maze - Quaker Ranter

Religion in the mainstream press

Martin Kelley — Tue, 10 Jul 2012 12:27:55 +0000

They default to the same boring tropes, says Amy Levin at TheRevealer:

Religious wars, religious dress, religious money – these are the real and yet superbly complex elements of our cultural existence. Scout any crack or cranny of popular culture and you find religion creating a glorious maze of topics for writers to discover and sift and sing to the masses.

But lately, I find that a repulsive plague of repetition and banality has swept over the disenchanted cybersphere. Each day I begin my religion news search with hopeful eagerness, sifting closely through mainstream and fringe outlets, hungry for signs of a new trend, movement, argument, study–anything other than what I consumed the day before. But I search in vain, and my doldrums have led me to take action.

(H/T to David Watt on Facebook)

Martin Kelley — Sat, 09 Jul 2011 06:20:47 +0000

In album Corn maze, Hammonton 2010 (24 photos)

Google+: View post on Google+

Railroad & farm weekend in Lancaster

Martin Kelley — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 19:43:03 +0000

This weekend we took off for a family trip to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania–Julie and me, the kids and my mother Liz. I won’t have time to do a long blog post, but highlights were the Verdant View farm B&B (link) where we stayed; the Strasburg Railroad (link) whose line runs through the farm’s backyard, the Choo Barn model railway (link); and the amazing Cherry Crest Farm (link) with its corn maze and its simple games for kids of all ages (who knew you could have so much fun with a hill and a piece of burlap?!).

See the See the photo set on Flickr for more pictures and stories. Every shot is mapped, with links.

Large photo: Family at Strasburg RR: Martin, Liz, Theo, Julie, Francis. Below: Julie and the kids walking through fields at farm, Francis playing kung-fu with the farm dog, Theo running in terror from said dog, Engine 90 ready to pull out.