(xaris and shalom)

We were up on the top floor of the library, reading our periodicals for poli sci when I interrupted Fiona.  "This is a bad statistic," I said, and then realized that had been a poor way to word it.  I wasn't questioning its validity, just stating that it is a problem.  It's bad. "The average price of a human being today ," says researcher Kevin Bales, "is about $90."  That's the price averaged across the global market.  In North America, slaves go for between $3,000 to $8,000.  In India or Nepal, you can buy a human being for $5 to $10." So says the February edition of Sojourners  magazine. And so we talked about -- because we wonder about -- what on earth are we doing sitting on the third floor of the library, reading the news from all over the world and then writing reports on it when other people are being sold?  What's the purpose? And we didn't come to any firm answers, although we talked for a while longer and I will probably

I'm sitting upstairs in Skye Lounge, listening to Steve Garber speak. Did you hear that? Steve Garber . My parents gave me his book The Fabric of Faithfulness and I thought I was too young for it, not even going to college yet, and it was dense, pulling together pieces of pop culture and the Bible and classics and questions. But I waded through it -- probably more because I am stubborn than anything else -- and it was like Till We Have Faces , pieces of it nagging at the back of my mind. I don't think I could have been more than fifteen or sixteen. That gave me time to reread it, to let things percolate through the filter of my life. And it has been good. So it is a huge blessing to get to hear him speak. He began talking about Jon Stewart and Rush Limbaugh. Here's his summary. Jon Stewart: If you knew what I knew, you'd be cynical too. Rush Limbaugh: If you knew what I knew, you'd be angry too. And Garber asks, Can you know the world and still love the wo