by Lara Blackwood Pickrel If you are anything like me, you remember the gritty pastel and grey drawings from Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are with a certain warm and fuzzy sense of nostalgia. I loved every bit of those monsters – beaks, horns, hooves, human feet, fur, feathers and roars – and I [...]

By Deborah L. Matthews My husband surprised me for our September birthdays with tickets to U2 at Soldier Field in Chicago, our new hometown and the first stop in the 2009 360 tour. On Sunday, September 13, we trekked into the stadium with thousands of other fans, expecting quite a show. I’ve heard others talk [...]

by Mihee Kim-Kort Clint Eastwood has done it again. Like fine wine, over time he seems to become more compelling with films like Million Dollar Baby, Letters from Iwo Jima, Changeling, and lately, Gran Torino. It is amazing he has been doing movies since the 1950’s and yet, he still remains provocative and interesting, particularly [...]

by Kate Macneil I will declare my bias here and now – I adore Terry Pratchett, and have done for years. I’m afraid you will find little of objective critique here, just unabashed admiration. If you haven’t yet met him and the world of characters he has created, I highly recommend them to you. In [...]

by Kate Smanik Moyes I am not fond of reality television. In fact, that statement puts my sentiments quite mildly. In truth I am repulsed by the modern television programs that claim to be “reality”. Any program that exploits the young adult population that I serve brings up feelings of anger and frustration for me. [...]

by Janelle Rozek Hooper On the days when I feel “nobody understands” I remind myself of one of my favorite books about spiritual journeys, Dance of the Dissident Daughter by Sue Monk Kidd. This book reminds me of what I loved about seminary – the imaginative and “out of the box” experiences of God. In [...]

While summer may only offer the daydream of more reading time, many YCW prepare for a slightly slower season by gathering a stack of books to stuff in their beach tote or in their suitcase.  Some of these books seek to enhance our vocational calling while others offer a much-needed escape from the work we [...]

by Molly Vetter I’ve been on a bit of a Michael Pollan kick lately.  Enthused that his explorations of our food systems have helped make gardening hip (or, at least, have helped get Michelle and Barack to dig in), I keep going back for more.  Since first reading Omnivore’s Dilemma, I have delighted that his [...]

by Sarah Kinney Gaventa and Elsa A. Peters This month, the Jesus Review is pleased to bring you a conversation between two of our favorite TV junkies. Excuse me. They would like you to know that they only watch intelligent TV. This conversation wasn’t an exchange the tinkling of coffee mugs in a coffee shop [...]

by Teri Peterson I confess that I’m almost always behind the curve on the cultural phenoms of our day—I got on board the Harry Potter train when book four came out. I don’t really like movie theaters and so often don’t see movies until they come out on DVD. I pay some attention, but not [...]