Author Intrusion

PW Review on Justice in the Burbs. Sweet!

Publisher's Weekly Magazine has given Justice in the Burbs a great review. You can pre-order here. Download a copy of the intro and chapter one here.

Justice in the Burbs: Being the Hands of Jesus Wherever You Live Will and Lisa Samson. Baker Books, $14.99 paper (208p) ISBN 978-0-8010-6809-6

Award-winning Christian novelist Lisa Samson (Songbird; Quaker Summer) and her husband, sociology doctoral student Will Samson, intertwine fiction and nonfiction in this challenging and inspiring book about justice. Lisa Samson's novella features the Marshalls, a suburban family with all the accouterments: Matt climbs the corporate ladder, Christine cares for their three children, and both are busy with numerous church leadership positions. One day, however, Matt and Christine visit an inner-city mission, and their ideas about how they should be living gradually, but dramatically, change. The nonfiction portion of the book examines the issues these characters (and most of the book's readership) face. The Samsons talk about why God cares what we eat, where we live, how much electricity we use, and to whom we minister. Astonishingly, the authors manage to do this without hitting a sanctimonious note. On the contrary, they repeatedly highlight the heartbreak and complexity of what they refer to as "thinking and living in keeping with God's heartbeat of justice," and frequently acknowledge their own struggles and failures. The Samsons include short meditations at the end of each chapter written by a variety of Christian authors, as well as a series of helpful discussion questions at the end. (Aug.)

New Wineskins interviews Will!

Here's one of the questions from an interview Will had with New Wineskins linked to below.  I love this little blurb from the interviewer Fred Peatross's bio:

Fred makes "ordinary attempts" to evangelize through relational acts of kindness and enjoys praying behind his friends' backs . . .

Gotta love that!

Link: New Wineskins.

3) I don't know if it would be fair to call you an environmental activist but tell us a little about the environmental concerns?

Scripture talks of humanity as coming “from the dust of the Earth.” In this way, concerns about what we eat, what we drive and how much we consume are not dissociated from me. Instead, because I eat food and breathe oxygen and rely on vitamins and minerals from the Earth, care for creation is caring for the future “me.” This frightens some Christians. It sounds like pantheism. I see it as a holistic view of humanity and all of creation. I hope this perspective is being shaped by my attempts to be faithful to scripture and the Christian tradition – time will tell. But because of this hope, I might not think of myself as an environmental activist – maybe more of a kingdom activist, one who sees care for creation as inseparable from living in faithful relationship to God and my neighbor.

Four Members of Congress Live on Foodstamps

A really intriguing article.  HT: Bobbie at emerging sideways. If you read the whole thing you'll be glad you did!

Link: Pangs of Hunger -- and Bit of Guilt - washingtonpost.com.

A pork chop and a bag of peanuts proved too tempting for Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio), one of four members of Congress who has struggled for the past week to subsist on $21 worth of food -- the equivalent of benefits received by the average food stamp recipient.

Last Friday night, in New Hampshire to deliver a commencement speech, Ryan succumbed to a pork chop in the hotel restaurant because he feared he would otherwise be too weak to give the address.

Afterward, as he rushed to catch a flight back to Washington, airport security officials confiscated jars of peanut butter and jelly from his carry-on luggage, leaving him with nothing but a small bag of cornmeal to eat in the final days of the "Food Stamp Challenge," which ends today.

"It just showed me that when you're living on food stamps, you're really one event away from disaster," he said. "If you drop a jar of sauce or jam, you can lose an opportunity to eat. Some people are constantly living on that edge."

church in the park

Lisa and Clinton wanted our community to have church at Duncan Park this past Sunday evening to celebrate their wedding anniversary.  They were married in that same park two years ago.  They promised some bbq if we all brought sides. And we brought some sides!

Duncan Park sits between Fifth and Sixth Streets inbetween Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. and Broadway. Suffice it to say, not too many people from the county come play in Duncan Park.  But it's a beautiful park. A nice playground, open ground, an activities center, off street parking, even an old iron gate at the corner.

We set up our lawnchairs, laid out the food, and set to business. It wasn't long before some of the neighborhood kids showed up, and it wasn't long before Gwynnie and Jake were playing like crazy. Those two are really great at making friends. I wasn't like that at all when I was a kid! Tracy brought a craft for the kids and three beautiful cakes decorated with white icing and real purple and yellow pansies.

We all ate cake and drank tea. I got to feed a little two year old girl name Mira (LaMira) who wouldn't say a word to me.  Every time I asked if she wanted another bite, she shook her head "no" and opened her mouth yes. Near the end of the slice of cake I finally got a smile.  Her mother and grandmother came over and had some bbq and cake as well.

Meanwhile, somebody brought a cornhole game (never heard of it until we moved to Kentucky--hate that name) and that was going great guns. Frisbee over on one half of the lawn and a soccer game on the other half.  Lots of laughing and yelling and eating.

Yeah, it was church. It was really, really church.

We thought it was church so much we've decided to do it the first Sunday of every month through September. One of the advantages of being in a small faith community is that you don't have to move heaven and earth to serve God. You just show up at the park with some food, and watch Him move before your eyes.

cake photo

yet another crazy deep-fried food

Yes, I'm on a quest for crazy deep-fried food. Not to eat, but for a character to experiment with.  Here's a fab one, deep friend spaghetti and meatballs! Crazy? Uh-huh. Would I take a bite? Yep. So, obviously, would Deep-Fried Joe.

 

Link: Deep-fried Joe Review: Spaghetti and Meatball Dinner on a Stick.

Spaghetti and Meatball Dinner on a Stick — is a bit scary. How to judge? I decided to do what wine tasters do. Give the dinner a sniff. Take a cautious bite. Smoosh it around in my mouth and then, if it tastes good, keep eating. Or, if it tastes horrible, spit it into my napkin and scrub my palate with the rough side of a Premium Saltine.

Merry Christmas, Friends!

The past two days have brought pain (Will fell and bruised his ribs), frustration (the oven element snapped), disappointment (we cannot go home to Maryland and PA after Christmas afterall), and sadness (the loss of family members sharpens).

And yet now I sit here, cup of my favorite tea on the desk, taking stock of the past several days: wonderful dinner gatherings,  Jammie Light Drive, wrapping presents, oyster and turkey dressings ready to be baked, geese in the oven, and practicing O Come All Ye Faithful for a piano/violin duet Gwynnie and I are doing for communality's gathering tonight at Third Street House.

It's been a good year (see Will's blog). And inspite of the minor setbacks (except for the bruised ribs of course), we'll gather tonight, share the Christmas story, share Christ in the eucharist, and exist in fellowship with all Christians around the world who celebrate the Savior come to earth in a fragile package of humanity.

Merry Christmas, my friends. May Christ be ever beside you, in front of you, behind you and inside of you, spilling His love wherever He takes you.

pax Christi,

lisa

i have to admit it . . . i'd try it

Our family friend, Scott Hutcheson, an Indiana foodwriter also known as The Hungry Hoosier, got me googling Chicken Fried Bacon this afternoon.  Yeah, you read right.  I try to eat healthy, but I've gotta be honest and admit I'd at least try a piece of this stuff.

I include a lot of food in my novels, people are always cooking or going to a well-loved restaurant, and I'm thinking this "dish" has got to make an appearance. Of course, most people would declare me going over the top! 

What's the unhealthiest, but yummiest food you've ever eaten?  I'd have to go with chicken fried steak, I think. Or deep fried Oreo cookies. (pictured left)

 

Anyway, do read the column linked below. The guy's hilarious!

Link: Would you like double grease with that?: 1/16/99.

But what I really like about Sodolak's concoction is that it makes the food police crazy. "I've never heard of anything worse," said Jayne Hurley, senior nutritionist at the Center for Science in the Public Interest in Washington D.C., the same bunch of food frumps who warned us about theater popcorn, guacamole and Chinese food. "They've taken fat, they've doubled-coated it in fat, they've fried it in more fat, and then served it with a side order of fat." So what's her problem? At Sodolak's, you get six chicken-fried bacon strips for $3.50. If you ate an order of this stuff every day for a year and you went to the store in a pair of Capri pants, it would look like you were keeping a sack full of gophers prisoner in your underwear.

Oh my!

The country is in a shake up. It should be a very interesting month or two.  However, I rarely get political on this blog. As a registered Independent I offer my congratulations and my condolences to my readers on both sides of the aisle. To other Indy's, hey, there's something to be said for "prophetic distance", isn't there? No matter how anyone feels about yesterday's results, I'm sure we can all agree that our prayers are crucial.

So instead, I'll talk about something extremely bi-partisan and apt to bring the most diametrically opposed forces together.  Great confections!

Link: Lindt's Creme Brulee Chocolate Bar.

I had breakfast with one of my favorite people in the world yesterday and he bestowed upon me the gift of my favorite chocolate bar: Lindt Excellence White Coconut. And something new to try, Lindt Petit Dessert: Creme Brulee.

Now I'm not a chocoholic in the sense that any chocolate will do. I'm not a chick-lit chocolate eater.  Hershey's? Get thee behind me! Nestles? Only from a Halloween sack. Dove? Okay, yeah. That'll always do.

These Lindt bars are expensive. But one square packs the delicious punch of an entire grocery store candy bar.  So thanks to  my friend, I've got a new Second Favorite, and the opportunity to enjoy my favorite once again!

What's your favorite?

lisa

Junk Food Blog: Krispy Kreme Pumpkin Shaped Donuts

Link: Junk Food Blog: Krispy Kreme Pumpkin Shaped Donuts.

I know these would be totally bad for you, but aren't they so cute?!

where you'll find me these days

If you've been with me for long on AI, you know I need hangouts to write in. Concentrating at home is virtually impossible for me and so I go out and about. Each season here in Lexington tends to bring a new routine for me and this autumn/back-to-school time is turning out to be no exception.

At 8 am, Jake and I leave the house, walk down the street for 9/10ths of a mile to his middle school. Trying to be sensitive to the fact that he's getting a little older, I leave him at the corner so he can make the last half-block on his own without "mom" in tow.  And then I head into the heart of Lexington and Kiser's Restaurant. (This place is so old-fashioned I can't find a good link on the web, or a picture.)

Cory, the server, brings me my coffee, and I set to work. In the center of the room around several tables put together, the lawyers collect like barnacles on a boat bottom, drinking coffee and talking with their deep, Southern voices about lawsuits, politics and occasionally real life.  They ignore me. Which is fine.

In this place I can concentrate, the words come a little more easily as though the string into which they are woven made of cotton and not barbed wire, and the spool spins without as much muscle as it usually takes.  The word-count happens at Kiser's.

The two hours eek by, however, because although the words come more easily, they still don't send me into that fairy-dance of writing. It's still work.  And I guess it always will be.  But that's all right. Because Cory keeps coming with the coffee and the creamer and as long as they'll let me, I'll find my table by the window and be thankful there's a place to go.

When 10:30 arrives, I pack up, plunk down two bucks on the table and head 'em on out for the typical angst of writing catch-as-catch-can for the rest of the day.  The walk home  makes me happy, I breathe the air, listen to the hum of carwheels against the road, get honked at a time or two, and after opening the front door, Gwynnie's ready for my part of school.  Yep, a new routine.

I like it.

How's autumn treating you?

lisa