By: Dawnel Volzke on May 23, 2015
Amy Chua’s book, Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother [1], is a story about a Chinese mother’s journey to raise her daughters within American culture. The book is introduced as a story about cultural differences between American and Chinese parenting styles. However, I found the book to be lacking in reality for what most families in American face, no…
By: John Woodward on May 23, 2015
I am glad Amy Chua wasn’t my mother…for a lot of reasons! First, I think I would have been a great disappoint to her. And I would have been miserable, because I have no musical talents, I have average intelligence, and my values (friendship, service, fellowship) would have clashed with Chua’s program for my life.…
By: Travis Biglow on May 21, 2015
May 21, 15 While reading about the Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother I really related back to the style of leadership that my father had. I lost my mother when I was in the sixth grade so I did not get to know her real well. But what I did learn is how…
By: Phillip Struckmeyer on May 21, 2015
Tiger Mother or Mama Grizzly? Chinese Tiger Mother or Western Mama Grizzly . . . Which metaphor resonates with you? Amy Chua in her provocative book, “Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother”, creates a conversation for the culture chasm that exists between parenting in a Chinese culture as opposed to raising children in a Western…
By: Jon Spellman on May 21, 2015
“We aren’t here to raise happy kids, we’re here to raise healthy, competent, thoughtful adults!” So said I with just a hint of smugness round about the time my oldest daughter was a mere 7 years old and still a compliant little bundle of joy… Then over the next ten years I promptly proceeded to…
By: Nick Martineau on May 20, 2015
Liz and I have a group of close friends in Wichita. We try to be vulnerable and share life with each other but as kids have come into the picture we have all acknowledged that the most difficult issues to discuss, or criticisms to receive, are in regards to our parenting and kids. It’s…
By: Mary Pandiani on May 20, 2015
Amy Chua has a bit of Jennifer Hatmaker’s (www.jenhatmaker.com) humor – sarcastic, extremist, and self-deprecating. All the while, she, like Jennifer, hits on some major soft spots in Western parenting, values, and choices. In Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, Chua expresses her desire to raise her two daughters in the Chinese way. Playing off of…
By: Brian Yost on May 20, 2015
Amy Chua’s book Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother was a fascinating read and really brings to life some key cultural differences in parenting. Her transparent and lively narrative style made reading it a joy. I particularly enjoyed this book because I have had the privilege to teaching seminary classes and intensive training courses…
By: Dave Young on May 20, 2015
The more I read of “Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother” [i] by Amy Chua, the more I liked it. It was written with honesty and self-parody, by a woman with a keen mind for the absurdity in both eastern and western cultures, as well as bravery in the face of how her Chinese parenting…
By: Clint Baldwin on May 19, 2015
Simon Chan, writing in Grassroots Asian Theology: Thinking Faith from the Ground Up, [1] offers a recent attempt to rectify what has been an ongoing conundrum in theological reflection around the world. The theological conundrum is that those who are formally well-educated are often the ones who tell the stories and, unfortunately, formal education has…
By: Michael Badriaki on May 15, 2015
Gill Valentine’s book Social Geographies: Space and Society is an insightful book. The author tackles a lofty subject as she seeks to examine how human relationships take shape and the elements that influence such a process. About her book, Valentine notes: Social geography is an inherently ambiguous and eclectic field of research and writing. It…
By: Dawnel Volzke on May 15, 2015
In chapter 4 of Social Geographies: Space and Society, Valentine discusses the concept of community in relation to they way they mobilize and come together. The author talks about ‘natural communities’ and Darwin’s theories surrounding the relationships between organisms and their surroundings. Also discussed are the theories of Park, who looks at community through competition, ecological…
By: Carol McLaughlin on May 15, 2015
Where the heart is. Home. Late last summer my mother-in-law tripped walking up the concrete stairs just outside her home. Instantly she knew something was wrong. An innocent trip became the tipping point for a major and significant life change. Her fall against the step resulted in a slight crack in her tibia just below…
By: Richard Volzke on May 15, 2015
This week’s reading, Social Geographies: Space and Society by Gill Valentine, explores social geography. Chapter 5 was intriguing with its exploration of various institutions such as schools, prisons and asylums. Valentine begins the chapter by explaining that institutions, “are no longer defined just as fixed break and motor buildings, but have evolved to include networks…
By: Brian Yost on May 15, 2015
The concept of space is intriguing and anything but obvious. Space helps to define who we are, how we think, how we live, how we perceive, how we set priorities, etc. There are so many aspects from Valentine’s book Social Geographies: Space and Society that piquet my interest, but one in particular hits close home.…
By: rhbaker275 on May 15, 2015
Our reading for this week, Social Geographies: Space and Society, has provided some provocative insights on concepts of space and place in society. For someone unread on the subject of social geography, the author, Gill Valentine with her first words creates a sense of expectancy: “Social geography is an inherently ambiguous and eclectic field of…
By: John Woodward on May 15, 2015
As I began to read Social Geographies: Space and Society by Gill Valentine, my thoughts drifted toward how space has played an important role in my local church. I remember several long, heated meetings with our church’s founders about whether to remove one front pew to extend the stage in the sanctuary. The issue revolved…
By: Bill Dobrenen on May 15, 2015
One of the things that has always fascinated me is the diversity of vocations people find themselves in. Where a person has been is important information. Where I have lived, people I have met, and places I have experienced all have bearing on who I am and on who others think I am. With the…
By: Julie Dodge on May 14, 2015
Imagine, if you might, the earth with no people. Don’t imagine it as if we have disappeared, but rather that we were never here. There are no houses, no roads, no farms, no institutions, no cities, no nations; just the land and the oceans, the created vegetation, and animals of the water, sea and land.…
By: Telile Fikru Badecha on May 14, 2015
In July 2014, I participated in the dedication of the first ever translation of New Testament into the Arsi Oromo dialect. My ministry, in partnership with the Ethiopian Bible Society, did the translation work. Since the Bible is for all people we invited leaders from all churches including the Orthodox and Catholic denominations. We initially…
