YA Saves

A recent Wall Street Journal article by Meghan Cox Gurdon has evoked a monsoon of articles and thoughts about the place, purpose and tone of Young Adult fiction. As someone who reads, researches about wants to write YA literature, I have been closely following the recent outpouring of support for "darker" YA. I don't know that I have time to write a full post on the subject. Instead, I'll link here to several articles--some written before the WSJ article, some written in response to it--that best portray the complexities of my current thoughts.

Tomorrow's Song - Jon Foreman's Twitter Contest

Been a long time since I've posted anything. But a twitter suggestion from Jon Foreman set something off in my head. Here's my entry for the "Tomorrow's Song" twitter contest. I'll edit this and post a video with the song when I get one ready.

Peter, A Polar Bear Poster and the Power of a Moment

I own a poster of a cuddly polar bear cub. It has travelled with me from my childhood home in Salt Lake City to my dorm room in Alma and now hangs on our bedroom door in Princeton. Some photographer caught the cub ambling forward from a black background, head hanging slightly, dark button eyes barely lifted from the ground. A nameless graphic designer cropped the photo so that the youngling would dominate the image, then wrapped a short piece of text around the bear’s back. The text reads: “Help me to remember, Lord, that nothing’s gonna happen today that you and I can’t handle together.”

A Brief Life Update

And now, for those interested, a life update.

Sarah and I still live in Princeton, NJ. I’m heading into my final year at Princeton Theological Seminary. I added a second masters to my degree program, so it’s taking me four years to graduate instead of three. When I walk down the aisle of the University Chapel next May I’ll have both an MDiv and a Master of Arts in Christian Education.

A Song-by-Song Review of Caedmon’s Call’s Raising Up the Dead

As a companion piece to my previous post – in which I described my history of interaction with Caedmon’s Call and gave a summary review of their new album Raising Up the Dead – this post will go through that album, song by song, reflecting upon the emerging themes (lyrical, musical, theological and other) that are most evident to me. I do not claim accuracy in my interpretation of the songwriters’ intent, nor can I even say that I have heard the lyrics correctly (I do not yet own the physical CD with lyric sheet). All that being said, I believe that the ability to speak in a very personal way to each listener is an indicator of well-written music. Hopefully my intuitions about the meanings and merits of each song are not too far afield from the original intent. Warning: your enjoyment and understanding of this post will of course depend greatly upon whether or not you have heard the album yourself. Without further ado (I’ve wanted to use that phrase for awhile), the review!