesitant trying to argue that…
By: Tammy Dunahoo on September 21, 2019
This reader engaged Deep Work during a critical time of reflecting on my potential next assignments and found useful guidelines for reorienting back to a healthy rhythm. Georgetown University computer science professor, Cal Newport, has written extensively on how technology and our distracted, multi-tasking society is affecting break through thinking and overall happiness in our…
By: Harry Fritzenschaft on September 21, 2019
Previously I read the assigned Newport’s Digital Minimalism with surprise and fascination. I was surprised by Newport’s emphasis on reduction of tech distractions for both himself and his audience. Newport’s focus helped me to reduce the distraction of checking my phone for messages or updates (even in the presence of others). One would think I…
By: Karen Rouggly on September 19, 2019
It’s rare that an academic year goes by without some upheaval and change. In fact, the years I didn’t expect change, it came dramatically and with full force. In my role as Director, I’ve learned to not just expect change, but I need to be actively and regularly planning for it. So when an employee…
By: Sean Dean on September 19, 2019
This past spring a documentary was released in conjunction with the celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. This film was mostly made up of found footage from NASA of the crew and support staff during the mission. It was an amazing film. I brought my boys to see it in…
By: Harry Edwards on September 19, 2019
Political theologian William Cavanaugh asks a provocative question: “How does a provincial farm boy become persuaded that he must travel as a soldier to another part of the world and kill people he knows nothing about?”1 That is a stunning way to start a book. Cavanaugh is asking what in human nature compels us to…
