now posting regularly

Are you in the mood for some NPR sharing? I bookmarked just a couple this week, so take your pick, and hopefully something will interest you!

• "Unification Church Woos A Second Generation"- How about opening with a topic that is considered controversial to talk about by many, especially if you're not speaking positively- religion. This is an interesting story from All Things Considered about the Unification Church. It's interesting to me primarily because of my two summers' worth of experience working at a camp run by this church in one of their schools. Yeah, I don't think I had any idea what I was getting into when I followed some people's advice to work there over the summer, but I was grateful for the cash, especially because of our personal living situation at the time. Anyway, I'm gonna go out on a limb and potentially offend a whole mess of you when I say that I'm not a fan of organized religion. At all. There's too many issues of control and greed and corruption by religious organizations that run as businesses for me to feel comfortable with the idea, and I'm satisfied with my own personal way of trying to make sense of the world, so I don't feel the need to be involved in a church. That being said, I know that I'm in the minority, and that is totally cool with me if others choose differently. Still, I can't help but be reminded of the things that creeped me out by my summer camp experiences when I read this article about the Unification Church and their practices. I guess I have difficulty understanding where I draw the line between religion and cult, personal choice and belief and indoctrination.
  

• "Campus Rape Victims: A Struggle For Justice"- I heard this story just today on Morning Edition, and it definitely is worth sharing. Just the opening statistic blew me away- 1 out of 5 college women will be sexually assaulted. Holy crap, that is frightening for our daughters and horrific about our sons.

• "'Ghost Writer': Polanski At The Height Of His Powers"- Yes, I'm just now realizing the irony in the placement of this story, which is at the root of my hesitation to share it. According to Morning Edition, Roman Polanski has a new movie out, which sounds fantastic, has a great cast (hello Ewan McGregor!!), and would be high on my list of films to go see if I had the opportunity to go catch a flick. But... it's directed by Roman Polanski. I have trouble separating celebrities and their personal lives from their public personas- hence, I will never, ever spend one cent on a movie that features Tom Cruise, because I think his personal religious/cult beliefs are harmful to people and he's a general jackass who speaks with intended expertise on topics that he has no actual expertise in. (Sorry for the rambling tangent. Man, I just get all riled up about that guy.) But here's an example of a piece of entertainment that I would otherwise be interested in, but I'm uncomfortable supporting the person behind the project. Am I alone in that?
  

• "The big money behind college sports"- Speaking of corruption earlier, how about this story from Marketplace? This is an interview with the author of a new book Varsity Green: A Behind the Scenes Look at Culture and Corruption in College Athletics. I'm not a sports person, but I know enough about the system to find this argument compelling.
  

• "In New York City, Skee-Ball For Grown-Ups"- Just like a local evening news program, I'm going to transition from all the negativity to a story that is cute and funny and guaranteed to make you smile- Skee-Ball! Really, if you weren't inclined to get into the mess of all the above stories, you've got to check this one out. Who doesn't love skee-ball??

Alrighty... I didn't realize that I'd be so passionate about today's NPR post, but it is what it is. Until next time,