Weekend Reading: Jan 31 '14

It is still very cold and snow-covered here...so I look forward to snuggling up with some weekend reading:

I'll be reading an update from The Nester's trip to Uganda with Compassion...and wiping tears from my eyes...

I'm going to learn how to regrow some common kitchen items at WonderHowTo. I've done basil and celery...had NO idea about mushrooms...

I'm going to read up on making a (gulp!) Double Pinwheel Quilt at HGTV.

And, since I am working on a Black History bookazine, I will be reading up on the events of 1964...Freedom Summer!

Commonplace Book: from The Onmivore's Dilemna, Michael Pollan

"The industrialization - and brutalization - of animals in America is a relatively new, evitable, and local phenomenon. No other country raises and slaughters its food quite as intensively or as brutally as we do. No other people in history has lived at quite so great a remove from the animals they eat. Were the walls of our vast meat industry to become transparent, literally or even figuratively, we would not long continue to raise, kill, and eat animals the way we do. Tail docking and sow crates and beak clipping would disappear overnight, and the days of slaughtering four hundred head of cattle an hour would promptly come to an end - for who could stand the sight? Yes, meat would get more expensive. Wed probably eat a lot less of it, too, but maybe when we did eat animals wed eat them with the consciousness, ceremony, and respect they deserve."

"Without such a thing as fast food there would be no need for slow food, and the stories we tell at such meals would lose much of their interest. Food would be...well, what it always was, neither slow nor fast, just food: this particular plant or that particular animal, grown here or there, prepared this way or that. For countless generations eating was something that took place in the steadying context of a family and a culture, where the full consciousness of what was involved did not need to be rehearsed at every meal because it was stored away, like the good silver, in a set of rituals and habits, manners and recipes. I wonder if it isn't because so much of that context has been lost that I felt the need, this one time, to start again from scratch."

Book Review: Mansfield's Book of Manly Men by Stephen Mansfield

“My goal in this book is simple. I want to identify what a genuine man does—the virtues, the habits, the disciplines, the duties, the actions of true manhood—and then call men to do it.” - Stephen Mansfield

Mansfield’s Book of Manly Men by Stephen Mansfield, with a foreword by Lt. Gen. William G. Boykin

Mansfield’s Book of Manly Men is a sort of manly guidance book for men and boys of all ages. Stephen Mansfield examines manliness from a Biblical perspective, and finds that our current culture sadly undermines, under-appreciates, and even perverts traditional masculine values. Drawing upon men from the Bible as well as from history and his own life, Mansfield teaches the proper role of a man: from how a man shoulders responsibility, to how he handles defeats and setbacks gracefully, to appropriate use of humor. He takes King David's words to Solomon as a clarion cry to all men, ""...be strong and show yourself a man." (1 Kings 2:2).

Each chapter includes a profile of a role model – these men include Lincoln, Churchill, King David, Kipling, Booker T. Washington, and more. The witty and informative profiles show just how each particular man exemplifies a specific virtue or character trait in a manly manner.

The book ends with “Fifty Quotes for Manly Men” – page after page of thought-provoking and intelligent inspiration for any man - and for the women that love them and want to encourage them to be their very best. Mansfield understands that a man must cultivate mind, body, and soul – and his proscriptions address all three.

As the mother of a son, I am thankful for this book – and I plan to pass it along to him now that I am finished with it. Many of Mansfield’s lessons are lessons I have tried to pass along myself  – and Mansfield’s “man to man” aspect can only enforce what we already believe.

Mansfield's Book of Manly Men can be purchased for $19.99 at a local bookstore or online directly from the Book of Manly Men website, or from Thomas Nelson Publishing, or at sites like Amazon or bn.com.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson through BookSneeze in exchange for an honest review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trace Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255 : "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."

Martin Luther King Day

Today we celebrate Martin Luther King Day. We honor the character of the man, we honor his accomplishments, we honor his dream. I've written a lot on the man in the HCE magazines (Black History Month2011, 2012, 2013 and Civil Rights 1963) - and I have taken his words into my heart as my own inspiration. Below, I share a few of my favorites.


"We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love. There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us. When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies."

"Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase."

"The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character - that is the goal of true education."

"Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness." 

"A man who won't die for something is not fit to live." 

"The principle of self-acceptance is a basic principle in life...after accepting ourselves and our tools, we must discover what we are called to do. And once we discover it we should set out to do it with all of the strength and all of the power that we have in our systems. And after we’ve discovered what God called us to do, after we’ve discovered our life’s work, we should set out to do that work so well that the living, the dead, or the unborn couldn’t do it any better. Now this does not mean that everybody will do the so-called big, recognized things of life. Very few people will rise to the heights of genius in the arts and the sciences; very few collectively will rise to certain professions. Most of us will have to be content to work in the fields and in the factories and on the streets. But we must see the dignity of all labor."

Inspiration: A New Heart

I went for a walk to pray - to sort out my thoughts, to sort out what my priorities are, to sort out "where am I going" ... 

I often find inspiration when I walk in nature - moments of beauty, moments of death, moments of rebirth, moments of new life rising up, moments of tenderness, moments of awe.

On this walk, I found a stone shaped like a heart...

Starting Fresh

January is often a month of fresh starts, of resolutions, of lists. I'm often too busy in January to even bother...preferring spring for my fresh starts. But this year, its different.

This year, my freelance job lost its funding...2 days before Christmas. This year, I have time on my hands. This year, I'm starting fresh in January - like it or not!

So I am taking things one day at a time: catching up on sleep, catching up with friends, catching up with networking. I'm taking the time to do a lot of the things I already *know* are good for me, but that I let lapse while I was "too busy."

These days, I do not skip breakfast! I wake up and drink a glass of lemon and chia water while my tea is brewing. I make myself a scrambled egg on toast or have a yoghurt (protein is important!). And I have a luscious piece of fruit.

These days, I do not skip my yoga (and nothing tells you how creaky you are like re-starting yoga!). I spend a gentle 15-30 minutes taking care that I will be able to touch my toes when I'm 90!

These days, I do not skip a daily long walk. I may use my walk to run errands, like returning books to the library. Or not. My favorite walks are those that encourage my mind to clear, that has my wandering worries settle down, and true focus to kick in.

These days, I am catching up on all those little chores that always slipped to the bottom of my endless "to do" lists: mending hems, adjusting sleeves, finishing half-done sewing projects, and all sorts of little odds and ends around the house.

Are you having a fresh start in January?