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“It is more important to go slow and gain the lessons you need along the journey then to rush the process and arrive at your destination empty… Every journey that we undertake should have a purpose and a deeper meaning to it. Without a purpose or intention, travel can become just a hollow pass time,Continue reading “Ukraine, Winnipeg, and the Great River Road- A Geography of Spiritual Formation and a story of Being Stuck in the Middle”

Hirokazu Kore-eda, the celebrated Japanese Director (Shoplifters) has returned with his latest film, The Truth. This is the first movie the Japanese writer-director has made in another tongue or country. It also finds him shifting his focus from East to West, the Truth being a French-English film focused on life in its French setting. AContinue reading “Hirokazu Kore-eda’s The Truth: Navigating the Passage of Time”

In the  book Magical Reel: A History of Cinema in Latin America by John King, King writes about the nature of studying, or trying to study Latin American Cinema, suggesting it is a complicated endeavor given that “Latin America Cinema is (made up of) a whole bunch of imperfect sources.” He goes on to suggestContinue reading “Film Travels 2020: Latin America”

We started our adoption blog when we left on our journey to Ukraine about 5 and a half years ago. The hope was to continue with our blog every year until our son Sasha graduated. We decided to wait a little bit longer to complete this final adoption update because this is Sasha’s adoption year.Continue reading “Endings and Beginnings: Looking Back on Our Adoption Journey”

On the surface, Spanish Cinema tells a familiar story along the lines of most of Global Cinema. A promising start is interrupted by war which leads to an eventual social revolution, a democracy, and then new found growth and success in cinema. As I continue to travel the world through film in 2020 though, IContinue reading “Film Travels 2020: Spain”

If there is a single narrative that emerges from the shadows of Denmark’s modest but significant cinematic history, it would be its ability to foster an ongoing conversation regarding the relationship between art and culture. You can see this conversation present on either side of the Occupation, in the early establishment of a “golden age”Continue reading “Film Travels 2020: Denmark”

“In a country where there was still no debate about the war that had just ended, the films produced by the Polish Film School set out to engage the public in a deep emotional dialogue that would prove to be therapeutic. Through stories which unfold in a near past, they touch upon different current topics:Continue reading “Film Travels 2020- POLAND”

“The peasantry during and after the Revolution of 1910 – 1920 fell from the frying pan of dictatorship into a revolutionary fire caused by internecine feuds between the caudillos engaged in bloody warfare. Whether it was the cause of secular Revolution against a corrupt dictator, in defense of Catholicism against an atheist state, or toContinue reading “Film Travels 2020: Mexico”

The author of Matthew goes to great lengths in his Gospel to reposition Jesus within the Jewish narrative, the story of the Israelites, and in my previous reflections I have noted how Matthew emphasizes, expounds on and elevates the Old Testament references in order to retell the story of Genesis and Exodus and essentially createContinue reading “The Gospel of Matthew Part 6: The Last Shall Be First. Love the Greatest Law, and The Liberating Picture of the Righteous Sufferer.”

“Whenever religion becomes a depressing affair of burdens and prohibitions, it ceases to be true religion.”― William Barclay (The Gospel of Matthew) While the author of the Gospel of Matthew remains anonymous, tradition has long positioned it to be the words of Matthew, one of the Disciples of Christ and an Apostle (also known as Levi).Continue reading “The Gospel of Matthew Part 5: The Call to be Imitators of the Gospel for the Sake of the World”