Anne Lamott on City Arts and Lectures

Last night on public radio I heard half of a broadcast of a City Arts and Lectures event featuring Anne Lamott. I was listening during my evening commute home from work. When I got to the house, I turned off the radio, thinking I could later purchase a transcript or audio copy. Silly me. The City Arts folks don’t offer tapes or transcripts (boo hiss). If you didn’t hear it, you missed something wonderful. Lamott has one of the sanest approaches to Christian spirituality that I’ve run across in a long, long time. She also is inspiring as a writer and a teacher of writing.

Four Dead in Ohio

This Friday marks the 37th anniversary of the Kent State shootings. In light of this, it’s fascinating to note:

• A tape recording of the shootings is about to be made public, that has evidence that the National Guard was ordered to fire (something that the officers at the scene have long denied);
• Here’s a link to photographs from the entire weekend of protests that took place at Kent State in 1970, including some gripping photos of the National Guard in formation to fire.

Given the madness of our current day, it’s instructive and important not to forget the madness of a generation ago.