Culture | Explorations Media

Roller Girls Recover in Championship Style @NJShorePatch

There’s a saying in the entertainment business that “the show must go on,” but it’s not always true.

For the Jersey Shore Roller Girls, the region’s all-female flat-track roller derby league, the decision whether or not to cancel its 2012 championship bout after Hurricane Sandy was a tough one.

The bout had been scheduled to follow the Asbury Park tree lighting ceremony at Convention Hall on November 24, but the venue wasn’t cleared for use until a week before the event date and there was no time to advertise. Worse still, at least nine of the league’s seventy skaters suffered serious damage to their homes, said JSRG board member Bash N. Onya. …

Read the whole thing at Brick Patch.

Posted on December 22, 2012 by cascheller

Community, Culture, Friendship, Leadership, Public Square, Redemption, Vocation, Walkin' the Talk

and jersey shore roller girls, Community, comraderie, Culture, Entertainment, Friendship, Hurricane Sandy, Jersey Shore, Leadership, NJ Shore Patch, Public Square, Redemption, Roller Derby, Storm Damage, Team work, Vocation, Walkin' the Talk

Which Is the Better Story @Image Journal’s Good Letters blog

Image courtesy of 20th Century Fox Studios.

“There’s a scene early in Ang Lee’s majestic Life of Pi film in which the main character watches everything he loves die. Pi is floating in a vast, murky sea as the ship carrying his family and their zoo animals recedes into the distance and sinks. His arms are stretched out wide and his whole body seems to reach for them as they slip away.

This is the moment when I forgot I was wearing 3-D glasses and felt as if I was in the water with Pi, losing everything I love. I’m not sure I would have reacted as viscerally as I did to the scene if it had not been produced in 3-D. As it was, I sat in my seat and wept.”

Read my whole [spoiler alert!] review at Good Letters. It’s my first appearance at the Image blog and I’m honored to see my byline there.

Posted on November 24, 2012 by cascheller

Art, Beauty, Books, Christianity, Community, Culture, Ethics, Faith, Family, Friendship, grief, Humanism, Islam, Philosophy, Redemption, Theology, Travel, Vocation, Walkin' the Talk

3-D, Ang Lee, Art, Atheism, Beauty, Books, Christianity, Community, Culture, death, Entertainment, Epistemology, Ethics, Faith, Family, filmmaking, Friendship, grief, Humanism, Islam, Judaism, Life of Pi, lost at sea, movie review, ontology, Philosophy, Redemption, religion, suffering, Theology, tragedy, Travel, Vocation, Walkin' the Talk, Yann Martell

Recapturing Innocence With Ang Lee @TheHighCalling

Director Ang Lee in New York City, courtesy Explorations Media, L.L.C.

The sound of a baby’s laughter. A six year old’s wide-eyed wonder on Christmas morning. The moment you first believed. Who doesn’t want to relive innocence like that?
For Academy Award-winning director Ang Lee, recapturing innocence in life, in filmmaking, in the cinematic experience is at the heart of his film adaptation of Yann Martel’s best-selling novel, Life of Pi. Speaking to a group of journalists in New York City last month, Lee said the film is about what happens to a young boy’s innocence after the ship carrying his zoo-keeping family sinks and he’s set adrift on a lifeboat with a dangerous tiger.

The ocean becomes like a desert, Lee said. “It’s a test of his faith, his strength.” …

Read the whole thing at The High Calling.

Posted on November 24, 2012 by cascheller

Art, Beauty, Christianity, Community, Culture, Ethics, Faith, Family, Friendship, grief, Humanism, Islam, Leadership, Travel, Vocation

Ang Lee, Art, Beauty, burn out, Christianity, Community, creativity, Culture, David Magee, Ethics, Faith, Family, filmmaking, Friendship, grief, Humanism, innocence, Islam, Judaism, Leadership, Life of Pi, mentoring, religion, suffering, Suraj Sharma, TheHighCalling, Travel, Vocation

When Storms Come @Faith&Leadership

Hurricane Sandy Aftermath: Bay Head, South Pt. Beach

Bayhead, New Jersey

Like a thrill ride gone terribly wrong, Hurricane Sandy barreled through my beloved Jersey Shore last month. Except during college and a six-year sojourn in California, this area has always been home, the place where I grew up and where I have lived for most of my life.

When the storm was over, the terrain upon which my memories live had been torn asunder. Friends have asked how I’m dealing with the destruction. My home wasn’t damaged, but I have been through so many deadly storms in the last decade that they’ve been worried for me.

The loss of wealth, health, ministry, community and, most impossibly, the loss of my firstborn child to suicide have left me vulnerable, they think.

But I’ve become adept at responding effectively and efficiently to trauma. So much so that I sometimes think I should work in disaster response. …

Read the rest of this gratitude reflection at Duke Divinity School’s Faith & Leadership site. It’s my first article there and I’m honored to see my byline at the website of such an esteemed institution.

Posted on November 19, 2012 by cascheller

Christianity, church life, Community, Culture, Faith, Family, Friendship, Gabriel Gifford Scheller, grief, Leadership, Redemption, Theology, Walkin' the Talk

Christianity, church life, Community, Culture, death, Faith, Faith&Leadership, Family, Friendship, Gabriel Gifford Scheller, gratitude, grief, Hurricane Sandy, Leadership, Redemption, resilience, Thanksgiving, Theology, Trauma, Walkin' the Talk

Managing the ‘Disaster After the Disaster’ @NJShorePatch

“You’ve probably been asked by out-of-state friends where to send Hurricane Sandy donations and what kind? It’s a daunting task to advise people when you’re in the midst of a crisis, but as the Associated Press reported, unwanted donations can become a “disaster after the disaster.”

‘Ad hoc relief groups need to make sure they are taking in only items that are requested and can be distributed. Money is the best because organizations don’t have to pay to move it and can tailor spending to changing needs,’ James McGowan, a representative from the National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster reportedly told AP.

I saw this problem firsthand after the 9/11/2001 terrorist attacks when I volunteered with the Salvation Army.”

Read the rest at Brick Patch.

Posted on November 19, 2012 by cascheller

church life, Community, Culture, Family, Friendship, Leadership, Public Square, Redemption, Social Action, Vocation, Walkin' the Talk

American Red Cross, and brick township high school, church life, Community, Culture, Disaster Relief, Donations, Family, Friendship, Hurricane Sandy, Leadership, NJ Shore Patch, Point Pleasant Beach High School, Police Athletic League, Public Square, Redemption, Salvation Army, Social Action, Vocation, Walkin' the Talk

A New Kind of Heroine @TheHighCalling

Katherine Sarafian (Photo by Deborah Coleman / Pixar.

The protaganist of Disney/Pixar’s newest feature film “Brave” is an unlikely heroine. The Scottish princess confronts and overcomes what she views as a constricted future for her life, but she also learns that her own unfettered dreams can be both limiting and dangerous. The film’s producer Katherine Sarafian identifies with the character and says working on “Brave” taught her to more fully integrate the diverse components of her own life. Sarafian has been withPixar since 1994 and has done production work on blockbusters from “Toy Story” and “A Bug’s Life” to “Monsters, Inc.” and “The Incredibles.” She has also served as director of marketing for the studio. The High Calling talked to Sarafian about what it’s like to work for a company that is notorious for its habit of changing course mid-project, how “Brave’s” protaganist Mirada inspired her, and how her faith informs her work.

Read the interview at TheHighCalling.

Posted on November 19, 2012 by cascheller

Art, Beauty, Christianity, Community, Culture, Ethics, Faith, Family, Leadership, Redemption, Technology, Theology, Vocation, Walkin' the Talk

Art, Beauty, Brave, Christianity, Community, Culture, Entertainment, Ethics, Faith, Family, heroines, Katherine Sarafian, Leadership, Mirada, Pixar, Redemption, storytelling, Technology, TheHighCalling, Theology, Vocation, Walkin' the Talk

Common Grace Flowing at the Jersey Shore @UrbanFaith

“Hurricane Sandy did a whole lot of mischief here at the Jersey Shore. So much so that Halloween has been canceled* by order of the governor. I doubt anyone cares. We’re too busy looking for power, gasoline, and cell service to celebrate anything more than our safety and that of our loved ones.

Any Jersey Shore native worth his or her salt has lived through a few hurricanes and many a nor’easter. Few of us has seen anything like this. Where I live two miles inland fromMantoloking, New Jersey, we lost power and saw a lot of downed trees. A mile east and all the way to the bay, the water was four feet deep yesterday. The main road is clear today, but the smell of diesel fuel is strong closer to the bay that separates us from the barrier island. Boats that were knocked off their boatyard perches and found their way into the street and onto people’s porches.”

Read the rest at UrbanFaith, where I am now an editor-at-large rather than news and religion editor.

Posted on November 19, 2012 by cascheller

Community, Culture, Environmentalism, grief, Public Square, Redemption, Social Action, Walkin' the Talk

Community, Culture, Environmentalism, Flickr, grief, Halloween, Hilton Garden Inn, Hurricane Sandy, Jersey Shore, Mantoloking New Jersey, Natural Disaster, New Jersey, Public Square, Redemption, Sandy, Social Action, UrbanFaith, Walkin' the Talk

Religion + Life with Elaine H. Ecklund, Part 6: Putting It All Together @TheHighCalling

Our five-part series on the work of Laity Leadership Institute Senior Fellow Elaine Howard Ecklund focused on her research into what scientists really think about religion. It’s been a compelling and fascinating series.

In part one of the series, we introduced Ecklund and her work on this topic. We learned that she has also investigated women’s presence in physics, feminist women in the Catholic church, how pediatricians and pediatric oncologists grapple with religion, how new immigrants bring change to Christian churches in America, and how religion shapes the political engagement of immigrant communities. …

Read the whole summary at The High Calling.

Posted on June 16, 2012 by cascheller

Bioethics, Books, Christianity, Community, Culture, Democracy, Education, Ethics, Faith, Family, Leadership, Medicine, Philosophy, Public Square, Redemption, Social Action, Technology, Theology, Vocation, Walkin' the Talk

Bioethics, Books, Christianity, Community, Culture, Democracy, Education, Elaine Howard Ecklund, Ethics, evolution, Faith, Family, Laity Leadership Institute, Leadership, Medicine, Philosophy, Public Square, Redemption, Science vs. Religion: What Scientists Really Think, Social Action, stem cell research, Technology, The High Calling, TheHighCalling, Theology, Vocation, Walkin' the Talk

Religion + Life with Elaine H. Ecklund, Part 5: International Attitudes @TheHighCalling

In her book Science vs. Religion: What Scientists Really Think, Laity Leadership Institute Senior Fellow Elaine Howard Ecklund focused exclusively on the views of American scientists at elite universities. Now, with a grant from the Templeton World Charity Foundation, Ecklund will spend the next three years exploring how scientists view religion and how religion influences scientists in different national and cultural contexts. She says her Religion Among Scientists in International Context study is the first of its kind, and she’ll work on it in conjunction with two colleagues, Kirstin Matthews and Steven Lewis.

“With seemingly constant developments in the areas of science and religion, these two subjects have taken an important role on the global stage,” Ecklund said. “Our team can think of no better way to discover how the international science community negotiates religion than to go straight to the source and study scientists themselves.”

The notion that science is incompatible with religion and culpable for secularization is a common one, Ecklund explained. It causes tension “on a global scale as scholars argue that religion hinders the progress and acceptance of science in the United States, Europe, and parts of Asia.” …

Read the whole article at The High Calling.

Posted on May 28, 2012 by cascheller

Bioethics, Books, Christianity, Community, Culture, Democracy, Education, Ethics, Faith, Family, Leadership, Medicine, Philosophy, Public Square, Redemption, Social Action, Technology, Theology, Vocation, Walkin' the Talk

Bioethics, Books, Christianity, Community, Culture, Democracy, Education, Elaine Howard Ecklund, Ethics, Faith, Family, Laity Leadership Institute, Leadership, Medicine, Philosophy, Public Square, Redemption, religion, Science, Science vs. Religion: What Scientists Really Think, Social Action, Technology, The High Calling, TheHighCalling, Theology, Vocation, Walkin' the Talk

A Funky Retirement: Celebrating Cornel West @UrbanFaith

In this audio clip, Lupe Fiasco dedicates a song to the well educated women of Princeton and talks about West’s influence. And, in these videos he, George Clinton & P-Funk jam.

In this audio clip, comedian Bill Maher talks about how he’ll use Cornel West to get into heaven if there is one.

In this audio clip, actor Harry Belefonte talks about how Cornel West inspires him.

In this audio clip, the Princeton University Gospel Ensemble, who opened the show, gives praise to Jesus.

In this audio clip, jazz musician Terrence Blanchard talks about Cornel West’s influence on him and then he and his band jam.

In these two audio clips, you’ll hear the Cornel West Theory perform. You have to see them live though. Really you do.

Finally, in this audio clip, Dr. Cornel West gives thanks.

To read my reflections on Cornel West, go to UrbanFaith.com.

You’ll find my full photo set at Flickr.

Posted on May 18, 2012 by cascheller

Art, Beauty, Christianity, Community, Culture, Education, Ethics, Faith, Friendship, Humanism, Leadership, Philosophy, Poetry, Politics, Public Square, Race, Redemption, Social Action, Theology, Vocation, Walkin' the Talk

Art, Beauty, Bill Maher, Christianity, Community, Cornel West, Culture, Education, Entertainment, Ethics, Faith, Friendship, George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic, Harry Belefonte, Humanism, Leadership, Lupe Fiasco, Philosophy, Poetry, Politics, Princeton University Gospel Ensemble, Public Square, Race, Redemption, Social Action, Terrence Blanchard, the Cornel West Theory, Theology, UrbanFaith, UrbanFaith.com, Vocation, Walkin' the Talk

Religion + Life with Elaine H. Ecklund, Part 4: Worshiping Science @TheHighCalling

“There are generally two sides to every lovers’ quarrel and this is true in the argument between theology, once known as the “Queen of the Sciences,” and modern science, now the undisputed king. In two previous articles about Laity Leadership Institute Senior Fellow Elaine Howard Ecklund’s book Science vs. Religion: What Scientists Really Think, we looked at what people of faith sometimes contribute to the impasse. In this article, we’ll briefly consider what role scientists play. The scientists themselves provide clues.

Whether they were Catholic, Evangelical, Jewish, Muslim, or Hindu, believing scientists told Ecklund that they disapproved of an ‘extreme form of scientism that sees science as the only way of gaining access to truth or reality in the world.’

Science, for example, doesn’t provide a rational reason to care for students, they told her, and it doesn’t provide a framework for knowing what to do with their science or how to evaluate its ethics and impact on the world. …”

Read the whole introduction at The High Calling.

Posted on April 28, 2012 by cascheller

Bioethics, Books, Christianity, Community, Culture, Democracy, Education, Ethics, Faith, Family, Leadership, Medicine, Philosophy, Public Square, Redemption, Social Action, Technology, Theology, Vocation, Walkin' the Talk

Bioethics, Books, Christianity, Community, Culture, Dallas Willard, Democracy, Education, Elaine Howard Ecklund, Ethics, Faith, Family, Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research, Laity Leadership Institute, Leadership, Medicine, Moral Knowledge, Philosophy, Public Square, Redemption, Scientism, Social Action, Technology, The High Calling, TheHighCalling, Theology, Vocation, Walkin' the Talk

Religion + Life with Elaine H. Ecklund, Part 3: Myth Busting @TheHighCalling

Would it surprise you to learn that only two percent of scientists are evangelical, or are willing to identify as such?

This is what Laity Leadership Institute Senior Fellow Elaine Howard Ecklund found when she surveyed approximately 1700 natural and social scientists at top U.S. research universities and then conducted in-depth interviews with 275 of the survey respondents.

“In the interview portion, it would sometimes come out that folks had beliefs that would be considered evangelical, such as belief in the efficacy of the resurrection and the authority of scripture, but on the survey they would not identify as evangelical when I asked if they identify with a specific religious label,” Ecklund told The High Calling.

She attributes their hesitancy to the “fraught relationship” evangelicalism has had with politics and science in the public sphere.

“It’s very difficult for scientists to align with a specific faith community when they feel it takes a negative stance towards scientific research,” she said. “Those who are not people of faith often have never seen a person of faith who is a committed Christian and an evolutionist, for example. I don’t think that position is very widely talked about, and so it is difficult for scientists to see how it could be a possibility.” …

Read the rest at The High Calling.

Posted on April 14, 2012 by cascheller

Bioethics, Books, Christianity, Community, Culture, Democracy, Education, Ethics, Faith, Family, Leadership, Medicine, Philosophy, Public Square, Redemption, Social Action, Technology, Theology, Vocation, Walkin' the Talk

Bioethics, Books, Christianity, Community, Culture, Democracy, Education, Ethics, Faith, Family, Karl Ecklundelaine howard ecklundHoustonImmigrant ReligionimmigrationKorean American Evangelicals: New Models for Civic LifeLaity Leadership InstituteLarge Haldron Collider CERN expirementMedicinepedi, Leadership, Medicine, Philosophy, Public Square, Redemption, Social Action, Technology, The High Calling, TheHighCalling, Theology, Vocation, Walkin' the Talk

Roller Girls Recover in Championship Style @NJShorePatch

Which Is the Better Story @Image Journal’s Good Letters blog

Recapturing Innocence With Ang Lee @TheHighCalling

When Storms Come @Faith&Leadership

A New Kind of Heroine @TheHighCalling

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