The 2011 Imaginary Family Project – Week 40

#40 of 52 : ROBERT DO GOOD
The Imaginary Family Project - Week 40

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Imagine:
            I told you, Mother, that project would not work.  Anyway, don’t you remember fishing over there in the towels?  Remember crappie we caught and how good they tasted?

Whose idea was this to try something new and without asking for our help?  Seems to me that this world is going down hill when people think they can try that and get by with it.  Then build a monument to show off such a thing.

I bet Dad would turn over in his grave if he knew this had happened to our grazing and hunting ground.  Continue reading The 2011 Imaginary Family Project – Week 40

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On the Horizon: CZ’s for me

After spending some time in Sierra Leone Africa I will never look at diamonds in the same way. If you have seen the 2006 movie Blood Diamond you are familiar with the 11 year civil war that in great part was over the control of the small West African nation’s vast natural resources. In the movie, you see a fictionalized account of the very real practice of forcing locals into slave labor to mine diamonds that were then sold on the black market.

It has been referred to as the ‘resource curse;’ nations in the developing world that are exploited for their natural resources. It is certainly nothing new. The Spanish exploration of the new world was in search of wealth while European colonialism across the globe was based on the same model.

Today in Sierra Leone, the civil war is over, yet the conditions in diamond mining areas of Sierra Leone remain bleak. Some of that country’s poorest spend their days mired in the muck hoping to find stones they then, will only be paid the tiniest fraction of their worth.

In today’s video blog, I will show you how a group of Oklahomans are working to improve the lives of orphans from the Blood Diamond Civil War. Work, that if successful, will outshine the sparkle of any stone that has contributed to such suffering.

Rob McClendon

 

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Deconstructing My Christianized Self, Part 1 (republish: “Best Of”)

Editor’s Note: This was one of our top 20 most read essays in 2010. We’re republishing it as we continue through our “revisiting 2010 the ‘best of’ series of 2010.” Thanks.

Like so many others born and raised in the buckle of the Oklahoma “Bible belt,” I was Christianized from an early age. My father was a pastor, and as a PK (Pastor’s Kid), I didn’t have much of a choice in the matter. Flannel boards, K-Love, VBS, purity rings, Precept Bible Studies, DC Talk, and potluck lunches – all of this just came with the territory.

Somewhere early on, I absorbed the basic Calvinistic idea that the material world, like the material body, was colonized with eeeeviil. Most importantly, I was hard wired for eeeeviill. Every thought, impulse, feeling, and desire contained latent Dionysian energies roiling within them.

I distinctly remember attending a youth bible conference where the speaker confronted us on masturbation. Gulp. Blanch. Awkward. Stare at the floor. Crickets.

Continue reading Deconstructing My Christianized Self, Part 1 (republish: “Best Of”)

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Predicting Your Financial Future

As a kid, I loved to play with a Magic 8-Ball that was supposed to hold legendary fortune telling power. I’d sit around for hours asking it exactly what the future would hold for me. Would I be rich? (Outlook not so good). Would I marry the man of my dreams? (Reply hazy, try again). Would I be happy? (You may rely on it). I think we have all wished that something or someone could tell us exactly the type of future that we can expect. Amazingly, some of those magic powers possessed by the 8-ball must have rubbed off on me because I am about to accurately predict your financial future. I won’t even charge you $8.99 per minute or speak in a bad Caribbean accent. Are you ready?

Your car is going to need repairs and tires every few years. You will need to buy new clothes for you and your family. Your air conditioner/appliances/roof will need replaced or repaired. The cost of living will rise. Your pet will need to go to the vet. You may lose your job. You or a family member will get sick and need medication. Medication will continue to be outrageously expensive.

So, am I really psychic? (Don’t count on it). However, my predictions are right on the money. Most of us go through life with our fingers crossed, hoping that nothing goes wrong. Even if you are the luckiest person alive, something has to go wrong sometime. When it does, it’s probably going to cost you. If you just accept the fact that something is inevitably going to happen that wasn’t planned, you will be able to deal with it much more effectively. Here’s how: Continue reading Predicting Your Financial Future

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