Greetings, friends, and welcome to my eleventh digest! It's been a very interesting week in cyberspace (do people still say "cyberspace"?), and off cyberspace. I published two blog posts: one about my books, which had been sitting in my drafts for almost two months, and an event that transpired last weekend gave me the illustration I didn't know I needed to complete it; the other blog post commented more directly on said events, and as I said on Twitter, I really hope that's the last I will have to write on the person in question.

Also, in case you needed a little nudge: yes, my blog looks different! Charles made some tweaks and included in that is dark mode, which I am super excited about. Overall, I think everything is more easily consumed by the eyes through a screen. Let me know what you think.

I'm still job hunting, so if you have any leads, send them my way. (I'm not joking.)

Listening

C and I went to a baseball stadium to see The Who live Saturday night. Without knowing him, I probably wouldn't even know which songs were made by The Who except by complete accident. Even though I didn't know half of the songs they performed, I enjoyed myself, until an older middle-aged man threw his beer on the young woman in front of him for being a regular concert-goer.

The Who has been playing a lot in my head this week, and so has "Baby Shark" (for reasons that will only make sense to some people). Today, Kanye has apparently released an album titled Jesus is King, which, if I am honest with myself, will probably listen out of morbid curiosity. Kanye has been associating himself with John MacArthur by way of teaming up with a graduate of The Master's Seminary, who pastors a church closely affiliated with The Master's University. I want to know if his album alludes to any of his theological influences.

Podcasts

I am slowly starting to catch up! This week I have listened to four episodes of Faith and Capital (I've mentioned this one before, quite a few times, and still recommend it), and two episodes of Profane Faith, because it was a two-part with a cliffhanger! Seriously, though, you should listen to this conversation between Dr. Hodge and Andre Henry. I'm going to make it easy for you: It's Time to Leave all White Christian Orgs. Andre also has a podcast on anti-racism, Hope & Hard Pills, for which he currently needs financial support. If you like what you hear and read, you might consider helping out!

Reading

I'm still working on the same two books as last week, so nothing new there, sorry. But after you're done listening to "It's Time to Leave all White Christian Orgs", you can follow it up with Andre's piece, "A Case for the Ongoing Black Exodus from White Evangelicalism".

Consider reading this piece on how the FBI has historically targeted dissenters: "The FBI Has a Long History of Treating Political Dissent As Terrorism"

And when you are done with that one, here's a piece with a slightly different flavor. This is a very thoughtful piece on learning to read history through literature with an imaginative and empathetic outlook.

"Indeed, the horrible irony of an American evangelicalism that has become centered on rapture disappearances or on the imagined persecution of a totalitarian regime is that actual bodies, often the bodies of children, have been disappearing across Latin America for the past fifty years."

Read more: "When the Witnesses Are Gone: Rediscovering History Through Latin American Literature"

That's all for now! Why don't you tell me what you're up to?