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…
By: Mitch Arbelaez on May 14, 2015
Space… the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its continuing mission, to explore strange new worlds. To seek out new life and new civilizations. To boldly go where no one has gone before.” Queue theme music. As a Trekkie, I could not resist. Valentine is not referring to this kind of…
By: Liz Linssen on May 14, 2015
Last Sunday towards the end of preaching my sermon, one man, Martin, raised his hand and declared that he wanted to give his life to God, right there and then. I hadn’t even reached the end of the message, but so desperate was this young man, that he couldn’t wait. Before the service had begun,…
By: Nick Martineau on May 14, 2015
I just so happen to be writing this from Starbucks. Starbucks claims their goal is to become the Third Place in our daily lives. (i.e. Home, Work and Starbucks) “We want to provide all the comforts of your home and office. You can sit in a nice chair, talk on your phone, look out the…
By: Jon Spellman on May 14, 2015
Otherness Human Geographers are interested in understanding how people occupy space together. How do we get along? Difficulties arise anytime people of different backgrounds (racial, ethnic, religious, financial, etc.) are called upon to share finite space, role definition becomes important pretty quickly! Hierarchies (pecking order), equitable division of resources, friendships, enemies, etc. are all important. …
By: Ashley Goad on May 14, 2015
I was born in South Carolina. Soon after, my parents moved our family back to their home state of North Carolina. Three years later, we moved to Savannah, Georgia. Five years after, we packed up and returned to North Carolina. My parents divorced almost immediately upon arrival, and for the next ten years, I ping-ponged…
By: Deve Persad on May 14, 2015
I grew up watching the sitcom, “Cheers!” – you may remember: the place “where everybody knows your name and they’re always glad you came.” A regular group of people who came in from different work places and went off to different homes, but while they were together they shared the ups, downs and nothingness of…
By: Phillip Struckmeyer on May 14, 2015
Gill Valentine, in her book “Social Geographies: Space and Society”, reorients the field of social geography around “space”. With the orientation set on space, a new look at what has traditionally been viewed as physical and fixed characteristics of our society becomes open to more fluid boundaries to the characteristics traditionally viewed as constructing and…
By: Travis Biglow on May 13, 2015
Social Stereotypes in Real Time May 13, 15 This reading was really profound. Gill Valentine is really out there I guess that’s why purchasing the book was so expensive. But in the reading some of the issues I have faced as an African American stood out to me. I liked the reading of Social Geographies:…
