CEFR Level C1-C2
Our Culture Approves of Assault
St. Patrick’s Day brought back something I think about often: consent. My understanding is that assault is legally defined as touching someone without their consent when that touch is harmful or offensive (https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/assault). With that definition, the US has a holiday where we teach children to cause others physical pain and call it fun, perhaps especially if the person we are trying to hurt is running away from us. Accompanying that practice, we teach children that they are wrong to be upset when someone causes them physical pain during the day when society has agreed that a specific type of hurting someone without their consent is acceptable.
Take a minute to think about how those socially acceptable practices may or may not affect how a person thinks about domestic violence or sexual assault, then come back for my thoughts on consent and spiritual practices.
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CEFR Level B1-B2
The Background
Education is dangerous. It gives people ideas. When people have ideas, they start to think. Thinking means asking questions. Asking questions means authority cannot have unwavering obedience. That is bad for The Authority.
I was raised to obey The Authority without question. I was told The Authority always has my best interest in mind. Whether or not I was explicitly taught this, I came to believe that it was disobedience to even want something different from what the person in authority wanted. Any of my own ideas got shut up in a filing cabinet called “They Must Know Something I’ll Learn Later.”  CEFR Level B2-C1 This is not a sponsored review. I completely read any book I write a review on. The Justice of Jesus by Joash Thomas (2025) is a thoughtful consideration of what it means to live like Jesus Christ. This is no academic treatise, though! Nor is it a restatement of ideas commonly found in books shelved under “Christianity” in a bookstore. In accessible language, with plenty of section headers and a clear table of contents, The Justice of Jesus would make a good companion to personal devotions, a book for high school or college discussion, or to use in a group Bible study. I think it would be especially useful in a seminary class focused on the theology of the church or as assigned reading during a church-based internship.
 CEFR Level C1-C2 The Cross and the Lynching Tree by James Cone is an intense read at the beginning, especially if a reader has been taught to avoid saying anything that will make others uncomfortable or to use euphemisms or vague references if it is necessary to talk about such things.
 CEFR Level B2-C1 Words, especially in fiction, were how I learned about myself and the world outside my context. Fiction is where I learned that other people felt what I felt and those feelings were called "anger" and "I don't fit in." Fiction is where I learned that life is usually better when you say what's true for you, even if saying it causes tension and conflict. Fiction is where I learned that just because a friendship doesn't last your whole life long, that doesn't mean the friendship wasn't real and the natural end of a friendship doesn't take away from how meaningful the relationship was. Fiction is where I stopped breathing in horror and when I started breathing again could only say, "God, we need you." Fiction taught me the human impact of history far more than any history class or biography ever has.*
 CEFR Level A2-B1 While getting in my car for a hair appointment, I saw an ambulance parked in front of a neighbor’s house. Naturally, an ambulance is concerning, even though I don’t know this neighbor beyond chatting a few times when she is out working in their yard. Despite my curiosity, I continued to my appointment, which was in the opposite direction.
Half an hour later, I returned to see the ambulance still there. Would it be too nosy to drive past to see what was happening? 
I went into the new ice cream shop to get a milkshake.
 Royal Palace of Brussels: Was I traveling or on a vacation? Are the terms synonyms?
In early June 2025, I saw a HARO request for industry experts to share their opinions on why people are choosing 10-day vacations instead of two-week vacations. From the details of the request, it didn’t look like the topic was about taking time off of work. Rather, it appeared that the topic is leaving your house and staying somewhere else as a way to have fun.
Is it normal to take a two-week vacation? 
I passed the age of 40 without learning to drink coffee, even though I grew up in the United States where everyone, including my parents, drinks coffee. Despite these cultural influences,
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