tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38587512024-03-13T08:30:33.020-05:00Fixing a Hole...Just trying to get back into flowJonathan Kotinekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17140678001443723538noreply@blogger.comBlogger132125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3858751.post-56868052826145453162016-09-11T19:17:00.002-05:002019-03-20T18:10:17.861-05:00Fear and Free-Speech: A 9/11 Reflection
"I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear.I will permit it to pass over me and through me.And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain." - Bene Gesserit Litany Against Fear, Dune
“Fear is the path to theJonathan Kotinekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17140678001443723538noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3858751.post-42897438884190901332016-07-25T08:15:00.001-05:002019-03-20T18:09:06.290-05:00Considering the Language of PrivilegeAnna Kegler's (@annakegler) HuffPost piece "The Sugarcoated Language of White Fragility" (http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/10909350.html) has produced good dialogue among my friends this week. I was particularly happy to see it because her discussion of how the language of social-justice movements lose efficacy over time was a perfect counter-point to another conversation I'd been having in which aJonathan Kotinekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17140678001443723538noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3858751.post-33027950463195498712015-03-10T16:34:00.000-05:002015-03-10T16:34:35.359-05:00Things I learned from running an ultramarathon (in which I admit my hubris)<!--[if !mso]>
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Jonathan Kotinekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17140678001443723538noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3858751.post-25328320024993745042014-10-23T19:08:00.002-05:002014-10-23T19:08:18.292-05:00TAMU Zoo?Today's news item describing PETA's request that Texas A&M stop using live elephants for the annual Elephant Walk tradition reminded me of details of a pet project I've been mulling for a number of years: A zoo at Texas A&M University.
In my notes, I have dubbed this dream project "The Texas
A&M University
Wildlife Habitat and Center for Conservation Science," but I should note thatJonathan Kotinekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17140678001443723538noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3858751.post-54218060315202123892014-08-12T18:47:00.001-05:002014-08-14T10:50:04.829-05:00Injustice Anywhere
I am still trying to process and respond to the news that Michael Brown, an unarmed teenager, was shot multiple times and killed Saturday in the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson, MO.
I was in St. Louis at the time and didn't hear about the issue until I saw militarized police responding to unrest on the news while traveling home on Sunday. Truly, there are two Americas.
Watching Jonathan Kotinekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17140678001443723538noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3858751.post-70038772527761256482014-08-04T13:13:00.002-05:002014-08-14T10:50:49.939-05:00Some of us are still here<!--[if gte mso 9]>
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Jonathan Kotinekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17140678001443723538noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3858751.post-44097211262436985722014-08-02T15:57:00.001-05:002014-08-04T13:15:50.891-05:00Orthodox Localism
The following advice is transcripted from Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick's The Transfiguration of Place: An Orthodox Christian Vision of Localism (Part 1 & Part 2).
In this two-part talk, Fr. Andrew describes how consumer-oriented society is at odds with traditional Christian faith. Orthodox localism, then, is a kind of corrective, an ascetic practice which though prayer and stewardship Jonathan Kotinekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17140678001443723538noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3858751.post-7556170273989235912014-08-02T15:05:00.001-05:002014-08-14T10:52:00.051-05:00Curators of the Particular
This was originally posted to the "The Best Thing This Year" (TBTTY) list, but I wanted to share it more broadly, too. There's a nice write-up on the TBTTY project at Mother Jones (http://m.motherjones.com/mixed-media/2012/05/the-best-thing-this-year-dan-shapiro) and you can sign up for the list at http://membership.thebestthingthisyear.com.
Since being introduced to TBTTY by Dan Shapiro (Jonathan Kotinekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17140678001443723538noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3858751.post-82029255110427967062014-06-23T22:01:00.003-05:002014-08-14T10:52:35.500-05:00Is Gifted Education Worth It? Who Should We Ask?Questions about the value of gifted education have seen a lot of recent attention in the news recently. This recent contribution to the conversation stands out for me because of the gaps in logic:
Four gifted writers share doubts about gifted education - http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/four-gifted-writers-share-doubts-about-gifted-education/2014/06/14/Jonathan Kotinekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17140678001443723538noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3858751.post-64332986810379167392013-11-15T10:28:00.000-06:002013-11-15T10:28:34.797-06:00A haiku for runningNo earbuds for meHeart and feet thump against citycadence for my prayersJonathan Kotinekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17140678001443723538noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3858751.post-45101362927874362782013-04-16T12:19:00.000-05:002013-04-16T12:19:29.560-05:00Ladder for Booker T. WashingtonI have seen the Martin Puryear sculpture "Ladder for Booker T. Washington" several times at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, even spent a good deal of time contemplating the piece when I visited the museum with my infant son while my wife attended a professional conference.
In a recent post contemplating the contradicitons of southern black folk art, Roger Reeves elucidates the meaning of Jonathan Kotinekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17140678001443723538noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3858751.post-2133834675795023342013-02-20T16:22:00.001-06:002013-02-20T16:23:32.723-06:00The Right WordThe following is a modified version of the comment I posted on Stephanie Tolan's post, "Are We Redefining the Wrong Word?"
There is so much that is right on point in this article that I don't know where to start. I'm so happy that the "Honors Education" group on Facebook shared it and that I saw it.
First, I understand and appreciate the need for a different word than "gifted," especially sinceJonathan Kotinekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17140678001443723538noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3858751.post-44110841941729502792012-08-17T00:50:00.000-05:002012-08-17T15:39:39.879-05:00Orthodox Synchroblog - Orthodoxy and CultureThis is my contribution to the Orthobloggers synchroblog on "Orthodoxy and Culture". For previous entries on the subject of culture and the Orthodox Christian faith, see Distributism and Orthodoxy, American Orthodox Culture, and Distractions.
Dn. Steve Hayes provided a kick-off post for this synchroblog project in which he reflects on how our perspective colors our perception of Jonathan Kotinekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17140678001443723538noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3858751.post-77215713538183204402012-08-10T23:30:00.001-05:002012-08-10T23:34:35.375-05:00Family Vacation - Summer 2012
Click here to view this photo book larger
Shutterfly photo books offer a variety of layouts and cover options to choose from.
Jonathan Kotinekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17140678001443723538noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3858751.post-87044067334673525732012-08-05T22:31:00.000-05:002012-08-15T13:16:27.069-05:00On Distributism and OrthodoxyModern American culture has become really adept at manufacturing desire. This realization does not depend on any particular religious orientation, but my sense of it has certainly been focused by the Orthodox Christian teaching that we should work to "overcome our passions."
Since this ascetic attitude is normative in Orthodox Christianity, I've been thinking about this aspect of a possible Jonathan Kotinekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17140678001443723538noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3858751.post-64727491245396628272012-07-25T10:23:00.000-05:002012-07-25T10:23:58.957-05:00American Orthodox CultureMelinda Johnson at St. Lydia's Book Club has posted a question about American Orthodox culture: why we don't have one and what it might look like. There have been a couple of good responses so far. I began writing mine, then decided that I should just make a blog post of this rather than clutter her comments.I think that Katherine makes an excellent point in her comment to the effect that other Jonathan Kotinekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17140678001443723538noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3858751.post-39169531683401329102012-06-25T22:22:00.004-05:002012-06-25T22:23:49.033-05:00The Unintentional GardenerBack in March, I posted my experience and background research on building a keyhole garden. Truth is, I ran out of bricks and haven't had a chance to go get a load of dirt or plant a proper garden. We have continued to use our compost heap, now relocated to the center of (what will someday be) the keyhole garden.
Due in large part to the unusually wet start to the summer, my inattentiveness has Jonathan Kotinekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17140678001443723538noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3858751.post-72035097124233341802012-04-27T00:35:00.000-05:002012-04-27T00:35:37.090-05:00How I Spent My Summer VacationLast summer, our family was planning an epic road trip. I had mapped a route that would take us through Carlsbad Caverns, the Grand Canyon, Denver, Salt Lake City, Seattle, Juneau, Anchorage, Kodiak Island (with a pilgrimage to Spruce Island built in), then back through Denali, British Columbia, Nebraska, and back home to Texas. The only way we could make this plan work would be to camp out and Jonathan Kotinekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17140678001443723538noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3858751.post-7002916130896023682012-04-13T23:24:00.000-05:002012-08-15T13:16:45.032-05:00Distractions
I took holiday most of this week to prepare for and attend Holy Week services. Thursday morning, the first day that our church had a daytime service, I got distracted and missed it. Here's what happened: I got up, took the boys to school, went to meet the farmer from whom I buy eggs, then I went to work. I knew that I was on holiday, but I had a project that had been nagging me, and I wanted to Jonathan Kotinekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17140678001443723538noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3858751.post-79350158994952866912012-03-23T13:01:00.001-05:002012-03-23T21:04:19.840-05:00Building a Keyhole GardenSince my interest in local food has begun to develop, I've been taken with the idea of planting a backyard garden. I really like the idea, as my friend, Ed Funkhouser once described his family doing when he was younger, of going into the backyard and picking vegetables and eating them fresh for dinner.
The Party of the Shires has been a wonderful outlet for ideas on how to transition to a more Jonathan Kotinekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17140678001443723538noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3858751.post-41114576128606493032012-03-23T12:38:00.000-05:002012-03-23T12:42:39.553-05:00Forgiveness Vespers
My stepdad recently sent me the following note in an email entitled "Forgiveness Sunday in Peru. Sort of...":
Each year, the town of Chumbivilcas, Peru, celebrates the new year with what to Americans might seem "Festivus"-inspired (from the Seinfeld TV show), but is actually drawn from Incan tradition. For "Takanakuy," with a background of singing and dancing, all townspeople with grudges fromJonathan Kotinekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17140678001443723538noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3858751.post-46248750251982576862012-03-23T12:31:00.002-05:002012-08-16T10:45:04.411-05:00Why Local Food? Where Do I Find It?"Eat food. Not too much. Mostly Plants." - Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food
I'm putting this post up as a reference to the local food resources that we have discovered near our home. My first foray into local food was when a friend, Susan, gifted me with a bar of goat's milk soap and suggested that I might want to buy eggs from the farmers who made it. Since then, we've bought eggs and goat's Jonathan Kotinekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17140678001443723538noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3858751.post-26167753089196154982012-02-26T09:19:00.001-06:002012-03-23T12:39:40.862-05:00MarginFlying over the
creeping dark of evening
I see
remnants of snow on the
margin
Tucked in shadow through
the day
Hint at the cold night to come
I wonder how long I would have to stay for that cold to seep into me
But then I realize I've brought my own chill
Warmth at the center is self-serving
If I want to learn to truly love
I have to melt
the frosted fringes of my heart
Forgive me, a sinner.Jonathan Kotinekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17140678001443723538noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3858751.post-81648759058694262232011-12-15T22:27:00.000-06:002011-12-15T22:39:53.823-06:00Help me fund a wheelchairBrad Blauser, 2010 CNN Hero of the Year Finalist, Texas A&M University graduate and all-around good guy is back home in Texas this Christmas after spending seven years distributing care packages and study Bibles to soldiers and wheelchairs to disabled children in Iraq.
If you have the ability, please consider supporting Brad's missions. He will be headed back to Iraq in January to continue Jonathan Kotinekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17140678001443723538noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3858751.post-14454081192779065132011-12-07T22:02:00.000-06:002013-04-16T21:39:44.399-05:00Second Guest Post Up at St. Lydia's Book ClubMy second invited post at St. Lydia's Book Club is up.
When Melinda first asked for a guest post, I wasn't certain if she wanted to hear about my creative process since that seemed to be the theme of her previous guest post, or if I was free to consider a more esoteric subject. So, I wrote both and Melinda liked both. The first, One Thing is Needful, was published first and I was gratified by Jonathan Kotinekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17140678001443723538noreply@blogger.com0