Out of Sorts: making peace with an evolving faith by Sarah Bessey
Sarah Bessey has had a complicated relationship with Church - and if you grew up in church at all who hasn't? In this book she sorts through some of her feelings about various aspects of church and how she left church and came back only to find that some of the original things that pushed her away were now drawing her back. I do love that the main thread through the whole book is Jesus. Church and people will always disappoint you, but Jesus won't and if we just keep seeking Him most of the rest will fall into place.
I did like this book, but I don't think I was in the best frame of mind at the time I was reading it. I may come back to this one to read it more meditatively. Overall, I did like it and Bessey is a great writer as well.
Some quotes I liked:
"When we're sorting things out, when we dare to ask questions, sometimes someone will pat us on the head and say, 'Well, you know, you need to have faith like a child.' Pat, pat, pat, right on the head. Patronize, patronize, patronize, right on the soul. Just stop wondering, stop wrestling. You're supposed to be like a child and accept what you've been taught and stop asking questions. Trust the truth you've been given. To which I now respectfully ask: I'm sorry, but have you ever been around a child for any amount of time? Because let me tell you, kids ask a lot of questions...But here is the key of a child, the true wonder of childlike faith: They truly want to know. They're not asking to be cool or to push back on the establishment or to prove anyone wrong or to grind an ax or make a point without making a change. Tinies ask because they want an answer." (p. 48-9)
"Anyone who gets to the end of their life with the exact same beliefs and opinions as they had at the beginning is doing it wrong." (p. 88)
"In a fractured and mobile and hypercustomized world, intentional community - plain old church - feels like a radical act of faith and sometimes like a spiritual discipline." (p. 103)
"God's sovereignty is not an excuse or a reason for the bad things that happen in our lives: God is light, and there is no darkness in Him. No one will ever convince me that God made my babies die or that God killed our friend with cancer or that a hurricane is an act of God as punishment for sin. Instead, I think sovereignty is the promise that it will all be healed in the end. Sovereignty means that all will be held. That God is at work to bring redemption and reconciliation, that somehow at the end of all things, we don't escape from the goodness that pursues us, the life we are promised, the love that redeems." (p. 189-90)
I did like this book, but I don't think I was in the best frame of mind at the time I was reading it. I may come back to this one to read it more meditatively. Overall, I did like it and Bessey is a great writer as well.
Some quotes I liked:
"When we're sorting things out, when we dare to ask questions, sometimes someone will pat us on the head and say, 'Well, you know, you need to have faith like a child.' Pat, pat, pat, right on the head. Patronize, patronize, patronize, right on the soul. Just stop wondering, stop wrestling. You're supposed to be like a child and accept what you've been taught and stop asking questions. Trust the truth you've been given. To which I now respectfully ask: I'm sorry, but have you ever been around a child for any amount of time? Because let me tell you, kids ask a lot of questions...But here is the key of a child, the true wonder of childlike faith: They truly want to know. They're not asking to be cool or to push back on the establishment or to prove anyone wrong or to grind an ax or make a point without making a change. Tinies ask because they want an answer." (p. 48-9)
"Anyone who gets to the end of their life with the exact same beliefs and opinions as they had at the beginning is doing it wrong." (p. 88)
"In a fractured and mobile and hypercustomized world, intentional community - plain old church - feels like a radical act of faith and sometimes like a spiritual discipline." (p. 103)
"God's sovereignty is not an excuse or a reason for the bad things that happen in our lives: God is light, and there is no darkness in Him. No one will ever convince me that God made my babies die or that God killed our friend with cancer or that a hurricane is an act of God as punishment for sin. Instead, I think sovereignty is the promise that it will all be healed in the end. Sovereignty means that all will be held. That God is at work to bring redemption and reconciliation, that somehow at the end of all things, we don't escape from the goodness that pursues us, the life we are promised, the love that redeems." (p. 189-90)
American Daughter by Stephanie Thornton Plymale
Stephanie Plymale grew up in and out of foster care, was abused and neglected, and her mother was in and out of both jail and psych wards. As she got older all Stephanie knew was that she wanted to be the opposite of her mother - and she was. She married young, but found a really great guy who loved her despite her upbringing and brought much-needed stability to her life. Her mother was in and out of her life and was often a destructive presence when she was around. But when Stephanie's mother is diagnosed with terminal cancer she knows this is her last chance to get answers to some of her questions. What she finds out is mind blowing. Stephanie's mother, Florence, grew up in privilege, but after a series of horrific events was never the same. I personally think that because Florence got no help during the aftermath (trying to not give anything away here) she had a mental breakdown and that only got worse over time. Sadly, because of that she subjected her children to much of the same trauma she had experienced. But, once Stephanie found out her mother's history it did help her understand why her mother was the way she was. Not that it excused how awful she was, but it did help her see her mother in a new light. And she was really there for her mother at the end of her life, but I think that was also somewhat more for herself as well. In the same vein as The Glass Castle or Hollywood Park, a dysfunctional family memoir that further reiterates human resilience in the face of trauma.
The Secret History of Home Economics by Danielle Dreilinger
Most people think of Home Ec as a high school class you may have taken to learn how to sew and cook. But, in this unique book, Danielle Dreilinger explores the history of home economics and how it began and evolved over time. Interestingly, home economics began as a way to help women, not keep them confined to the home. By arguing that women were already using science every day in cooking, baking, sewing, and other household chores, home economics was designed to help elevate the work women did, as well as, help encourage emerging technology to make household chores less time-consuming. There were several trailblazers that Dreilinger highlights in the book who ironically made a name for themselves as women promoting home economics, which has often been seen as stereotypically keeping women at home and outside the workforce. Women in home economics have created dieticians for the military and the emerging space program and today are trying to move the field into STEM and financial literacy for current high school students. Regardless of what you might think home economics is or was, this book will change your mind and open your eyes to what it could be in the future. I also liked that in the Conclusion the author gives several suggestions for "how to bring back home ec" that would definitely make a difference if they could be applied to public schools in particular.
Some quotes I liked:
"To thumb through the home economics literature is to find our current questions debated decades or longer ago. In 1899 home economists argued for school gardens, STEM education for girls, takeout food, and affordable day care...And yet home economics has been denigrated, over and over and over again, as 'just stiching and stirring.'" (p. xii)
"After Congress authorized a military draft in the fall of 1940, experts' worst fears about the American diet proved true: one-third of the men called up for service failed their physicals due to nutrition-related factors. Clearly, it was not enough simply to keep people from starving. They had to eat the right amounts and combinations of food. Nutrition gained a new purpose: military defense. Home economists revived the slogan 'Food Will Win the War' and argued that the US needed a national food policy." (p. 112)
"Mollie Stevens Smart and Russell Smart, authors and academics, had an egalitarian marriage where they went halves in cleaning and childcare. Yet they wrote a high school textbook warning women against pursuing careers...Reflecting on the contradiction decades later, their daughter Laura, a family scientist herself, concluded that her parents were researchers and academics; as such, she said, they based their textbooks on the scholarship of the time, and that scholarship was biased. They also suffered from the same shortsightedness as other home economists, not realizing how radical they were or how privileged Mollie was to be respected as a professional equal. On top of all that, they had to write what would sell." (p. 135 & 143)
"It happened in 1986 in Alabama federal court. Though the class-action suit, Smith v. Board of School Commissioners of Mobile County, challenged forty-four textbooks, the five home-ec books took center stage - they were the worst the prosecutor said...The National Legal Foundation funded the prosecution; it was founded by televangelist Pat Robertson, who was at that time seeking the Republican presidential nomination...The plaintiffs charged that the books unconstitutionally established a religion: secular humanism...[they won the case and the textbooks were removed] Judge Hand's decision held for only a few months. The state school board voted by a single person to appeal the case, despite the opposition of Alabama governor Guy Hunt. The appellate court swiftly overturned the verdict, ruling that the books taught 'independent thought, tolerance of diverse views, self-respect, maturity, self-reliance and logical decision making,' all of which were entirely 'appropriate' for a public school." (p. 264-67)
"Contrary to public impression, home ec is not dead. As of last count, 2010-12, states reported that 3.5 million public school students took family and consumer sciences in the US, taught by more than twenty-seven thousand teachers...You can still major in the subject: 786 US universities awarded more than thirty-eight thousand degrees in family and consumer sciences in 2017-18, according to federal data." (p. 274-75)
"[Angela DeHart, a retired home ec teacher] still sees home ec everywhere. In the doctor's office. In 'makerspaces,' the new cool hands-on tech lab for schools [and public libraries] - cool and not considered home economics because men had claimed it, she said. The appropriation irritated her deeply." (p. 286)
Some quotes I liked:
"To thumb through the home economics literature is to find our current questions debated decades or longer ago. In 1899 home economists argued for school gardens, STEM education for girls, takeout food, and affordable day care...And yet home economics has been denigrated, over and over and over again, as 'just stiching and stirring.'" (p. xii)
"After Congress authorized a military draft in the fall of 1940, experts' worst fears about the American diet proved true: one-third of the men called up for service failed their physicals due to nutrition-related factors. Clearly, it was not enough simply to keep people from starving. They had to eat the right amounts and combinations of food. Nutrition gained a new purpose: military defense. Home economists revived the slogan 'Food Will Win the War' and argued that the US needed a national food policy." (p. 112)
"Mollie Stevens Smart and Russell Smart, authors and academics, had an egalitarian marriage where they went halves in cleaning and childcare. Yet they wrote a high school textbook warning women against pursuing careers...Reflecting on the contradiction decades later, their daughter Laura, a family scientist herself, concluded that her parents were researchers and academics; as such, she said, they based their textbooks on the scholarship of the time, and that scholarship was biased. They also suffered from the same shortsightedness as other home economists, not realizing how radical they were or how privileged Mollie was to be respected as a professional equal. On top of all that, they had to write what would sell." (p. 135 & 143)
"It happened in 1986 in Alabama federal court. Though the class-action suit, Smith v. Board of School Commissioners of Mobile County, challenged forty-four textbooks, the five home-ec books took center stage - they were the worst the prosecutor said...The National Legal Foundation funded the prosecution; it was founded by televangelist Pat Robertson, who was at that time seeking the Republican presidential nomination...The plaintiffs charged that the books unconstitutionally established a religion: secular humanism...[they won the case and the textbooks were removed] Judge Hand's decision held for only a few months. The state school board voted by a single person to appeal the case, despite the opposition of Alabama governor Guy Hunt. The appellate court swiftly overturned the verdict, ruling that the books taught 'independent thought, tolerance of diverse views, self-respect, maturity, self-reliance and logical decision making,' all of which were entirely 'appropriate' for a public school." (p. 264-67)
"Contrary to public impression, home ec is not dead. As of last count, 2010-12, states reported that 3.5 million public school students took family and consumer sciences in the US, taught by more than twenty-seven thousand teachers...You can still major in the subject: 786 US universities awarded more than thirty-eight thousand degrees in family and consumer sciences in 2017-18, according to federal data." (p. 274-75)
"[Angela DeHart, a retired home ec teacher] still sees home ec everywhere. In the doctor's office. In 'makerspaces,' the new cool hands-on tech lab for schools [and public libraries] - cool and not considered home economics because men had claimed it, she said. The appropriation irritated her deeply." (p. 286)
Cheese, Wine, and Bread: discovering the magic of fermentation in England, Italy, and France by Katie Quinn
Katie Quinn is a food journalist and foodie. After she got married her husband had the opportunity to go work in London and they jumped at the chance. But, after getting there Katie felt a little like the "trailing spouse" who didn't have the primary career and was a little at loose ends. While eating one of her favorite meals, wine with bread and cheese, she had an epiphany - each of these foods were fermented and paired very well together. She had the idea to explore each of these foods in an area known for that food - so, cheese in England, wine in Italy, and bread in France. This book is a combination of Katie exploring these food items and the regions known for them and her own exploration of living in Europe and being a newlywed with a few recipes thrown in as well. Overall, it was a very fun, yet informative book. There are definitely some recipes I'd like to try as well. If you enjoy any of these foods then you will enjoy this book.
Some quotes I liked:
"The fact that France has something called a 'Bread Decree' is the first clue to bread's deeply engrained cultural significance. The law was seen as an effort to save French bread from industrialization and to protect this cultural icon; it gave hope to bread lovers across the country." (p. 259)
"When I asked Sarah her thoughts on why there had been such a resurgence of interest in making this kind of bread [sourdough/fermented bread] globally, she answered, 'Stomach issues. That's what brought me to it, too. In general, our food systems have seen the sort of progression from being basic food staples, made with integrity, to being completely industrialized. We're suffering the effects of that, so we're returning to the past in order to look forward to the future.'" (p. 283)
Some quotes I liked:
"The fact that France has something called a 'Bread Decree' is the first clue to bread's deeply engrained cultural significance. The law was seen as an effort to save French bread from industrialization and to protect this cultural icon; it gave hope to bread lovers across the country." (p. 259)
"When I asked Sarah her thoughts on why there had been such a resurgence of interest in making this kind of bread [sourdough/fermented bread] globally, she answered, 'Stomach issues. That's what brought me to it, too. In general, our food systems have seen the sort of progression from being basic food staples, made with integrity, to being completely industrialized. We're suffering the effects of that, so we're returning to the past in order to look forward to the future.'" (p. 283)
Dare to Bloom: trusting God through painful endings and new beginnings by Zim Flores
Some quotes I liked:
"God will orchestrate circumstances to force your pause." (p. 51)
"Grain, wine, and oil are mentioned together many times in the Bible. It is of no coincidence that to harvest these valuable commodities, each needs to be pressed and crushed to reveal its coveted value. The beginning of any new season isn't marked first by crushing; it's defined by uprooting - an uprooting of your comfort zone, mentality, or mindset, among other things." (p. 88-89)
"...I want to posit a reminder: what you're going through right now isn't happening to you - it's happening for you. And when you shift your perspective, you'll find that the fresh oil isn't all that bad." (p. 93)
"God forbid that we become saddened by the things God requires us to give up. God has so much bigger and better for us than what we've lost - if we only trust Him. In sacrificing the very things that we think we need, we make room for our destiny." (p. 138)
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