daily life as life goes on . . .

Accessibility and Humility. 

Put the two together and you have a pattern for effective ministry.

Oh yeah, ministry is service.

Service doesn’t happen without being there and being aware.

Two appointments this morning before the 9:30 hour chimed.

The first was a dental cleaning, the second a FaceTime visit with my mom at her care home.

Each meeting had a staff person present.  I’m convinced the staff are the glory of the institution.  Although they find that this is an unusual time – and even though they find themselves surrounded by a depressive and restrictive state – they are more than proficient at their jobs.

Which means I and my mother are well cared for.

Thanks, Thanks, Thanks!!!!!

A friend of mine died of old age.  While we have become accustomed to expect all deaths to be COVID deaths, this was not.  Life just ran out – played out – finished the course, or whatever metaphor you want to use.

I’ve been asked to officiate the funeral.   The immediate family wanted to be together.

Regulations mean no more than thirty can attend.  No paper bulletins handed out in the building.  Videoing the service for those who cannot attend is expected.  No food or drink served.  Masks for all.  Physical distancing.  A separate microphone for each speaker.  If you being something in, you take it out.  And that is probably just the first page of a list that we are all trying to follow.

Not what I would have expected a year ago.

A nuanced approach to research has me thinking. (For those of you who really find this type of thing tedious – stop now!)

Here is a quote I found in a recent article seeking to deal with the Trump era.  The authours are dealing with environmental data justice during that era. where the authours deal with environmental data justice. 

[As a librarian, here is the suggested citation for this article –  Lindsey Dillon, Rebecca Lave, Becky Mansfield, Sara Wylie, Nicholas Shapiro, Anita Say Chan & Michelle Murphy (2019) Situating Data in a Trumpian Era: The Environmental Data and Governance Initiative, Annals of the American Association of Geographers, 109:2,545-555, DOI:]

Here is the relevant quote: ‘. . .  ‘desire-based’  rather than ‘damage-centered’ research. Desire-based research does not pathologize communities by merely documenting harm; rather, it emphasizes capacities, multiplicities, and hope and actively works toward building a better world.”

As I understand the quote, we look for support in our research towards creating a better world. 

As a researcher over the years, I know that universal access to all information is impossible.  But even within the universe of available research data, the focus of the study determines what is acceptable and what is not.  Once the original focus is established, a determination of “desire based” research sharpens the acceptable research data base.  Is this the forming of a thesis for study that determines the direction of the research to the exclusion of data that would challenge that thesis?  (here is where I back up to acknowledge the use of “merely” in the above quote – thus my statement may be a little bit of overreach)

From another angle, reflecting back on my studies during library science days – is this censorship, responsible citizenship, reality, altruism, discrimination . . .?  All of the above??