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Hi.

I'm so glad you found your way to my little corner of the neighborhood! Pull up a chair and stay, and let's chat about life on the margins and loving Jesus and, obviously, where to find the best cheese dip and most life-changing books. 

Summer Reading and Picture-Taking

A sure-fire sign of summer around here: the constant stream of kids swinging on the tire swing or playing cards on the front porch, moving inside around the table when the temperature tips the scale. Also, so many books being read (mostly by me, but also Jayci), and jobs starting and camp forms scatter across the counter-space.


Since I clearly haven't even had a moment alone since "summer break" began (I don't see why it's called a "break" necessarily); I have no words to share, but have instead compiled some links to good reads and such across the interwebs. Also, if you havent already watched it, be sure to listen to Ashton's thoughts on education and race and prejudice from last week's blog. Seriously, everyone needs to hear his insight.


First off, for those who equate summer and reading (like me!) here's a few of my favorite summer-reading-guides, recommendations I've already used to pick books a few times since school let out.
Rachel's Summer Reading Spectacular
5 Book Summer Reading Guide


A few more good reads:
Guilt is good (Christina Cleveland)
God made me a people gatherer (IF: Gathering)


We've found jobs (thanks to Accent Decor and Stewart Center) for a couple of the neighborhood kids, and my phone is now literally ringing off the hook with kids and adults and older brothers and cousins who are all desperately looking for jobs. And I hate that I cannot find spaces for every single one of them to work, because I really think one of the biggest problems in our neighborhood is the lack of opportunities for our young people to work . . . although I'm no expert. Jobs key to staying out of trouble.
There's some really bad news for black graduates
Why do Millennials not understand racism?
The White Tourists' Burden 
Used Garbage Homeless Shelters

Also, I just finished The Rosie Project: A Noveland Parnassus on Wheels, both of which I really loved and were super-cheap on Kindle last week when I bought them!

That's it for today folks, anything else I should be reading?

The Bachelorette and other summer wisdom

In his own words: Ashton's thoughts