By: David Beavis on March 8, 2023
An A.I. Malfunction or Accurate Reflection “Like any other shiny new toy, A.I. is ultimately a mirror. And it will reflect back exactly who we are. From the best of us, to the worst of us.” This statement was made by comedian John Oliver in last week’s showing of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver.[1]…
By: Andy Hale on March 8, 2023
The debate over postmodernism and modernism feels like it was decided years ago, like when I was a wee lad in college. However, there has been a resurgence of conversation around these issues. Stephen Hick’s book, Explaining Postmodernism: Skepticism and Socialism from Rousseau to Foucault, has seen a revival in the zeitgeist. A professor of philosophy…
By: Roy Gruber on March 8, 2023
Stephen Hicks is a Canadian-American philosopher who teaches at Rockford University and directs the Center for Ethics and Entrepreneurship.[1] His book, Explaining Postmodernism covers that broad topic in a polemic tone. Hicks states his central thesis on the Contents page: “The failure of epistemology made postmodernism possible, and the failure of socialism made postmodernism necessary.”[2]…
By: Eric Basye on March 8, 2023
What is postmodernism? In his book, Explaining Postmodernism, Stephen Hicks, a Canadian-American professor at Rockford University, seeks to answer this question. In a review of Hicks’ book, Steven Sanders states, Postmodernism rejects, or is deeply suspicious of, truth, objectivity, and progress, and is characterized by a distinctive anti-science, anti-capitalist mentality. Postmodernists are united by both…
By: Cathy Glei on March 7, 2023
Okay. . . confession time everyone. When you read the title, Steal Like an Artist, did the word “steal” entice you to read more? Or for a quick minute did you wonder if you were being led on a path to breaking a commandment? Confession, I wanted to read more. The book convinced me that…
By: Greg McMullen on March 7, 2023
I have a teenage daughter that likes to speak into my life. She often shares what she learned in high school with us and how messed up the world is. She will often make suggestions in how we should do things, or even at our church. Recently she informed me that if I would not…
By: Kally Elliott on March 7, 2023
“Pretend to be making something until you actually make something.”[1] That’s exactly what I’m doing in this doctoral program. I am pretending that I am writing a dissertation on mental health and the Church. Maybe in a couple of years and some change I will actually have written it! “Fake it until you make it”[2]…
By: Michael O'Neill on March 7, 2023
Some of you may be familiar with the story, of the “Hippie and the Old Man.” The infamous tale has been used in many sermons over the years and become a staple illustration of God’s love for his people at their core. The message in the story is much more important than whether this event…
By: Esther Edwards on March 7, 2023
While studying music education in my undergrad, I had become quite fascinated with the jazz genre. In my quest to learn more about complex jazz chord structures, I signed up for jazz lessons with a well-known jazz instructor in the Philadelphia area on one of my summer breaks. I thought there would be a wealth…
By: Russell Chun on March 7, 2023
Because I am surrounded by articulate and erudite people[1], and because I want to write the story I want to read (p.47). Here is a portion of my “idea” that will be an endpoint in my NPO. Drum roll please, “Ladies and Gentlemen, I introduce you to Interlinkt!” What is Interlinkt you wonder? Well it…
By: Scott Dickie on March 7, 2023
It feels a little ‘tone deaf’ for me to write yet another boring blog post about a book that is seeking to stimulate creativity (and justify the means through which we all become creative: theft). So…here are a few somewhat random thoughts with creative titles stimulated by the somewhat random book, “Steal Like an Artist.”…
By: Jonita Fair-Payton on March 7, 2023
Oh, so much good stuff in one small book. Steal Like An Artist was the perfect feel-good read for me. I am convinced that Austin Kleon and I would be best friends if we met, and please be advised that from this point on I will refer to him as my best friend in my…
By: Kim Sanford on March 7, 2023
I’ll start today with a confession. I love art in all its forms, but I didn’t know this about myself until recently. Growing up in a rural community with parents in medical and business professions, I’d never visited an art museum. My dad’s hunting trophies were the decor that graced the walls of our home.…
By: Kristy Newport on March 6, 2023
Is the Bible gender biased? Are there examples in the Bible which confirm that God does not have a bias among the sexes? I have struggled with these questions and have found hope ultimately in the example Jesus gave in how he treated both sexes when he walked the earth. Reading Pragya Agarwal’s book Sway:…
By: Shonell Dillon on March 6, 2023
Unraveling Unconscious Bias Pragya Agarwal After reading for some time, I turned the book over and noticed that there was a sticker on it that said DC public library. I thought how in the heck did I get a library book? I admit I am a bit cheap when it comes to books that I…
By: John Fehlen on March 6, 2023
I have a robust, running list called “My Life Goals.” It has a wide variety of bucket list-like items that I am excited to accomplish at some point in my life. It’s exhilarating to check the box “done.” I can feel the endorphins rushing through me. Some of My Life Goals, in no particular order,…
By: Jennifer Vernam on March 6, 2023
Austin Kleon’s Steal Like an Artist[1] was a fun read. It was not the most intellectual content we have had this term, but I am thankful for a week that did not require a lot of what I call “thick” reading. A review I found describes the book this way: “It’s just filled with quotes…
By: Tim Clark on March 6, 2023
For academic, professional, and personal reasons this school year has been moving at breakneck speed for me; so fast at times that I’m often afraid I can’t keep up. I genuinely enjoy reading, but lately I’ve felt like I’m reading to save my life—like the bus in the movie Speed, if I let my pace…
By: Travis Vaughn on March 6, 2023
I’m so glad Austin Kleon highlighted Ecclesiastes 1:9: “There is nothing new under the sun”[1] in Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative. Therefore, in the spirit of Kleon, I’m going to follow suit. Here’s 10 things that stood out to me upon a thorough, every-word-read reading of the book.…
By: Tonette Kellett on March 6, 2023
In Reading Karl Polanyi’s book The Great Transformation: The Political and Economic Origins of Our Times, this past week I noted that the author wrote this book in the 1940s. He wrote of the free market system with no government intervention called laissez-faire that was first used in France in the 1800s. [1] He also talked…
