If you don’t have time to read Newsweek’s cover story on how a reporter discovered that the Bible actually supports gay marriage when you squint really hard, here are the main points:
The Bible’s examples of marriage are horrendous polygamous slave-owners.
The Bible “offers inspiration and warning on the subjects of love, marriage, family and community.”
The Bible doesn’t explicitly say marriage is between one man and one woman.
The Bible doesn’t say David and Jonathan were homosexual lovers, but it’s fun to imagine they were.
The Apostle Paul was tough on homosexuality.
One guy the reporter knows says Paul was actually talking about something else. Violent people, maybe.
The Bible “provides conceptual shelter for anti-Semites.”
Thankfully, newsmagazines have no similar problems mishandling Biblical texts.
Despite what Newsweek thinks, almost all churches say that gay marriage is sinful.
Newsweek does not own a phone book, and thus cannot call any of these churches for comment.
When the Bible says something you want to do is wrong, then the Bible is outdated.
When the Bible says something you want to do is right, then the Bible is beautiful.
How much is your happiness dependent on what country you live in?
That’s tough to say, but by and large, Americans are pretty happy; in fact, we’re ranked 16th in the world. From Science Daily:
Denmark tops the list of surveyed nations, along with Puerto Rico and Colombia. A dozen other countries, including Ireland, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Canada and Sweden also rank above the United States, which maintains about the same relative position as it did in WVS’s 2000 survey.
“Though by no means the happiest country in the world, from a global perspective the U.S. looks pretty good,” says Ronald Inglehart, a political scientist at the university, who directs the study. “The country is not only prosperous; it ranks relatively high in gender equality, tolerance of ethnic and social diversity and has high levels of political freedom.”
And Richard Florida correctly points out the money quote, by Inglehart: “Ultimately, the most important determinant of happiness is the extent to which people have free choice in how to live their lives.”
Is a city-supported downtown baseball stadium and retail complex a good idea for Fort Wayne? Discussion about the proposed Harrison Square may be a moot point, with papers being drawn up and demolition in full swing, but still, the sides remain at loggerheads.
Opponents have been painted as cranky old conservatives. Supporters are portrayed as young optimistic professionals.
But the youngsters have a seemingly unlikely opponent in Richard Florida.
Florida is a professor at Carnegie Mellon University and the author of “The Rise of the Creative Class,” a best-selling book that studies the 38 million Americans he calls creatives: artists, scientists, musicians, architects and other such people. If anyone is in favor of attracting young creative professionals to cities, it’d be Prof Florida.
In his book, he’s critical of most cities’ efforts:
It’s not that these cities do not want to grow or encourage high-tech industries. In most cases, their leaders are doing everything they think they can to spur innovation and high-tech growth. But most of the time, they either can’t or won’t do the things required to create an environment or habitat that is attractive to the Creative Class.
Sounds like something any young creative person in Fort Wayne might say. But then Florida goes in a somewhat unexpected direction:
They pay lip service to the need to attract talent, but continue to pour resources into underwriting big-box retailers, subsidizing downtown malls, recruiting call centers and squandering precious taxpayer dollars on extravagant stadium complexes. (emphasis mine)
Plus:
The most recent studies show that stadiums do not generate economic wealth and actually reduce local incomes.
Now, before I get flamed in the comments, I realize the differences in Harrison Square’s tax structure and private investment. But we can set that aside, because one big argument for building this stadium is supposed to be to attract and retain the young professional.
Florida begs to differ:
Not once during any of my focus groups and interviews did any member of the Creative Class mention professional sports as playing a role of any sort in their choice of where to live and work.
So why try to build stadiums?
The answer is simple. These cities are stuck in the past.
So Florida may very well call Harrison Square a step into the past, not the future.
I hope for great success for Harrison Square, despite Florida’s gloominess. But it is disingenous of Harrison Square supporters to be so cocky and dismissive of opponents as old stuck-in-the-muds. The very inventor of the term “creative class” may be the biggest critic of all.
Well, the guys at AB417 were kind enough to let me join their societal think tank, so of course I had to pony up a 2,000-word essay for the new newsletter.
My essay is a response of sorts to a post on Scott Greider’s blog in which he criticizes a local Uno’s Pizzaria for looking like an old urban building but actually being a new suburban building.
I agree with Scott’s concerns, but offer a different perspective:
But I contend there is something real behind this fake authenticity, something that I’d say is good and decent. And those who want to preserve and recapture our city’s downtown as a place of destination and a true city center should look to this fake authenticity as a source of hope.
But since I had in my possession an Anchor Room gift certificate, I thought it was a dandy time to pick up a copy.
As David Wayne says in his review that captured my attention:
The view that many Christians have is that, after this life, our souls go to heaven and we walk streets of gold, wearing white robes and singing hymns for eternity. What Marshall does is show that our eternal destiny may in fact look a bit more like our current earthly existence than we realize.
Marshall correctly brings out the biblical teaching that the created order is basically good, and therefore it can be embraced. Sin is not the essence of the creation, sin is an imposter.
Because many Christians have wrongly interpreted Biblical passages on the world and worldliness we have adopted an attitude that sees this world as something evil at worst, or unnecessary at best. Either way, this world and this earth and this creation are to be avoided or endured until the time when we will be freed from all of it.
Just two houses down at 1906 Bequette Street is this house, evidently abandoned to the elements. The yard has been mowed once this year, a couple of months ago.
I called Neighborhood Code today to send in a report. In general, I consider myself pretty lenient on keeping a yard in tiptop shape, but this was becoming a real concern in the neighborhood, and it looked as though it would only get worse.
The woman with the city said Neighborhood Code has been getting 300 calls a day for out-of-control weeds. But the city can place only about 100 signs a day. So, they’re about three weeks behind.
In any case, if we could figure out who actual owns the property now, I’m sure my boys would mow that yard for a reasonable fee.
The city of Fort Wayne prepares for the arrival of the Greiders by paving the 1000 block of Broadway! (So far, they’ve just scraped the street in preparation for the asphalt.)
Matt Kelty, Republican nominee for mayor here in Fort Wayne, will have a news conference Thursday at noon about his campaign finance report:
Last week Kelty submitted paperwork to the Allen County Election Board identifying his campaign manager and one of his campaign advisers as the source of funds Kelty has called personal loans to his campaign.Filing a fraudulent campaign finance report is a Class D felony. Candidates can be removed from the November ballot for four reasons: a felony conviction, moving outside the jurisdiction, death or resigning voluntarily before July 15.
No matter what you think of Kelty, it should be an interesting news conference.
P.S.: Still nothing about the controversy on his web site.
These moss roses, also called Portulaca grandiflora, do well where it’s hot and dry. So these are in a pot on our front porch, which has a southern exposure.
You can see in this photo that the leaves are succulent — that is, the leaves retain water, like an aloe plant. They’re also stupid easy to grow and keep alive. Moss roses are one of my favorite kinds of flowers.
This is a part of an 1876 map of our neighborhood. The original map covers the entire city of Fort Wayne — which at that time was a small fraction of its size today.
Notice the Wabash & Erie Canal cut right through our neighborhood, and almost went through our backyard.
The whole canal operated for only about a decade, a victim of being built too close to the coming of the locomotive age. Plus, the walls of the canal were constantly falling in.
And then there was the Reservoir War. About 200 residents of Paulding County, Ohio, attacked and drained a reservoir feeding the canal, saying the only thing they ever got from it was mosquito bites and “ague” — what we now call malaria.
The people of the Midwest were only too eager to bury this antiquated mode of transportation. At that time, they would never have guessed that anyone would be interested in preserving any part of it.
UPDATE: In fact, this map is dated 1876, but the last official canal boat made its docking in 1874. In 1876, the canal land was auctioned off, and the railroad gobbled up the land through Fort Wayne.
So, there is little to no physical evidence that a canal went through my neighborhood 150 years ago.
To help myself figure out where the canal existed compared to current landmarks, I created this Google map. I took the information from the old Fort Wayne city map referenced above and drew vectors across a Google map of Fort Wayne.
This is still a work in progress. I hope to add more details and even photos to the map as time permits.
As many as 300 people originally from Darfur are living in Fort Wayne, with others scattered across smaller Indiana cities like Elkhart, South Bend and Goshen. Together, they form one of the largest concentrations of Darfuri in the United States.
Florida is a professor at 
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Ever since I read a review of 
