tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-198979502012-01-28T11:39:19.609-06:00Noise and Nonsense from David A. ZimmermanDavid Zimmermanhttps://profiles.google.com/110640138399426078059noreply@blogger.comBlogger5661100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19897950.post-24484298778272238812012-01-28T11:39:00.000-06:002012-01-28T11:39:19.671-06:00

Back To Work: Why We Need Smart Government For A Strong Economy by Bill Clinton My rating: 4 of 5 stars In 1992 I voted in a presidential election for the second time. My candidate was Ross H. Perot; having graduated from college into a fumbling economy in which I couldn't find gainful employment, I remember telling people that I thought a president with good business sense would be worth four

David Zimmermanhttps://profiles.google.com/110640138399426078059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19897950.post-3330894152167064562012-01-25T07:52:00.000-06:002012-01-25T07:52:07.683-06:00

The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Malcolm X My rating: 4 of 5 stars I started reading The Autobiography of Malcolm X in December 2010, during my Year of Biography, when I was reading only books dealing with history surrounding specific people. I finished reading it in January 2011, during what I'm calling my Year of Overdue Books, or books (or topics) that I should have read already by now. That

David Zimmermanhttps://profiles.google.com/110640138399426078059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19897950.post-32831903416650905572012-01-24T07:50:00.001-06:002012-01-24T07:50:53.142-06:00

I forget, in the years between presidential elections, how enthralled I tend to get with the electoral process. My wife forgets too, until she comes home (or back from the bathroom) to find that I've turned on MSNBC to catch the latest poll numbers or when she sees that I've stored more than one debate to our DVR. It's primary fever, and it's goonie and nerdy, I get it. This year, at least at

David Zimmermanhttps://profiles.google.com/110640138399426078059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19897950.post-29073357799778348462012-01-20T07:50:00.000-06:002012-01-20T07:50:01.202-06:00

When I was a kid, there was a candy bar (I forget the name) whose ad campaign was a jingle that went "________: It's too good for kids! _______ is made for grownups!" That (besides the "too good" part) is what I determined to be the case about a recent presentation I was giving. In the moment I looked at my notes on why we write and how we write better, and then looked at my audience of

David Zimmermanhttps://profiles.google.com/110640138399426078059noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19897950.post-68320282432733893072012-01-18T07:35:00.000-06:002012-01-18T07:35:00.066-06:00

Last week I had the opportunity to speak to a class of kids about writing and publishing. I'm a writer and editor, so I think about this stuff a lot, and I enjoy the opportunity to opine when it comes along. So I wrote up a bunch of notes and tromped on over there, only to realize immediately upon entering the classroom that what I had prepared was not going to play in a room full of

David Zimmermanhttps://profiles.google.com/110640138399426078059noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19897950.post-39613480079136923522012-01-16T11:12:00.000-06:002012-01-16T11:12:25.626-06:00

Every year on Martin Luther King Day I read his “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” addressed to white clergy throughout the United States who were advising against, calling for a scaling back of, or otherwise subverting Dr. King’s efforts at securing fuller equality and dignity for Southern blacks. White clergy were, by and large, reluctant to see the racial tensions of the country further charged.

David Zimmermanhttps://profiles.google.com/110640138399426078059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19897950.post-41927339194304248182012-01-13T10:00:00.000-06:002012-01-13T10:00:00.611-06:00

Songwriter Leonard Cohen had a moment of pure insight in his song “Anthem”: “There is a crack in everything; that’s how the light gets in.” The early church was full of cracks, and those cracks sometimes really hurt and sometimes made life tough. But through those cracks bled the wisdom of God, the power of God, the light of the world. I want you to imagine this scene with me. It’s from the

David Zimmermanhttps://profiles.google.com/110640138399426078059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19897950.post-61115274820894579022012-01-12T10:01:00.000-06:002012-01-12T10:01:00.474-06:00

The second of three posts from a talk I gave recently about the spirituality of superheroes. *** What’s really interesting about superheroes—what keeps people like me coming back again and again to read their exploits—isn’t their powers. It’s their weaknesses. Don’t believe me? Here we go: Superman is undefeatable; any fight is weighted inevitably in Superman’s favor. Add kryptonite, though,

David Zimmermanhttps://profiles.google.com/110640138399426078059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19897950.post-6051466007020142792012-01-11T17:45:00.001-06:002012-01-11T17:45:50.882-06:00

Last weekend I spoke to the youth group at Community Fellowship Church in DuPage County, Illinois, for the first installment of a series on superheroes. It was loads of fun. Since I have no ideas for new posts here at Loud Time, I thought I'd post my comments here, in three parts. *** I already know, with absolute confidence, my favorite film of 2012. I’ve been waiting for this movie my entire

David Zimmermanhttps://profiles.google.com/110640138399426078059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19897950.post-9940049154639777882011-12-25T06:46:00.001-06:002011-12-25T13:12:26.728-06:00

For whatever reason, this song makes me think of Christmas. It's probably this line: "Or what it was . . . incarnation." I picture a shepherd on a hill at night, and suddenly angels and archangels heralding the birth of God . . . When the revenant came down, we couldn't imagine what it was. In the spirit of three stars--the alien thing that took its form. Then to Lebanon, oh God, the flashing

David Zimmermanhttps://profiles.google.com/110640138399426078059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19897950.post-86469577611093252002011-12-19T18:27:00.001-06:002011-12-19T18:27:46.589-06:00

Jesus, My Father, The CIA, and Me: A Memoir. . . of Sorts by Ian Morgan Cron My rating: 4 of 5 stars I was predisposed to think Jesus, My Father, the CIA, and Me by Ian Morgan Cron would be great. It was recommended to me by friends, coworkers, a vicar’s wife I met on retreat, even the editor who asked me to review it for Relevant Magazine's year-end best-of-2011 list. I picked up a

David Zimmermanhttps://profiles.google.com/110640138399426078059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19897950.post-8921400895164829922011-12-16T09:00:00.000-06:002011-12-16T09:00:00.087-06:00

I get two kinds of mail at the end of the year: Christmas cards from friends and end-of-year appeals from nonprofits. The cleverer nonprofits make their end-of-year appeals look like holiday greetings, but we all know better: their fiscal year is coming to a close, and they're looking to end strong. There are some year-end appeals, however, that I open as eagerly as I do the Christmas cards (and

David Zimmermanhttps://profiles.google.com/110640138399426078059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19897950.post-52803228525501371572011-12-10T10:49:00.001-06:002011-12-10T16:08:11.993-06:00

I can't think of anything else to write about, so I'll write about this: my wife, because she loves me, bought me the She & Him Christmas album. It was the first thing I saw as I walked through the door after a three-day trip. I haven't listened to it yet, but I'm really looking forward to it. She & Him is a group made up of Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward--Zooey of Elf and New Girl fame; M. Ward the

David Zimmermanhttps://profiles.google.com/110640138399426078059noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19897950.post-51724937289385737372011-11-24T07:25:00.000-06:002011-11-24T07:25:00.965-06:00

Happy Thanksgiving! A litte Sly and the Family Stone to put you in the mood. A psalm. For giving grateful praise. Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth. Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. Know that the LORD is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise;

David Zimmermanhttps://profiles.google.com/110640138399426078059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19897950.post-38280255524458071792011-11-13T17:53:00.001-06:002011-11-13T17:58:36.408-06:00

I suppose that I will be forevermore plagued with the sick expectation that sermons preached about pride, narcissism, egocentrism, selfishness, and other related behaviors and outlooks will reference my book Deliver Us from Me-Ville--this despite several instances of frustration to date when preachers have failed to reference it. But the topic still holds my attention, three years after the

David Zimmermanhttps://profiles.google.com/110640138399426078059noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19897950.post-75354872721987526742011-11-06T08:25:00.001-06:002011-11-06T08:25:24.052-06:00

A Cure for Gravity: A Musical Pilgrimage by Joe Jackson My rating: 4 of 5 stars Some of my friends probably wouldn't buy it, but I was a pretty melancholy kid. Stuff affected me pretty heavily, from the offhand comments of kids and adults who didn't know they were being mean to the scenes from movies that didn't know they were being poignant. My melancholy extended to music and particularly music

David Zimmermanhttps://profiles.google.com/110640138399426078059noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19897950.post-115604416780778672011-11-02T19:06:00.000-05:002011-11-03T06:28:22.848-05:00

Every once in a while the song "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised" by the late great Gil Scott-Heron sneaks into the queue on my iTunes, and I'm taken immediately back to my American history class with Dr. Weiss, where I first heard it alongside "Street-Fighting Man" by the Rolling Stones as an example of late-sixties ennui. But along with the nostalgia is something of an apocalyptic vision of

David Zimmermanhttps://profiles.google.com/110640138399426078059noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19897950.post-52893162365308001592011-10-29T08:23:00.000-05:002011-10-29T08:23:14.591-05:00

I used to have this standing argument with a friend of mine. He always initiated it, probably because he's better at initiating arguments (I'm conflict-avoidant) and because he found my exasperation entertaining. The argument was, which is the true universal language: music or sports? I know, right? It's a no-brainer. Music is a universal language. Sports is just people running around,

David Zimmermanhttps://profiles.google.com/110640138399426078059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19897950.post-67308905455404815272011-10-27T08:00:00.000-05:002011-10-27T08:00:04.200-05:00

This is the third and final entry in a series of posts taken from a talk I wound up not giving at a men's retreat last weekend. The other two can be found below. Enjoy! *** That means that when we're at work, we're actually on mission. The life of a disciple is not removed from the context of a disciple. Where we live, move and have our being is the fertile ground in which our God has planted us,

David Zimmermanhttps://profiles.google.com/110640138399426078059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19897950.post-87780670834860644752011-10-25T07:54:00.000-05:002011-10-25T07:54:00.318-05:00

This past weekend I spoke three times at a men's retreat about discipleship, disillusionment and the things that make up a disciple's day. I junked my third talk in favor of talking further about some stuff that had come up with the guys, so I'm posting it in chunks here instead. Part one can be found below; here's part two. Part three is coming. *** We return to Peter, who’s been a helpful guide

David Zimmermanhttps://profiles.google.com/110640138399426078059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19897950.post-87882616999084075312011-10-23T07:47:00.001-05:002011-10-23T07:47:39.241-05:00

I spoke at a men's retreat this weekend. It was a small group of guys from a local church; I was at least their second choice for a speaker, but that didn't scare me off. I spoke about "a day in the life of a disciple" and focused on disllusionment as a portal to discipleship in the interior life, the intimate fellowship and the vocational life. Except that at the last minute I decided to junk my

David Zimmermanhttps://profiles.google.com/110640138399426078059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19897950.post-10132870815294625782011-10-08T10:24:00.001-05:002011-10-08T10:24:50.897-05:00

I'm rereading Life Together by theologian, pastor and martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer, in anticipation of a men's retreat I'm facilitating later this month. (If you're interested in attending, I think there's still some space. Go here for more information.) I find myself wondering if I would like Bonhoeffer as much as I do if he were living and writing today, as opposed to his prophetic ministry in

David Zimmermanhttps://profiles.google.com/110640138399426078059noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19897950.post-73710208131748070912011-10-02T07:03:00.000-05:002011-10-02T07:03:00.875-05:00

My friend Nate made this video promotion for my booklet. My friend Rachel Snavely acted in it. I stood around and watched. I hope you like it. The video is approximately one minute and forty-eight seconds long. For kicks try muting the video and playing a short song behind it. I particularly enjoyed "Being Around" by the Lemonheads, "That Someone Is You" by R.E.M., "Is That Your Zebra?" by

David Zimmermanhttps://profiles.google.com/110640138399426078059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19897950.post-4113512741606640672011-09-30T15:52:00.000-05:002011-09-30T15:52:05.676-05:00

The Life You Save May Be Your Own: An American Pilgrimage by Paul Elie My rating: 5 of 5 stars It's hard to communicate how very much I enjoyed this book. It took me forever to read, but that's partly because I didn't want to rush my way through it. On its face it's pretty innocuous--four Catholic writers from the mid-twentieth century and how their lives intersected--but the intersections are

David Zimmermanhttps://profiles.google.com/110640138399426078059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19897950.post-88087732255073738512011-09-24T07:19:00.000-05:002011-09-24T07:19:00.159-05:00

One of the disadvantages of publishing with your employer is that you have more access to information than is healthy for an author to have. I've published with InterVarsity Press before, with Comic Book Character, and this time I told myself I'd be more mature and respectful of the boundaries between author and publisher, put there for the benefit of both. So far I've done OK, although my

David Zimmermanhttps://profiles.google.com/110640138399426078059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19897950.post-56218726979704506462011-09-13T07:15:00.003-05:002011-09-13T07:21:31.375-05:00

I sort of stepped in it the other day. I happened to read an article by my friend Kent about the first day of school--Kent is the father of a new kindergartener and the codirector of Haiti Partners, which works primarily on education issues in Haiti--and thought it was good and poignant, so I retweeted it. (You can read the article here.) What got me into a muddle was my quoting Kent alongside

David Zimmermanhttps://profiles.google.com/110640138399426078059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19897950.post-35406001184228647572011-09-11T07:51:00.001-05:002011-09-11T07:51:00.497-05:00

"The streets of my town are not what they were . . . May we all find salvation in professions that heal . . ." This song by Shawn Colvin helped me in the wake of the attacks on the World Trade Center. I hope it helps you too.

David Zimmermanhttps://profiles.google.com/110640138399426078059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19897950.post-26273613305095509562011-09-04T09:37:00.000-05:002011-09-04T09:37:17.187-05:00

There's a scene in the movie Jerry Maguire where Jerry, a sports agent, is desperately fighting for a win for his fledgling new-paradigm agency on hand at the NFL draft. Client number one is on everybody's minds as the hottest thing going; client number two is Rod Tidwell, a hotheaded, self-impressed but underperforming lesser prospect. Jerry has obligations to both clients, but honestly, client

David Zimmermanhttps://profiles.google.com/110640138399426078059noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19897950.post-19529197737020485132011-08-30T07:59:00.001-05:002011-08-30T07:59:16.466-05:00

The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains by Nicholas G. Carr My rating: 3 of 5 stars Well, I finally did it. After a year of private grumbling and modest pushback against the devotees of Nick Carr's The Shallows, I finally read it for myself. I did so as an act of intellectual humility, in part, and to accommodate another act of intellectual humility--I had invited some Carrites to

David Zimmermanhttps://profiles.google.com/110640138399426078059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19897950.post-38428125416762092502011-08-27T11:45:00.000-05:002011-08-27T11:45:39.028-05:00

I think in paragraphs. I would like to think differently. Paragraphs are singular, linear thoughts. They begin and end with hard returns. They're completely self-contained and, certainly in the case of nonfiction, they're generally intended to isolate and direct the thinking of the reader. Meanwhile . . . Poets think in lines, in syllables, in phonetics. Musicians assign tones to words, so

David Zimmermanhttps://profiles.google.com/110640138399426078059noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19897950.post-7694388181916262032011-08-23T07:05:00.000-05:002011-08-23T07:05:44.030-05:00

Someone ought to write a novel or screenplay about this theory of technology, as described in Nicholas Carr's The Shallows. Maybe, in fact, someone already has: For centuries, historians and philosophers have traced, and debated, technology's role in shaping civilization. Some have made the case for what the sociologist Thorstein Veblen dubbed "technological determinism"; they've argued that

David Zimmermanhttps://profiles.google.com/110640138399426078059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19897950.post-9952465583813837832011-08-13T10:20:00.000-05:002011-08-13T10:20:57.529-05:00

I have a new cause I'm fighting for: an end to male-pattern exhibitionism. This, it seems to me, is among the more pressing concerns of our day, ranking alongside the imminent end of America's global economic domination (after which we'll have to settle for being the world's only remaining military superpower), the questionable nature of muppets Bert and Ernie's relationship (the best word I've

David Zimmermanhttps://profiles.google.com/110640138399426078059noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19897950.post-52508351678708971202011-08-09T19:16:00.000-05:002011-08-09T19:16:07.161-05:00

Papa's Blessings: The Gifts That Keep Giving by Greg Bourgond ***Full disclosure: The author sent me this book with the understanding that I would review it.*** I've never been into the men's movement. When I was fresh out of college, churches were going gaga over Promise Keepers, a nationwide movement and series of rallies designed to get men more active in their families and their churches.

David Zimmermanhttps://profiles.google.com/110640138399426078059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19897950.post-3348916913824183562011-08-06T16:44:00.000-05:002011-08-06T16:44:42.311-05:00

Bossypants by Tina Fey My rating: 3 of 5 stars My year of memoir/autobiography/biography continued with Bossypants by Tina Fey, which had been built up in my imagination more than most books are in any given year. Tina Fey is a lot like Barack Obama--young and impressive, accomplished and endearing, a kind of American story that people like to claim for America. In the first year of his

David Zimmermanhttps://profiles.google.com/110640138399426078059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19897950.post-45480554122851788922011-08-03T06:47:00.000-05:002011-08-03T06:47:17.394-05:00

From Bossypants: When I was a kid there was a TV interstitial during Saturday morning cartoons that went like this: "The most important person in the whole wide world is you, and you hardly even know you. / You're the most important person!" Is this not the absolute worst thing you could instill in a child? They're the most important person? In the world? That's what they already think. You need

David Zimmermanhttps://profiles.google.com/110640138399426078059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19897950.post-36914663122966261452011-07-31T09:06:00.000-05:002011-07-31T09:06:48.439-05:00

A Million Miles in a Thousand Years: What I Learned While Editing My Life by Donald Miller My rating: 4 of 5 stars It's been a while now since I've read a Donald Miller book. I read Blue Like Jazz long after it came out in order to figure out why everyone was freaking out over it. I enjoyed it, although I don't make a habit of reading memoir, so I don't think at the time I could rightly judge

David Zimmermanhttps://profiles.google.com/110640138399426078059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19897950.post-92154292954285528312011-07-27T19:11:00.000-05:002011-07-27T19:11:21.119-05:00

Bono: In Conversation with Michka Assayas by Michka Assayas My rating: 5 of 5 stars It's hard to communicate how thoroughly I appreciated this book. My wife (or was it my mother-in-law?) bought it for me about six years ago, but I didn't read it till the week before I saw U2's last US stop on their 360 tour, in Pittsburgh. Having just read up on Bono's theology, his philosophy of art, his

David Zimmermanhttps://profiles.google.com/110640138399426078059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19897950.post-3825005695414325052011-07-20T17:04:00.000-05:002011-07-20T17:04:01.725-05:00

This week I'm taking a voluntary seven-day fast from whistling. I managed to offend somebody at the grocery story over the weekend, merely by whistling, and while I think he was being overly sensitive (and yet, simultaneously, highly insensitive--weird), I thought it'd be a good challenge for me to refrain from whistling for a while--to track down why I so often, and so unconsciously, resort to

David Zimmermanhttps://profiles.google.com/110640138399426078059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19897950.post-79784972249383717932011-07-15T19:33:00.000-05:002011-07-15T19:33:29.382-05:00

The most memorable (and, in my mind, most legitimate) critique of my book Deliver Us from Me-Ville is how individualized the content is. Although there's a chapter on how God calls us together and the challenges that come with the call--not to mention the title of the book--on balance the book is a matter of personal spirituality, and at least one person called me on it. You'd think, then, that

David Zimmermanhttps://profiles.google.com/110640138399426078059noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19897950.post-37110154316428612582011-07-09T07:12:00.000-05:002011-07-09T07:12:57.183-05:00

I really think I need to just ask: what do you want in an author? By "you" I mean you, Mom, or whoever else is reading this blog. By "author" I'm slightly more specific, if only because I'm selfish: I acquire nonfiction books for a mainstream evangelical Christian publishing house, so it's helpful to me to know whom you're willing to throw down money and time to read mainstream evangelical

David Zimmermanhttps://profiles.google.com/110640138399426078059noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19897950.post-55612643377507729652011-07-07T17:32:00.000-05:002011-07-07T17:32:09.470-05:00

I had two completely different conversations in one day. That’s actually a rarity for me; I spend eight hours a day at a job that fits me to a T, talking to a relatively closed set of people (they all orbit a common faith statement, and most of them went to Wheaton College). So when people go in utterly different directions, I tend to sit up and take notice. I guess I shouldn’t say “utterly” or

David Zimmermanhttps://profiles.google.com/110640138399426078059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19897950.post-46369023667875589132011-06-28T07:48:00.001-05:002011-06-28T13:28:43.968-05:00

I've never been to Greenbelt, the famed nearly-forty-year-old British festival of faith, justice and creativity. I've heard countless friends tell me how awesome it is, strongly suggesting I go, but I've never gone. So it's existed to date only in my imagination. But last week, after ten years of talking and planning and organizing, Greenbelt came to the United States in the form of the Wild

David Zimmermanhttps://profiles.google.com/110640138399426078059noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19897950.post-40859994680540781062011-06-12T08:45:00.000-05:002011-06-12T08:45:39.673-05:00

Of all the passages of Scripture I've been pointed to over the years, Acts 2 must be among the most frequently pointed-to. I've interacted regularly with people who have longed to rediscover the "Acts 2" church--that church described in verses 42-47, who pooled all their resources and curried the favor of all the people. Those folks (and I with them) always skipped past what makes up the bulk

David Zimmermanhttps://profiles.google.com/110640138399426078059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19897950.post-76100163652219017402011-06-11T09:13:00.000-05:002011-06-11T09:13:34.822-05:00

Twenty-five years ago today, my life changed forever. That was the day that Ferris Bueller's Day Off was released in theaters. I almost certainly didn't see it that day. I'm usually behind the curve on film releases. But lots of people did see it, including most likely the woman who sat in front of me in the theater the first time I saw it. The credits were rolling; Principal Rooney had already

David Zimmermanhttps://profiles.google.com/110640138399426078059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19897950.post-48607929005254565032011-06-08T08:08:00.000-05:002011-06-08T08:08:40.154-05:00

Last night Wayne, a homeless guy in the Western Suburbs of Chicago, was once again tried and found guilty of being annoying and weird. And so, as punishment, someone took all his stuff and threw it in a dumpster. I have a good idea who did it, but I have no idea what to do about it. For whatever reason, the guy I suspect--who's among the friendlier folks at the shelter, and who has had my back

David Zimmermanhttps://profiles.google.com/110640138399426078059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19897950.post-75125161559853754142011-05-26T07:54:00.000-05:002011-05-26T07:54:47.362-05:00

A lot has been written in recent months about Rob Bell, author of the controversial book Love Wins, which I have not read and which for the purposes of this post it's not necessary to have read. In Love Wins (or the anagram some of its critics might make of it, "Evil's Now") Bell explores the complex and controversial notion of hell as a place of eternal conscious punishment, juxtaposed with the

David Zimmermanhttps://profiles.google.com/110640138399426078059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19897950.post-27215563169766899982011-05-21T08:57:00.000-05:002011-05-21T08:57:09.168-05:00

I've had one "get right with God" moment in my life. I was on a plane, flying into New York, at an age when I didn't pay attention to details such as which airport. All I know is we were over water and on our descent, and it was windy--terrifyingly windy. The pilot veered this way and that, like he was swordfighting the elements. I was sure we were going to crash into the Hudson River. And I made

David Zimmermanhttps://profiles.google.com/110640138399426078059noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19897950.post-92099468567751730562011-05-19T13:00:00.002-05:002011-05-19T13:00:01.504-05:00

Earlier today I had the chance to visit the home office of Awana, a program designed to introduce children to the Bible. I let some people know I was going, and they went gaga--people who have experienced Awana are crazy fans of it. Awana ("Approved Workmen Are Not Ashamed," drawing from 2 Timothy 2:15) is a Chicago original. The model for Awana's Bible-based youth outreach was developed in the

David Zimmermanhttps://profiles.google.com/110640138399426078059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19897950.post-24831948637375687602011-05-17T06:20:00.000-05:002011-05-17T06:20:11.900-05:00

I've always felt conflicted about supergroups. They always look good on paper, and yet they never quite live up to the hype. I shouldn't say "never," since the occasional supergroup song is honestly super: I heard Asia's "Heat of the Moment" the other day and was instantly transported back to my childhood, when I was wholly prepared to become a rock drummer. Asia wasn't just a rock group; it

David Zimmermanhttps://profiles.google.com/110640138399426078059noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19897950.post-49440211133408095042011-05-14T08:23:00.000-05:002011-05-14T08:23:20.562-05:00

I sometimes indulge in the relatively sick pleasure of "playing with Scripture." I picked up this habit from Peter Rollins, an Irish theologian who does it quite a bit better than I do in his books The Fidelity of Betrayal and The Orthodox Heretic (his other books are focused on other things). Anyway, even Peter Rollins is only one in a tradition of playing with Scripture that is perhaps best

David Zimmermanhttps://profiles.google.com/110640138399426078059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19897950.post-24478423098841909592011-05-10T07:50:00.000-05:002011-05-10T07:50:10.452-05:00

Next week I'm giving a talk/interview at Awana next week. An old friend asked me to come and discuss my book Deliver Us from Me-Ville, and its implications for the work Awana does (put simply, child spiritual formation). I don't know much about raising kids, not having any myself, so it'll be a bit of an uphill climb. I can use all the help I can get. So lately I've been reading The Narcissism

David Zimmermanhttps://profiles.google.com/110640138399426078059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19897950.post-55337453013259065682011-05-02T07:49:00.000-05:002011-05-02T07:49:55.012-05:00

When I was a kid (I don't recall what year) my class was visited by a retired CIA agent. I think he had written a book or something. He was regaling us with stories of failed assassination attempts against Cuban dictator Fidel Castro. Maybe I was a lazy student, but I still know precious little about Castro and all his crimes against America; from what I can tell, our beef with him is that (a) he

David Zimmermanhttps://profiles.google.com/110640138399426078059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19897950.post-17880337448185976562011-04-24T07:45:00.000-05:002011-04-24T07:45:27.060-05:00

In my last post, most excellent theophilae, I recalled the destruction of Jerusalem, lamented by the prophet Jeremiah. That was a sad day for the people of God - one of far too many, in my opinion. We might just as easily recall the theft of the tabernacle by the Philistines, the civil war led by the son of King David, the enslavement in Egypt, the expulsion from the Garden of Eden. The story of

David Zimmermanhttps://profiles.google.com/110640138399426078059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19897950.post-5159782738427908312011-04-22T09:14:00.000-05:002011-04-22T09:14:34.261-05:00

Churches come and go, I guess. Along my commute to work there used to be what looked like a stuffy old conventional fundamentalist church. It had, apparently, bought land at just the right moment, and the town grew up around it. That stuffy old conventional fundamentalist church has since been replaced by a hip new marketing-savvy church looking to make a a big splash in our community. They hang

David Zimmermanhttps://profiles.google.com/110640138399426078059noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19897950.post-2152719027204790462011-04-19T21:08:00.002-05:002011-04-19T21:09:44.590-05:00

I'm nearly finished with Higher Than Hope, an official biography of Nelson Mandela published toward the end of his imprisonment at the hands of the South African government. Most of the biography has been political history, detailing the Mandelas' struggle and the broader fight to overturn apartheid,but now that I'm approaching the end the book has shifted to annotated excerpts of correspondence,

David Zimmermanhttps://profiles.google.com/110640138399426078059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19897950.post-599973997283915332011-04-12T07:38:00.000-05:002011-04-12T07:38:57.978-05:00

I'm reading the authorized biography of Nelson Mandela, written while Mandela was still imprisoned in South Africa: Higher Than Hope by Fatima Meer. At this point I'm reading transcripts from Mandela's statement during the trial that would send him to prison for decades. Mandela was being accused of being a communist, of fomenting violence, of all sorts of crimes. He wasn't a communist, but he

David Zimmermanhttps://profiles.google.com/110640138399426078059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19897950.post-50729411518968736022011-04-04T06:23:00.000-05:002011-04-04T06:23:17.778-05:00

My wife and I celebrated twenty years as a couple this past weekend, so we thought we'd revisit our old haunts. It was fun to see the places that had been so significant to our early relationship, to stay at the hotel that twenty years ago I had considered a benchmark for future success. Funny how the young adult mind works. Sometimes I wonder if we would have met if our circumstances had been

David Zimmermanhttps://profiles.google.com/110640138399426078059noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19897950.post-44205209950656812552011-04-01T06:03:00.000-05:002011-04-01T06:03:19.410-05:00

Last month at my other blog (which I share with three people) was "March Music Madness": we took turns blogging about songs and artists who get in our heads and linger. Turns out I really like to write about such things; I wrote eight of the ten entries. It wound up being mostly a nostalgia trip for me; I mined the backlist for songs and albums, and reflected on the first time I heard the song or

David Zimmermanhttps://profiles.google.com/110640138399426078059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19897950.post-26099787381461436422011-03-26T13:16:00.000-05:002011-03-26T13:16:55.781-05:00

I've been reading Mark Twain's autobiography, in which he strives to be fearlessly frank in his representations of the people and practices of his era. I just read this morning about the new phenomenon in his day of "author readings," generally whole afternoons given to a steady flow of authors reading from their recent works. Twain describes it the way a citizen of London might some forty years

David Zimmermanhttps://profiles.google.com/110640138399426078059noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19897950.post-78647089510070156452011-03-24T07:30:00.001-05:002011-03-24T07:36:44.599-05:00

Today, without warning, I was thrust into a Def Leppard kick. You may recall Def Leppard, a new-wave rock band out of England in the late 1970s who were ultimately tossed in with the hair-metal crowd in the 1980s, experienced a brief return to the top in the early 1990s, performed with Taylor Swift in the 2000s, and are still touring and recording today. This morning two friends had referenced

David Zimmermanhttps://profiles.google.com/110640138399426078059noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19897950.post-6764346627542803782011-03-22T06:24:00.000-05:002011-03-22T06:24:58.567-05:00

Rumor has it that, after all the hullabaloo, Charlie Sheen is in negotiation to return to Two and a Half Men this fall. I have one thing to say to that: Whatchoo talkin' 'bout, Willis? It's shocking to the point of scandalous, given all that's been said, that anyone on either side of the Charlie Sheen/CBS debacle would return to the table. But it's one thing Charlie said, and the way he said it

David Zimmermanhttps://profiles.google.com/110640138399426078059noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19897950.post-11268965420746991112011-03-20T18:59:00.000-05:002011-03-20T18:59:59.129-05:00

I like my job, in case you're wondering. I get to meet a lot of activists, people who organize and direct other people's efforts at making the world a better place. I get to interact with them as they try to translate what they've learned, in book form, for a broader network of people. I get a front-row seat, as their editor, for the stories that have been most seminal to them in their work, for

David Zimmermanhttps://profiles.google.com/110640138399426078059noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19897950.post-51907294385517606602011-03-13T13:06:00.002-05:002011-03-14T06:36:45.511-05:00

I think I've gotten past the point where I attach my book Deliver Us from Me-Ville to every public acknowledgment or manifestation of the culture of narcissism. It started to seem a little desperate. And besides, I'm now in the mode of attaching my forthcoming booklet The Parable of the Unexpected Guest (great for individual reading and group discussion!) to public acknowledgments or

David Zimmermanhttps://profiles.google.com/110640138399426078059noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19897950.post-40703524878376158792011-03-06T17:34:00.000-06:002011-03-06T17:34:25.316-06:00

Friday night I was bored, and my wife had other plans, and I found out about a free public session of a missions conference in my area. So I went. I went by myself, which I thought was a little weird, but whatever. Fortunately I ran into someone I know, and I glommed on to the group he brought from his church. Made it a much better night--thanks, Mark! The conference was OK, I think: probably

David Zimmermanhttps://profiles.google.com/110640138399426078059noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19897950.post-7687641383386010372011-03-01T07:41:00.000-06:002011-03-01T07:41:52.706-06:00

I'm giving a talk later this week to some college students in Joliet. It's one installment in a series of "big questions"--all the usual cosmic suspects. Mine is "Can't We All Get Along?" And I'm having a hard time with it. I came to the realization this morning that this week's perplexity is only the most recent example of a common (not quite universal) trend in my communication: I get about 75

David Zimmermanhttps://profiles.google.com/110640138399426078059noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19897950.post-67779354684561284942011-02-23T16:48:00.000-06:002011-02-23T16:48:59.558-06:00

A friend of mine has a mantra that serves as a tagline to his blog and, I presume, a verbal escape valve: "Whatever you do," I picture him muttering under breath, "there will be critics." I've stolen that idea from him on numerous occasions--not for personal profit, but rather to talk my blood pressure down during times when I've felt misunderstood, misrepresented, even betrayed by people who

David Zimmermanhttps://profiles.google.com/110640138399426078059noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19897950.post-42729313988582026862011-02-15T07:03:00.000-06:002011-02-15T07:03:36.600-06:00

I was so pumped to watch the Grammies that I just plopped down and did it--twenty-two hours after the fact. That's the reality we live in, a reality in which live broadcasting can, through the technological marvel known as "digital video recording," still be asynchronous communication. I learned the term "asynchronous communication" from Lynne Baab, whose book Friending is inching toward

David Zimmermanhttps://profiles.google.com/110640138399426078059noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19897950.post-65054218567403841592011-02-10T07:43:00.000-06:002011-02-10T07:43:06.540-06:00

I was reading the second chapter of the apostle Paul's letter to Titus this morning (because I read the Bible--do, dap, dippity) when I found myself in the throes of a crisis. I could go with this: Encourage the young men to live wisely.Or I could go with that: Teach the older men to exercise self-control, to be worthy of respect, and to live wisely. They must have sound faith and be filled

David Zimmermanhttps://profiles.google.com/110640138399426078059noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19897950.post-84362553025962860392011-02-04T07:42:00.003-06:002011-02-04T07:42:00.269-06:00

My friend Tony Melton has a goal for 2011: to get to Ethiopia. To that end he's written a "blook" (work with me here) to raise funds. The title of the blook? Buy This Book So I Can Go to Ethiopia. It's that kind of plainspoken, lighthearted craziness that makes people love Tony. Below you'll see him at his plainspoken, lighthearted, crazy best, talking about the book, the trip, and the thrill of

David Zimmermanhttps://profiles.google.com/110640138399426078059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19897950.post-92099876681906931742011-02-03T07:49:00.000-06:002011-02-03T07:49:35.864-06:00

Once upon a time I was looking to change jobs, so I sought career advice from a fellow who'd achieved senior status in our industry. I told him my deal: I have roots where I live, but the other places I'd be interested in working are elsewhere. His advice: Be willing to go where God might want you. He was probably right, but I find it interesting that you rarely hear career advice to the tune

David Zimmermanhttps://profiles.google.com/110640138399426078059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19897950.post-24140474607059213902011-02-02T09:43:00.000-06:002011-02-02T09:43:23.222-06:00

For the past couple of years I've crashed a party in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, hosted by Tony and Bart Campolo. They've brought people together as "Red Letter Christians," a phrase that sparks some controversy among some students of the Bible. The questions emerge pretty quickly, filtering down essentially to one: Well then, what about the black letters of the Bible? "Red letters" and "black

David Zimmermanhttps://profiles.google.com/110640138399426078059noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19897950.post-63178283373997258412011-01-28T08:55:00.000-06:002011-01-28T08:55:09.575-06:00

I have a poem (of sorts) posted to my column at Burnside Writers Collective, "Becoming the Great Us." Here's the first stanza of "The Song We Were Made to Sing": Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. One that diminishes hatred and crescendos love. One that fills the backbeat of every injury with pardon. One that harmonizes every doubt with a root note of faith. One that puts despair to rest

David Zimmermanhttps://profiles.google.com/110640138399426078059noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19897950.post-66741313544868161162011-01-26T07:42:00.000-06:002011-01-26T07:42:03.668-06:00

So, yesterday I posted about Rahm Emmanuel's complicated bid to become Chicago's mayor. I was making a comment about Chicago politics, how the city has a reputation for running not so much as a democracy but as a machine, operated by people who admittedly love Chicago but are not overly constrained by the nagging details of constitutionality. This reputation goes far, far back and is not isolated

David Zimmermanhttps://profiles.google.com/110640138399426078059noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19897950.post-20737135964663696422011-01-25T07:52:00.000-06:002011-01-25T07:52:54.602-06:00

I don't get a vote in the Chicago mayoral race. I live in the suburbs, and while my prosperity is in many ways caught up in Chicago's, I rightfully don't participate in the democratic process there. I leave that to the people who claim a Chicago residential address--people like Rahm Emmanuel. Of course, Emmanuel's claim of a Chicago residential address is in dispute these days, and that's a

David Zimmermanhttps://profiles.google.com/110640138399426078059noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19897950.post-36428872226773217082011-01-22T09:19:00.000-06:002011-01-22T09:19:01.281-06:00

My uncle Pete (who may be Loud Time's only reader) called me last night to let me know that my URL is broken. Why I'm blogging about it is a mystery, but I do want to let you know, Pete (and whoever else might be reading this), that I'm working on a solution. In the meantime, you may want to make your life easier by changing your shortcuts to http://loud-time.blogspot.com Sorry for the

David Zimmermanhttps://profiles.google.com/110640138399426078059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19897950.post-73649911154755854642011-01-20T15:54:00.002-06:002011-01-20T16:30:48.948-06:00

In the current reading climate, books that confront the status quo are often strategically overlooked in favor of books that are "safe for the whole family" or some other category of innocuousness. Given the choice between reading a book that makes us feel comfortable and one that makes us feel uncomfortable, we'll more often than not choose comfort. It's the books that make us uncomfortable,

David Zimmermanhttps://profiles.google.com/110640138399426078059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19897950.post-827120927771475202011-01-17T07:09:00.000-06:002011-01-17T07:09:10.372-06:00

A brief reflection on time, taken from a letter from Martin Luther King Jr. to white clergy, on the occasion of his arrest and imprisonment in Birmingham, Alabama, for "parading without a permit" in an effort to end legal segregation in that city. For the full text of the letter (which I read once a year, every year--a practice I recommend wholeheartedly), click here. Human progress never rolls

David Zimmermanhttps://profiles.google.com/110640138399426078059noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19897950.post-50497855598096665252011-01-15T09:49:00.000-06:002011-01-15T09:49:54.600-06:00

When I turned thirty I happened to be reading The Brothers Karamazov, which includes a melancholy reflection about turning thirty. I archived it for myself; it struck me as a gloomy though largely accurate forecast for the first day of the rest of my life. Thirty often gives men of letters pause, it seems. Dostoyevsky couldn't leave it be; neither could Michael Stipe of REM: "I can't see myself

David Zimmermanhttps://profiles.google.com/110640138399426078059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19897950.post-12678665020995522122011-01-14T06:29:00.000-06:002011-01-14T06:29:13.953-06:00

Last week at a "Strengths Essentials" workshop with many of my coworkers, we were asked to think of what our dream job would be. I hate questions like that in moments like that. I suddenly go blank and default to what I'm doing right now. It may be a question only for people at crisis points--fresh out of college, laid off, in the throes of a mid- or quarter-life crisis. But you can't not answer

David Zimmermanhttps://profiles.google.com/110640138399426078059noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19897950.post-81125441966038123012011-01-06T05:22:00.002-06:002011-01-10T06:03:48.143-06:00

Lights come up and we see three kings outside a hut. Balthazar (B), Melchior (M) and Caspar (C) have traveled far, with great expectations driving them forward. This place, the home of Joseph (J) and Mary, is not what they anticipated, not what their research and the corroborating evidence of King Herod's advisors, have led them to expect. This brief moment has all the markings of epiphany--a

David Zimmermanhttps://profiles.google.com/110640138399426078059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19897950.post-6306816658009703132011-01-01T09:09:00.000-06:002011-01-01T09:09:21.951-06:00

For those of us whose strength and courage and hope and joy have been eroded by a year of financial distress, natural disaster, human error, wars and rumors of war, let this song, recorded thirteen years ago now by Alanis Morissette, be your remedial resolution: That I would be good even if I did nothing That I would be good even if I got the thumbs down That I would be good if I got and stayed

David Zimmermanhttps://profiles.google.com/110640138399426078059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19897950.post-90581831568941444382011-01-01T05:03:00.002-06:002011-01-01T05:03:00.103-06:00

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love. Where there is injury, pardon. Where there is doubt, faith. Where there is despair, hope. Where there is darkness, light. Where there is sadness, joy. O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console; to be understood, as to understand; to be loved, as to love. For it is in giving

David Zimmermanhttps://profiles.google.com/110640138399426078059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19897950.post-90504801233827583932010-12-31T07:36:00.002-06:002010-12-31T07:36:00.114-06:00

I’ve always assumed that destiny—my destiny, your destiny, our destiny—is out there, out front, down the road a bit and around the corner. Destiny isn’t; destiny will be. I’ve always assumed that destiny was a future event that we aspired to. And in a sense I suppose that makes sense: destiny has the same etymology as destination, after all. But lately I’ve been wondering whether I have placed

David Zimmermanhttps://profiles.google.com/110640138399426078059noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19897950.post-84092655619513589172010-12-29T18:51:00.001-06:002011-01-03T10:04:27.638-06:00

Paul McCartney has had a pretty good 2010. His Beatles catalogue was finally made available on iTunes; his post-Beatles discography is being remastered and re-released; he was awarded the Gershwin Prize for Popular Song by President Obama; he was honored alongside Oprah Winfrey and other artists by the Kennedy Center; even a street he once walked on in his bare feet is now a landmark protected by

David Zimmermanhttps://profiles.google.com/110640138399426078059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19897950.post-48783537932366950722010-12-27T10:16:00.000-06:002010-12-27T10:16:50.273-06:00

I keep track of what I read--I use that "Living Social" service somehow connected to Facebook to log books I'm reading, books I've read, books I want to read. I adopted the service sort of on a whim; I'm reasonably certain that there are better alternative services, with more utility at least. But in any case, I've found it useful and, at times, gratifying to be able to click on a button

David Zimmermanhttps://profiles.google.com/110640138399426078059noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19897950.post-44835538022025897852010-12-25T06:22:00.002-06:002010-12-25T06:22:00.397-06:00

This very nearly made me cry the first time I saw it. From the creative minds at Improv Everywhere. Merry Christmas from Loud Time.Guerilla Handbell Strikeforce

David Zimmermanhttps://profiles.google.com/110640138399426078059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19897950.post-71565123557549873312010-12-24T05:28:00.000-06:002010-12-24T05:28:00.443-06:00

City sidewalks, busy sidewalks (O little town of Bethlehem)Dressed in holiday style. (How still we see thee lie.)In the air there’s a feeling of Christmas. (Above thy deep and dreamless sleep, the silent stars go by.)People passing, children laughing, (Yet in thy dark streets shineth)Meeting smile after smile. (The everlasting light)And on every street corner you hear . . . (The hopes

David Zimmermanhttps://profiles.google.com/110640138399426078059noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19897950.post-43382496177113609792010-12-22T12:11:00.002-06:002010-12-22T13:01:33.182-06:00

Former Illinois Governor George Ryan is still in prison. He was denied his request for a new trial, based on changes to "Honest Services" laws imposed by the Supreme Court, and to be allowed to live free during the retrial to attend to his dying wife. The details of Ryan's conviction are complex, amounting to abuse of office while he was Illinois Secretary of State that resulted (somewhat

David Zimmermanhttps://profiles.google.com/110640138399426078059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19897950.post-30183827101238561502010-12-20T06:28:00.002-06:002010-12-20T07:25:44.546-06:00

This morning Jud "Fabio" Birza will collect a check for $1 million, thanks to his ability to "outwit, outplay, outlast" twenty people in the Nicaraguan rainforest. I'm happy for Fabio; as the season unfolded he became my pick to win--not because I thought he had the goods to pull it off, but because he was the least onerous of twenty seemingly irredeemably onerous people. I knew we were in

David Zimmermanhttps://profiles.google.com/110640138399426078059noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19897950.post-25615573673714854102010-12-19T08:15:00.000-06:002010-12-19T08:15:00.223-06:00

Over the Rhine wrote "The Trumpet Child" as a riff on the future coming of Christ. Here's the song being performed (not by OTR) at a church; lyrics (from Over the Rhine's website) follow beneath.The trumpet child will blow his hornWill blast the sky till it’s rebornWith Gabriel’s power and Satchmo’s graceHe will surprise the human raceThe trumpet he will use to blowIs being fashioned out of

David Zimmermanhttps://profiles.google.com/110640138399426078059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19897950.post-57545459835911048132010-12-12T08:19:00.005-06:002010-12-12T08:27:05.955-06:00

It’s not unreasonable, I think, to consider the best art a sort of blood sacrifice. I hate to draw attention to all the popular songs with lyrics referencing the loss of blood, because I know people for whom such lyrics trigger awful things, but trust me they are many. Maybe the best example of what I’m getting at is a line from Red Smith about the art of writing: “All you do is sit down at a

David Zimmermanhttps://profiles.google.com/110640138399426078059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19897950.post-66168927391072499482010-12-08T07:08:00.000-06:002010-12-08T07:08:06.143-06:00

Thirty years ago, John Lennon was shot dead. Forty-one years ago he wrote the following, with Yoko Ono (and during the time that he shared all writing credits with Paul McCartney).Ev'rybody's talkin' 'boutBagism, Shagism, Dragism, Madism, Ragism, TagismThis-ism, that-ism, ism ism ismAll we are saying is give peace a chanceEv'rybody's talkin' 'boutMinister, Sinister, Banisters and Canisters,

David Zimmermanhttps://profiles.google.com/110640138399426078059noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19897950.post-141858097080350252010-12-05T08:36:00.003-06:002010-12-05T09:02:45.508-06:00

For the second Sunday of Advent, the lectionary calls for a reading from the Gospel of Matthew. Here Matthew designates John the Baptist as "a voice" foretold by the prophet Isaiah, "calling out in the wilderness, 'Prepare the way for the Lord.'" If I were to make a musical out of Advent, I think my pick for the role of John would be Bob Dylan. Dylan has in recent years been cast as many things,

David Zimmermanhttps://profiles.google.com/110640138399426078059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19897950.post-44359352164709780912010-12-04T08:42:00.003-06:002010-12-04T09:26:52.888-06:00

Let me first make a commitment: not every "dangerbook" I review will be one that I edited. I'm not so naive as to think I, who live in relative comfort and who rarely venture outside my home, let alone into discomfort of any kind, might be thought of as a "dangereditor." But I have found particular gratification in the editorial process on those books that challenge me, and so I freely admit that

David Zimmermanhttps://profiles.google.com/110640138399426078059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19897950.post-26213085887965889152010-11-28T09:03:00.007-06:002010-11-28T10:05:28.778-06:00

Bless me, Blogger, for I have sinned. It has been sixteen days since my last blog post. I'm finding it increasingly difficult to come up with stuff to write about on a consistent basis. That's a problem for me, since I desperately want to be known as a writer.I think I figured that out about myself pretty early on. My first creative writing assignment (at least the one I canonize as first in my

David Zimmermanhttps://profiles.google.com/110640138399426078059noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19897950.post-25936572550276281782010-11-12T12:51:00.002-06:002010-11-12T12:55:48.761-06:00

I never see it coming.I'm always surprisedTo look down and see petals,To look up and see death.This thing of beauty, now necrotic--I'm always surprised, butIt shouldn't surprise me, forSuch is the end of all the living.And not only that:I should have seen it comingBecause the flowers I see most readilyAre the flowers that die by my own hand—In what I have done,And what I have failed to do. My

David Zimmermanhttps://profiles.google.com/110640138399426078059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19897950.post-57967906156584502132010-11-08T15:03:00.004-06:002010-11-08T17:46:50.671-06:00

Instead of adding chairs to the table of permanent UN Security Council members, I’d like to offer what I think is a more efficient proposal: end the era of permanent seats. This will never happen, by the way. Having only two people in my semi-sovereign household and having only negligible geopolitical value to the five governments that hold veto power over any UN action, I don’t get a say.

David Zimmermanhttps://profiles.google.com/110640138399426078059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19897950.post-23142665953699933872010-11-03T19:33:00.007-05:002010-11-03T20:30:18.886-05:00

I got two problems. Problem a: I keep running out of ideas to post. Problem 2: I got books to promote. I work for a publisher, and I edit a lot of people who over the course of the publishing process become friends. Selling your own book can be tough; you need all the help you can get. So I have these friends in need, and I have this blog in need, and I think they can help each other.So, without

David Zimmermanhttps://profiles.google.com/110640138399426078059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19897950.post-72990601270664865422010-11-01T19:07:00.002-05:002010-11-01T19:45:07.744-05:00

This past Sunday at worship I bumped into a guy I've met a number of times. I said "Hi." He said, "Do I know you?"Apparently he didn't know me, but I knew him. I recognized him even though he was wearing a bloody hockey mask and carrying a bloody machete. (I'm assuming it was a Halloween costume, but in all honesty I don't know him very well.) I, on the other hand, was dressed in almost exactly

David Zimmermanhttps://profiles.google.com/110640138399426078059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19897950.post-1929680864938173132010-10-28T07:34:00.003-05:002010-10-28T07:42:46.988-05:00

We’ve hit that point in the election cycle where I’ve become sorely tired of campaign commercials. Most of my voting decisions are, I’ll admit, this year being made based on superficial factors: no to the guy who had his own theme song written, no to the guy who does a bad Obama impression, yes to the guy who doesn’t stand a chance. (Apparently women in my district don’t run for political office.

David Zimmermanhttps://profiles.google.com/110640138399426078059noreply@blogger.com1