1. Yesterday I drove through a part of town where all the houses and streets look ideal. The sidewalks were covered in former frat boys and sculpted moms pushing expensive strollers. I felt judged. And it dawned on me that others may feel the same driving on my street.
2. It is hard for me to see someone as a victim if they have a PR firm telling me they are a victim.
3. After more than five long years, we finally have another book by Mary Karr. There are not many memoirs who avoid writing about people they don’t like. She does it because she sees herself as her biggest problem. If you know her story, you’ll understand how amazing that is.
4. Just over a month left of baseball and there aren’t enough documentaries to get us through winter.
5. I’m not a pacifist. But I still think American Christians are too comfortable with violence. Too enthralled with it as entertainment. Too easy with it as sport.
6. Something doesn’t smell right about the Muslim student getting arrested after bringing a homemade clock to school. It’s too perfect.
7. I listened to an interview with Mary Karr about her new book while running this morning. You would’ve thought the new book was about her relationship with David Foster Wallace since half the interview was about her relationship with David Foster Wallace. Of course, it was NPR.
8. Even though I really like my new job, I still pine to be at home with my wife after being gone for about an hour.
9. This week we saw what it looked like for a pastor to apologize for blowing it in how he handled a pedophile case in his church and how he treated the victim. Apologies are rarely perfect. They just seem to be rare.
10. My ungracious expectations of my kids doing really well in school are not only ironic but hypocritical.
Echoes and Stars 
Good comments Matt. Re number 1, I am originally from Minnesota. Minnesotans judge Wisconsinites and Iowans, and Wisconsinites judge Minnesotans. I am sure there is acrimony towards and from North and South Dakotans as well. Now that I live in Georgia, I see the judging here too. The government, liberals, anyone not baptist, straight, white, and conservative…are the favorite targets. Heard it’s worse next door in Alabama. Read on another blog how Oregonians had judgement towards Californians moving to Oregon.
Dan, I’m originally from Wisconsin. No comment š Thank you for your comments on football Matt. I recently had a discussion with a middle-aged OPC pastor who considers his college football team an example of God’s display of glory in the body of an athlete. Those same men are trying to advance to the NFL, which he will not watch because they play on Sundays. All I see are mangled bodies and damaged brains.