Easter in Ordinary

A democratic society requires mature, public conversation about issues of importance. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has convoked " A Year of Books " to offer such an opportunity. This commentary is part of a series of commentaries on each of the readings proposed by Zuckerberg. My commentary on Michelle Alexander's The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness will have multiple entries for this truly remarkable book. This is the fourth of those entries. Having described something of the argument constructed by Michelle Alexander in The New Jim Crow in previous blog entries, here we will take a look at her stirring final chapter, "The Fire This Time." Alluding to James Baldwin's The Fire Next Time , a 1963 book consisting of a pair of essays. In this chapter, Alexander argues that only a major social movement to end mass incarceration with "an ethic of genuine care" for all persons will end the succession of racial caste s...

A democratic society requires mature, public conversation about issues of importance. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has convoked " A Year of Books " to offer such an opportunity. This commentary is part of a series of commentaries on each of the readings proposed by Zuckerberg. My commentary on Michelle Alexander's The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness will have multiple entries for this truly remarkable book. This is the third of those entries. Many know well the oration delivered by Martin Luther King, Jr. from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. The vision cast on August 28, 1963 did not reach its fulfillment in King's lifetime. In fact, Michelle Alexander contends that the dream was cut short in the years shortly after the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 . At the heart of Michelle Alexander's The New Jim Crow is an argument: This book argues that mass incarceration is, metaphorically, the New ...

A democratic society requires mature, public conversation about issues of importance. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has convoked " A Year of Books " to offer such an opportunity. This commentary is part of a series of commentaries on each of the readings proposed by Zuckerberg. My commentary on Michelle Alexander's The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness will have multiple entries for this truly remarkable book. This is the second of those entries. Few things on stage have moved me more than when I first saw "Les Misérables." It was the summer of 1990 in Houston, Texas. Days before, I had devoured the novel by Victor Hugo. At various points during the stage show, I wept, perhaps none more than the final words of the musical: "To love another person is to see the face of God." The intertwined story of Inspector Javert, Fantine, Cosette, Marius Pontmercy, Gavroche, and, of course, Bishop Myriel, who, with an act of charit...

A democratic society requires mature, public conversation about issues of importance. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has convoked " A Year of Books " to offer such an opportunity. This commentary is part of a series of commentaries on each of the readings proposed by Zuckerberg. My commentary on Michelle Alexander's The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness will have multiple entries for this truly remarkable book. This is the first of those entries. The New Jim Crow  walks us through some of Zuckerberg's previous readings. An important element throughout Alexander's argument is the data about declining violence that inspired Steven Pinker's work (for example, p. 41). Sudhir Venkatesh 's mentor, William Julius Williams appears a couple of times (p. 34, p. 50). Venkatesh himself is cited in an endnote regarding Chicago's Robert Taylor Homes (p. 196).  George Orwell and doublespeak make an appearance, too (p. 131). While n...

A democratic society requires mature, public conversation about issues of importance. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has convoked " A Year of Books " to offer such an opportunity. This commentary is part of a series of commentaries on each of the readings proposed by Zuckerberg. As an 8th grade student, back in 1983, in the run up to the year of the book's title, I read for the first time George Orwell's 1984 . That reading began a series of readings in dystopian and utopian visions, including Aldous Huxley's Brave New World  as well as a then unsuccessful foray into Thomas More's Utopia . Those darker visions, especially Orwell's, were vivid and haunting. Later, as a freshman in college, I believe, I read Orwell's " Politics and the English Language ," and I found a new mission in attempting to be a clear writer and thinker. Over time, my political vision has been driven more by hopeful visions of what we may become than by Orwell's h...

The period following the Second Vatican Council, with all of the challenges in implementing the vision of the council, had many important figures. Archbishop Rembert G. Weakland , O.S.B., abbot primate of the Benedictine Confederation and then Archbishop of Milwaukee, was one of the more significant and, occasionally, controversial figures of that period. Personally, I heard Archbishop Weakland speak twice at the University of Notre Dame. He had chaired the writing of Economic Justice for All , the pastoral letter of the U.S. Catholic Bishops on the economy. Weakland's participation at the interfaith conference in Bangkok, Thailand where Thomas Merton died also intrigued me. I had read his writings as they appeared in secular and religious press. I recalled his participation in the Common Ground Initiative of Joseph Cardinal Bernadin. It was with great sadness that I learned of the sexual relationship and payout, revealed in 2002, that ended his public ministry. Arc...

Mature, public conversation about issues that matter is foundational for democratic society. I am delighted that Mark Zuckerberg's " A Year of Books " offers such an opportunity. To contribute to that dialog, I will offer commentary on each of the readings proposed by Zuckerberg. The eighth selection in Mark Zuckerberg's " A Year of Books " is Henry M. Paulson, Jr.'s Dealing with China: An Insider Unmasks the New Economic Superpower . While I anticipated a greater dissonance between Paulson's worldview (that of an investment banker and former U.S. Treasury Secretary) and my own (a former priest and missionary), I found this book exceptionally readable and engaging. Occasionally, I found myself looking for a footnote or endnote, some citation to support Paulson's claims, but I think that the lack of endnotes and bibliography actually focused the narrative on the story of Paulson's relationship with the Chinese and, thereby, made it more ac...

Mature, public conversation about issues that matter is foundational for democratic society. I am delighted that Mark Zuckerberg's " A Year of Books " offers such an opportunity. To contribute to that dialog, I will offer commentary on each of the readings proposed by Zuckerberg.  I'd love to hear about Mark Zuckerberg's process in selecting the works for his series. It feels like the syllabus of a class, mixed between academic and popular writing. I'd love to know from whom he received the various recommendations. As, I suppose he has not read them at the time of making the announcement, it would be difficult to imagine how he sees them building on one another, but I would love to hear him articulate how they interact in his heart and mind. Zuckerberg's seventh selection, Rational Ritual: Culture, Coordination, and Common Knowledge  by Michael Suk-Young Chwe, popularizes serious academic work in game theory. Steven Pinker (Zuckerberg's second bo...

As soon as I learned in January that Mark Zuckerberg commited to a " Year of Books ," I decided to accompany him. Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, seems a very smart, creative person who also aims to make a difference in the world (for instance, launching http://www.fwd.us/  to advocate for immigration reform). Zuckerberg described his project as: My challenge for 2015 is to read a new book every other week -- with an emphasis on learning about different cultures, beliefs, histories and technologies. Given who he is and those simple words, I was onboard. My undergraduate studies were in the  Program of Liberal Studies (P.L.S.) at the University of Notre Dame. While many had suspicions what P.L.S. might signify-- including the more tame Probably Law School or Pretty Late Sleepers-- it was a dynamic laboratory for learning. Launched in 1950, based on similar programs at the University of Chicago and Columbia, P.L.S.'s heart is the Great Books semina...

Mature, public conversation about issues that matter is foundational for democratic society. I am delighted that Mark Zuckerberg's " A Year of Books " offers such an opportunity. To contribute to that dialog, I will offer commentary on each of the readings proposed by Zuckerberg. At first glance, my reaction to Mark Zuckerberg's fifth selection was "meh." Following books addressing social and political issues, Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration  by Ed Catmull, looked like yet another CEO writing a book on management and leadership, extolling his or her virtues and how that translates to success, with the invitation to other managers to imitate the method. Pixar's undeniable market success demonstrates that Catmull is a talented, creative executive. All 14 of Pixar's animated films have been commercial successes. Seven of the films have won the Academy Award for Best Animated Film, along with...

Mature, public conversation about issues that matter is foundational for democratic society. I am delighted that Mark Zuckerberg's " A Year of Books " offers such an opportunity. To contribute to that dialog, I will offer commentary on each of the readings proposed by Zuckerberg.  For Mark Zuckerberg's fourth pick, he chose Eula Biss's On Immunity: An Inoculation . Zuckerberg, venturing into the vaccination debate, made the selection alongside an outbreak of measles at Disney. The mother of a newborn son, Biss discovers the vulnerability of her child. Wanting to protect him, she examined the questions surrounding vaccinations. Biss met with scientists, physicians, and specialists in public health, as well as consulting with her father, a physician. Additionally, Biss seemingly reviewed a considerable body of medical and scientific literature. She also renders intelligible the origin and history of vaccinations. However, as a writing instructor at Northwester...

Mature, public conversation about issues that matter is foundational for democratic society. I am delighted that Mark Zuckerberg's " A Year of Books " offers such an opportunity. To contribute to that dialog, I will offer commentary on each of the readings proposed by Zuckerberg.  For Zuckerberg's third pick, he selected Sudhir Venkatesh's Gang Leader for a Day: A Rogue Sociologist Takes to the Streets . Venkatesh, an Indian American, arrived at the University of Chicago to begin graduate work in sociology. Eager to work with Professor William Julius Wilson , a leading sociologist of race and poverty then at Chicago, Venkatesh took up the invitation to collaborate with a new research project in order to design better public policy (pp. 4-5). Venkatesh discovered, rather abruptly, that the survey questionnaires and interviews he was asked to take were not going to elicit the information and honesty that Venkatesh sought for his questions about race, poverty, a...

Mature, public conversation about issues that matter is foundational for democratic society. I am delighted that Mark Zuckerberg's " A Year of Books " offers such an opportunity. To contribute to that dialog, I will offer commentary on each of the readings proposed by Zuckerberg.  The second title in Zuckerberg's list is The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined by Steven Pinker. Pinker, a regular guest on the "Colbert Report" with appearances in 2007, 2009, 2011, and 2013, is a Canadian-born professor at Harvard University. Pinker's work examines research and theories from many fields. He is described as an experimental psychologist, a cognitive scientist, and a linguist. The Better Angels of Our Nature , with its index, comes in at just over 800 pages. To carry interest over such an expanse, Pinker excels as a witty, engaging author. Pinker describes six trends in declining violence, five inner demons, and four "better ange...