Favorite books, essays, podcasts episodes, and more that I enjoyed in the month of April, plus recent cultural news that I’m paying attention to…
Books
MEDITATIONS FOR MORTALS BY OLIVER BURKEMAN
“We… feel that we need to get things done not only to achieve certain ends, or to meet our basic responsibilities to others, but because it’s a cosmic debt we’ve somehow incurred in exchange for being alive.”
It gobsmacks me every time. That we don’t need to earn the right to be alive. We don’t need to prove ourselves worthy of existence. In fact, the very reality of our existence is itself an affirmation. I just finished Oliver Burkeman’s Meditations for Mortals, and I’m grateful for the reminder that accepting our limits as humans opens up so many possibilities for humility, love, and grace.
NOVEL: TRUE BIZ BY SARA NOVIC
I enjoyed the story and learned a lot while reading this novel set in a boarding school for the Deaf. I didn’t know, for example, that ASL (American Sign Language) is exactly that: American Sign Language. In other words, Deaf members of other cultures have developed their own sign languages too. I’m kind of amazed by my ignorance about facts like this one, as well as the history of Deaf culture in the United States. The characters and plot are interesting and keep the book moving, but I also loved being invited into a different way of being in the world and learning so much.
NOVEL: YOU ARE HERE BY DAVID NICHOLLS
This novel is a lovely love story set in the English countryside. I don’t even know how to say more about it except that the characters are just so real and likeable and their story is carried along through beautiful writing.
MEMOIR: REBECCA SUE: A SISTER’S REFLECTIONS ON DISABILITY, FAITH, AND LOVE BY KATHLEEN NORRIS
As I wrote in my endorsement for this new memoir:
“Kathleen Norris has always written with embodied, honest, human faith. In Rebecca Sue, Norris brings her insight into the human condition to her relationship with her disabled younger sister. The result is an invitation for all readers to discover their own humanity and to glimpse the hidden hand of God in all things.”
Documentary
PBS: CHANGE, NOT CHARITY: THE AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT
This 53-minute documentary tells the story of how the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) was passed in 1990. There’s so much to say about this film, and I highly recommend it. It feels especially helpful right now in demonstrating how much the legislation around disability changes the place of the disabled within our society.
Podcasts
SERIES: THE EXODUS WAY
I’ve been reading through the Book of Exodus during this season of Lent, while also listening to the Bible Project’s recent podcast episodes about the exodus story as a pattern that repeats throughout both the Hebrew Bible and the Christian story. There’s so much I could say here, but the thing that has struck me the most is the way I tend to think of the story of the exodus as a story that moves from slavery to freedom, from oppression to the promised land. I skip the wilderness. I skip the desert, where the Israelites wandered for 40 years. But this time, I’m starting to see the wilderness as a very intentional—and even good—part of God’s plan for the people. It’s the place where they learn how to trust in God’s abundance. It’s the place where they receive the guidance of the Ten Commandments. It’s the place where they get scared and grumble and forget what they believe over and over again. Kind of like me. Most of us live in between the oppression of Pharaoh and the milk and honey of the promised land, and I’m starting to be grateful for life in the wilderness and the glimpses of God’s glory that I get to see here.
EPISODE: ‘OUR KIDS ARE THE LEAST FLOURISHING GENERATION WE KNOW OF’
Many of you have read Jonathan Haidt’s Anxious Generation, or at least you are familiar with his arguments about the problems of a phone-based childhood. I recommend this conversation with Ezra Klein because Klein pushed Haidt on a number of points, including the problems adults have with these devices and also the problem all of us face—not just the kids—when it comes to attention and living a good life.
EPISODE: 213: LESSONS FROM NETFLIX’S “ADOLESCENCE”
I have not watched the show Adolescence in its entirety, but Marilee and her friends are all talking about this hard story of a teenage boy accused of murdering a female classmate. The show has created buzz and sparked conversation because of the role of social media in the story and in the lives of our children. This podcast conversation with therapist Lisa Damour is a helpful guide to the show and why it matters. (And if you aren’t going to take six hours to watch the show, at least these 30 minutes will help you know what it’s about and why parents and kids are talking about it.)
EPISODE: THE BLESSING OF LIMITATIONS WITH KELLY KAPIC
I love the way Kelly Kapic reminds us of the gifts of our limitations.
EPISODE 94: YOU’RE MORE THAN YOUR MIND WITH DR. JOHN SWINTON
This episode is full of such rich, deep, pastoral goodness for any of us wrestling with what it means to be humans with vulnerable bodies and minds living in time. I think my very favorite moment was John Swinton’s comment that we think our stories construct our identities when actually: “It’s not so much our story that makes us who we are. It’s God’s story.” {GoodHard Story with Katherine Wolf}
EPISODE 294: WHY DOWN SYNDROME ISN’T SOMETHING TO “CURE”
I so appreciated this thoughtful conversation about what we are talking about when we talk about a “cure” for Down syndrome. And I can’t stop thinking about Heather Avis’ words at the end—that the hope is not for a cure for Down syndrome. Rather, our kids with Down syndrome are what bring hope. {Lucky Few podcast}
EPISODE: MAKING AS A SPIRITUAL PRACTICE WITH MAKOTO FUJIMURA
This beautiful Trinity Forum conversation got me thinking about how much we need to pay attention to beauty and goodness and love and truth right now, not as an escape or alternative to attending to the dehumanizing forces all around, but as a reason to hold onto hope and as a reason to engage those very forces.
Essays
THE ATLANTIC: “WHAT THE COMFORT CLASS DOESN’T GET”
I found this essay by Xochitl Gonzalez for the Atlantic really helpful in understanding the social divides we are experiencing in America right now: What the Comfort Class Doesn’t Get.
NYT: THE PANDEMIC IS NOT THE ONLY REASON U.S. STUDENTS ARE LOSING GROUND
I appreciated this exploration of why the kids who are struggling with math and reading in school aren’t seeing any meaningful improvements. (It’s more nuanced than Covid or smartphones, and it doesn’t have to be this way.)
NPR: DOGE ABRUPTLY CUT A PROGRAM FOR TEENS WITH DISABILITIES. THIS STUDENT IS ‘DEVASTATED’
Students with disabilities deserve support in imagining and taking steps towards a good future, but the Trump administration is cutting off funding for programs that provide such support. For the past eight years, we’ve been working with our daughter Penny on a plan for her future that includes going to college, having a job, and living with friends. Step by step, she’s moving towards those goals. And there’s no way she would be taking those steps without a web of support, including programs designed to help her with the transition from high school to employment. Penny’s program remains intact, but others like it are being cut.
THE ATLANTIC: THE BIGGEST SURPRISE ABOUT PARENTING WITH A DISABILITY
When we see disability as “brokenness,” we miss the ways it confounds our categories. Jessica Slice writes beautifully about how being disabled prepared her well for motherhood:
“I now believe that being disabled and learning from disability culture both prepared me for the challenges of early parenthood and ultimately set me up to be a more creative and flexible caregiver.”
NYT: WERE YOU RAISED IN A CHURCH THAT FEARS THE WORLD OR LOVES ITS NEIGHBORS?
I love the distinction David French makes between “fear-the world” churches and “love-your-neighbor” churches.
NYT: AMERICANS HAVEN’T FOUND A SATISFYING ALTERNATIVE TO RELIGION
As more and more researchers tell us that spirituality and religion are key to human flourishing, I’m wondering if (and hopeful that) churches will develop compelling ways to welcome the “nones”:
“America’s secularization was an immense social transformation. Has it left us better off? People are unhappier than they’ve ever been and the country is in an epidemic of loneliness. It’s not just secularism that’s to blame, but those without religious affiliation in particular rank lower on key metrics of well-being. They feel less connected to others, less spiritually at peace and they experience less awe and gratitude regularly.”
NYT: “KENNEDY DESCRIBED MY DAUGHTER’S REALITY”
I wrote a response to RFK Jr’s remarks about autism in which I said he misunderstands autism, disability, and what it means to be human. I continue to believe that rhetoric like his perpetuates false messages about disability that diminish and devalue any number of people who do not conform to “the norm.” Disabled lives—including those that exist far outside the norm—include love and purpose and beauty and joy and all sorts of possibility. But there’s another angle on the story—of autism, of disability, of humanity—that needs to be told. That’s the angle that includes hardship and suffering and pain and lament. This essay by Emily May captures the deep sadness and love experienced by parents who desperately want to help their children who have been diagnosed with autism.
Organization
SupportNow
SupportNow is a website that allows people experiencing some sort of need to provide updates and receive help of all sorts. It’s kind of like Meal Train, Gofundme, and Caringbridge all in one, but with better tech and also more options. For example, in addition to bringing a meal, receiving a health update, or helping with financial needs, people could sign up to give one of your kids a ride to practice or walk a dog or something like that.
Also on the site, they have a free database of grants for families who need support. You can search it by state and diagnosis and see whether anything is available.
For any family in need of support, this site has lower fees associated with it, provides a more comprehensive platform than any other site I know of, and combines more opportunities for support.
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