Sending out a New Year’s SOS, and making a resolution

As a few of you might have noticed, I’ve vanished from this site for weeks.

Not willingly, mind you. I feel like I’ve been kidnapped by a conspiracy of forces beyond my control.

Just as I was setting up for my routine marathon of year-end writing — Oscar-season reviews, year-end lists of films and albums, and posts that reflect on the past year and look ahead to the new one (a tradition of writing going back to my teen years) — my intentions were kicked aside, and I found myself scrambling to meet a blast of unwanted challenges.

First, I was assigned to a team conducting interviews to fill an open position at my workplace, and we were buried in an avalanche of applications from academics anxious to seize a rare opportunity in a difficult marketplace. It’s a time-consuming project that has wiped out what looked like an opportunity for self care. Days that were formally called a “holiday break” were swamped with urgent responsibilities. So much for anything resembling a season of rest, a “Sabbath” — which is something that any organization, especially those that call themselves “Christian,” should prioritize if they want to be healthy and whole. Hell, I’d settle for just one weekend of relief at this point!

Add to this the fact that I also needed to make time to revise syllabuses and launch two new classes on the first week of January; go down to Portland to at least give some quick hugs to my family and apologize that I wouldn’t be able to spend traditional holiday time with them; and manage waves of minor crises at home that Anne and I have been calling “The Plagues” (several friends passed away in November and December in separate incidents; our house was invaded by a swarm of yellowjackets for several days; the dishwasher blew up and flooded the kitchen and send a waterfall of filthy water into our basement storage; I showed up for healthcare appointments where tests showed that, contrary to doctor’s concerns, no, I do not have skin cancer).

And these concerns are minor compared to what’s happening all around us here at the beginning of 2026. Anne and I are, like so many of you, worn down by daily horrors of authoritarian violence against dissent — dissent that is absolutely justified by our Constitution — violence committed under the false guise of “immigration enforcement.” When authoritarian thugs murdered Renee Nicole Good, a mother and a poet and a righteous voice of resistance to fascism, it felt like another massive bomb blast at the foundation of American democracy. May God bless Good’s bright spirit, and may a holy justice shake down those who are perpetuating this insurrection and betrayal of America’s promises. Liberty and justice for all!

The most difficult part of all of this for me is how I continue to see the name of Jesus being betrayed and exploited to advance Antichrist agendas of nationalism, racism, misogyny, and greed.

But I have never been more committed, never more purposefully driven, to celebrating what I believe. And that is this: Beauty and Truth are lights that have already exposed and, in the Grand Scheme, already overthrown the darkness. The power of death has been destroyed, and we can put on what the Scriptures call “the full armor of God” — which is, by definition, a nonviolent movement of generosity and grace, following Christ on the hard road of suffering, even unto death, with the confidence that we are on the path of everlasting life. God is Love, and Love is for Everyone, with no exclusionary policies. Anybody who says otherwise is selling something fake and false.

So, as I strive to fulfill my contractual obligations, I am recommitting myself to this work that I know I am called to do — celebrating Goodness, Beauty, and Truth, which are always good news for the poor, the vulnerable, the outcast, the refugee, and the immigrant.

And unless they burn down what I’m building here, you’re going to see evidence of that here in the coming weeks. I’m not giving up.