by Monica A. Coleman | Jul 7, 2010 | Monica's Blog, The Beautiful Mind Blog
I have a confession: I like soap operas. Not all, but a couple. I’ve been following their story lines for years. At the end of almost every weekday, I indulge myself by watching the day’s episode online. It seems like a perfect mindless wasy to unwind. I jokingly...
by Monica A. Coleman | Jul 1, 2010 | Monica's Blog, The Beautiful Mind Blog
I find comfort in those two tones that indicate that an episode of a “Law and Order” franchise is coming on. I don’t mind watching reruns because I’ve usually forgotten the outcome. I feel the same way about the “CSI” franchises and the television show “House.” ...
by Monica A. Coleman | Jun 23, 2010 | Monica's Blog, The Beautiful Mind Blog
“What does it mean to be a human being?” This is one of those questions I heard in the opening lecture to the required philosophy class in college. It was the kind of thing that made me not like philosophy. I wasn’t interested in hearing historical and contemporary...
by Monica A. Coleman | Jun 16, 2010 | Blog, Monica's Blog, The Beautiful Mind Blog
For decades I’ve heard Barbra Streisand’s voice crooning out words I know to be true: “People, people who need people, are the luckiest people in the world.” Of course, I think that people needing people aren’t just lucky; they’re human. I think we all need other...
by Monica A. Coleman | Jun 9, 2010 | Monica's Blog, The Beautiful Mind Blog
In the summer of 2002, I was a graduate student in religion who was tired of reading theology. In search of summer fiction, I walked into a large bookstore and stumbled into a book that hit closer to home than I ever could have imagined. There it was in the main...
by Monica A. Coleman | Jun 2, 2010 | Monica's Blog, The Beautiful Mind Blog
Growing up in the Sunday school programs of black churches and in Catholic elementary school, I was taught that although there were many disciples, but there were only twelve apostles. That is, there were many people who followed Jesus, but there were only...
by Monica A. Coleman | May 25, 2010 | Monica's Blog, The Beautiful Mind Blog
My father was a student of history and ensured that I would be as well. More specifically, he was a student of African American history. I knew who Mary McLeod Bethune and George Washington Carver were before I went to first grade. I read Carter G. Woodson’s...
by Monica A. Coleman | May 19, 2010 | Monica's Blog, The Beautiful Mind Blog
I like the way the gospel of John talks about the Holy Spirit. In Jesus’ farewell to his disciples (John 14-17), he talks about a Spirit – a Comforter – that will come to bring peace to the disciples after his death. I like how Jesus...
by Monica A. Coleman | May 14, 2010 | Blog, Monica's Blog, The Beautiful Mind Blog
when we put the gospel to hip hop and host u2charists, when we share the church building with the Korean congregation, when we preach against homophobia when we break bread with jews and muslims, when the teenagers lead worship on a regular Sunday (not just youth day)...
by Monica A. Coleman | May 12, 2010 | Monica's Blog, The Beautiful Mind Blog
In Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston writes about the protagonist Janie Crawford’s relationships with her three husbands and how they reveal her evolving relationship with herself. During an argument with her second husband, Janie realizes that...
