Nature Poem by Tommy Pico
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

"You can't be an NDN person in today's world/ and write a nature poem. I swore to myself I would never write a nature/poem. Let's be clear, I hate nature--hate its guts."

In this fun and provocative volume, contemporary queer, indigenous poet Tommy Pico reflects on his identity and the expectations for what an indigenous poet should write and the tensions and conflicts between the two. His poems are fun and irreverent and break the mold of what most people expect from poetry.

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Galatians Re-Imagined by Brigitte Kahl
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

What if we took seriously the idea that Paul's letter was written to the Galatians, in other words, the Gauls, the Celtic peoples who had been battling Rome for centuries from western Europe to Asia Minor? That's what Kahl does in her magnificent book.

As Rome built its empire it was constantly in battle with the Gauls, who had even sacked Rome in the early days of the republic. For the Romans (and Roman propaganda) the Gauls were the hated and despised enemy other. Public art was filled with images of defeated and dying Gauls.

Kahl argues that it is important to understand Paul, a Jew--another colonized people viewed as strange and other by the Romans--writing to these other colonized people. And writing to them about how in Jesus Christ a new, non-imperial identity and community is being formed among the defeated, colonized people.

Through this lens she reinterprets Paul's discussions of law and grace, justification and salvation, and markers of identity.

This is one of those books that opens up new vistas and radically shifts your understanding of something you thought you had a decent interpretative grasp of.

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Hearticulations: On Love, Friendship, and Healing by Jeff Brown
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This year I've added to my morning reading books to help cope with divorce and depression. This particular book was recommended by a friend. She posted various excerpts on Facebook and I thought it would be helpful. It works well for that purpose--shortly daily insights on how to heal emotionally.

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Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I know I'm way late to the game in reading this book and saying that everyone needs to read it. Though I'm also glad that I read it just now, as we continue to go through the epistemic crisis related the epidemiological one. Last week it was particularly apt that I was reading the chapters on risk assessment as people were once again having to adjust their behaviors based on the surging Delta variant.

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Once Upon A Tar Creek Mining for Voices by Maryann Hurtt
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Maryann Hurtt, despite not being from my home county, has portrayed it quite well in this volume of poems. She has captured the spirit of the place.

The book also contains detailed documentation, so there were facts and stories that I learned about my homeplace while reading this book.

It's core subject is the lead and zinc mining that has polluted Tar Creek. But she ranges through the history of the county, particularly the stories of Native American tribes relocated there.

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Galilean Journey: The Mexican-American Promise by Virgilio Elizondo
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

"Fiesta is the mystical celebration of a complex identity, the mystical affirmation that life is a gift and is worth living."

In this powerful and innovative theology, Elizondo draws connections between the Mestizo experience of Mexican-Americans (being neither and both and something third) and Jesus being a Galileean. For him, Christianity creates the opportunity for a new humanity. The poor and the marginalized will lead us is into this new reality. And it will be universal and cosmopolitan, mixing together and drawing elements from various cultures, all in a spirit of celebration.

I found this liberation theology to speak powerfully to our present moment, despite it being forty years old. Its reflections on identity and culture could help to guide us in our present moment when those categories are dominating so much discourse and action.

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