Friday, February 29, 2008

The Unveiling: Free to Be Bound


Author, pastor, activist, and thinker and Rutba House member Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove is the subject of a series of forthcoming posts. I first heard of Jonathan in 2005 when I came across his book about peacemaking in Iraq, and have seen his name in various places and have read his work ever since.




I was intrigued and interested when in early February I received word of his latest offering: Free to Be Bound: Church Across the Color Line.

Jonathan's work is not a "how-to" manual for race reconciliation, but an honest and open examination, exploration and critique of white privilege and white supremacy. He tells stories, sings and feels the blues, interprets the scriptures from refreshing and challenging angles, and offers his thoughts on the radical life that death can bring.

Part-memoir, part-manifesto, part-confession, and wholly prophetic, I read it last week, underlined a good portion of the book, made tons of comments and observations, and have a whole slew of questions. This book is quite important, controversial, well-written, readable, and worthy of much discussion and reflection.

I hope you will join us in the coming weeks as I interview Jonathan here at bald blogger. Pick up a copy of Free to Be Bound and leave your thoughts, comments, questions, and observations.

You may also want to check out some interviews with Jonathan and other assorted links here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.
[Photo credit here.]

Monday, February 18, 2008

In Class with The Professor: W.E.B. Du Bois Teaching Workshop


In collaboration with Ed Blum and Eddie Carson, I will co-lead a teaching seminar on W.E.B. Du Bois in early April. I'm thrilled to be working alongside two wonderful people, two fine teachers, and two great friends.


Ed is coming to the University of Houston for a book talk (get your copy of Ed's book here) and we've put together a companion workshop for high school teachers, graduate students, and university faculty.


Hope you can make it. Check out the workshop website here.


I will podcast Ed's UH lecture and we'll probably record the teaching seminar as well. Look for links in future posts.




[Photo credit here.]