Spring classes started up tonight, so it’s back to the rodeo for this cowboy. After last semester’s mind-grinding course-load I have decided to go a little easy this time and only take 6 hours. I am taking an advanced policy course titled Families & Poverty and the second part of the Research class (both of my regular readers will recall that this was the class that caused me nausea and headaches last semester). This semester promises not to be so bad, as the worst of the foundational material is behind us and we don’t meet as often, which hopefully will lead to less time spent dealing with Dr. Sunshine. I am actually looking forward to doing the research project. I can’t go into detail about it, this being the internet and all. Suffice to say my team and I will be studying the effectiveness of certain policies and interventions with the disabled population. If anyone is interested, I will share more as time and discretion allow.
The Families & Poverty course certainly looks interesting, based on the syllabus and the discussion that was already rolling along tonight. We are going to attempt to examine the multiple causes of and responses to poverty in the U.S. A big topic I know; but this professor is quite good (this is my 3rd course with her) and even the readings look provocative.
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Happy birthday to Carl Willis, who rocks.
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Michael Spencer, the Internet Monk, has a great post on what happens when believers try to out-theologize each other.
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This story from the Washington Post blew my mind and defies the notion that the age of miracles has passed.
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The two images below just busted me up. The first is from Letters from Kamp Krusty and the second is a promotional image for the upcoming film Step Brothers (ht: CHUD).
Have a great week!
Thans for the shoutout. That awesome picture is awesome.
Comment by carl — January 15, 2008 @ 1:37 pm |
Amazing story about the boy with the brain surgery! I wonder if that part of his brain just wasn’t working properly to begin with and the other parts of his brain developed to compensate for it; although, I do believe in miracles! (aka Bennett Speck and Lauren Schwamb!) I had a friend whose little girl had the very same problem. She was being treated by military doctors, but I guess the surgery hadn’t yet been tried. My friend just slowly watched her daughter not develop mentally. It was so sad for her family. I also taught a little boy who was having grand mal siezures every day, and I suggested to his parents that they change neurologists, so they did. The new one mapped his brain and did surgery on him, and last I heard he was seizure free too. Those seizures cause brain damage, but if stopped early enough, the brain can heal. Mike, how did you decide what your career would be? I am fascinated by how people choose their careers.
Comment by Jerri Harrington — January 18, 2008 @ 2:49 am |
Jerri wrote: “Mike, how did you decide what your career would be?
Oh Jerri, this could be a really long post, but suffice to say I sort of backed into this. I started off in youth ministry, burned out hard, and worked at Rainbow Christian Services for a while. When things dried up at Rainbow, I went to work in mental health and decided to commit to working with the disadvantaged, and here I am.
Comment by odgie — January 18, 2008 @ 3:02 pm |