Letters, Christian socialism, and the Knicks
So far, my last letter has only shown up in a New Hampshire paper. My next one makes the animal-welfare case for increased funding for cultivated-meat research. I localized my submissions for the first time in a while. Unfortunately, I didn’t realize until I was halfway through sending them out I’d garbled a sentence pretty badly. If you’d like some tips about writing your own letters, give this a read:
Anyway, it’s time for (Cell) Culture Talk. Here are some of the things I’ve been reading and watching lately.
Book — Spiritual Socialists: Religion and the American Left by Vanessa Cook. I was a little disappointed by the amount of attention this text devotes to Christian socialists who built prefigurative communities. That interests me less than those who tried to transform their broader society. Still, I learned about a bunch of individuals and groups I wasn’t super familiar with.
Sports — Knicks beat Jazz, 126-120. Newly acquired Knick Josh Hart seems like a strong addition. He has a pre-existing relationship with Jalen Brunson, who he won a national championship with in college, and Julius Randle, who he played with in Los Angeles. Hart definitely seems like the kind of player coach Tom Thibodeau likes.
Sports — Knicks beat Nets, 124 -106. I can’t say I was sad to see Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving leave Brooklyn without having accomplished much. The duo’s decision to go to New York’s crosstown rivals was one of the lower moments of my relatively recent basketball fandom. Anyway, Brunson had another phenomenal game.
Sports — Knicks beat Hawks, 122-101. It was nice to get the win going into all-star break. Atlanta looked like they had already checked out. I’m not sure I’ve seen them appear so lifeless since Trae Young joined the team.
Meditation passage — The Opening of the Qur’an. I’ve been feeling overwhelmed, which generally means it’s time for me to memorize a new passage. This is short and sweet, which, as I’ve mentioned before, is probably a more important factor in my selections than it should be.