Laurel Elisabeth Stevens

Jemar Tisby brings us on a tour through the decades, starting in 1667 when the Virginia General Assembly encouraged masters t o evangelize their slaves, without fear of having to grant them their freedom, given that "the conferring of baptism does not alter the c ondition of the person as to his bondage or freedom." (pg. 25).  Year piling on year, Tisby shows us how the church in America has not simply overlooked racism, but has participated in, encouraged and upheld racist practices, both explicit and entrenched.  "What do you think," I once heard a teacher ask a group of high school students in a Christian School, "What was the better way, Martin L uther King or the Black Panthers?" Students eagerly explained that MLK definitely was better "because he was peaceful. The Black Panthers were violent, and you can't do that."  I hoped the teacher would ask some clarifying ques tions, or press her students to dig a little deeper. I hoped s...

I am sharing this week and in posts to follow, a few influences--videos, books, people, places, stories--that have helped me notice my blindspots with regard to racial justice. The story is ever growing. In fact, sometimes the more I learn, the harder it is to write. So I'll just start here, hoping that if I tell one or two stories, it could be a way forward to you reading or telling one or two more stories, and that could be a way forward for all of us.  I remember sitting on the couch with my seven-year old daughter and reading to her The Story of Ruby Bridges . Ruby, a brave black girl whose parents were perhaps even braver, to agree to let her integrate the William Frantz Elementary School in New Orleans in 1960. My daughter studied the watercolor illustrations of the angry white parents yelling at Ruby as she walked into the school protected by federal marshals.  I remember uncomfortable shock at the teacher who criticized Ruby for talking back to the mob, when in fact Ru...

I asked my children for some homeschool highlights to share with friends and family who are looking for ideas. Pretty much simultaneously a picture popped up on my computer of my kids doing cave paintings way back when. So here's a little bit about that--a quick post and a few ideas. This idea is from Susan Wise Bauer in her book and activity guide, Story of the World, volume 1. I loved these books--a great way to introduce history to first through fourth graders and beyond. You can find them on Amazon or at  https://welltrainedmind.com/ So if you can get a hold of those books, I recommend them.  I'll share in another post how you can use that book for a whole morning's worth of reading, writing, history, and maybe even science if you can get into it . . . For now, cave paintings. Humans have painted in caves over thousands of years and there are many different examples you can see online.  Google cave paintings, or check out this awesome link to learn ...

Beethoven in Bonn On Saturday we saw a little bit of Bonn, the former capital of West Germany.  In the morning we visited the Beethoven House    where Beethoven was born in 1770.  We walked around the tiny house for almost two hours, listening to our audio guides.  Our son, Mr. Numbers, made sure he listened to every track on his guide, all 32.  Elisabeth stopped periodically to draw pictures: the organ Beethoven played in a nearby church, two of the pianos he owned.  She said she wanted to go home and write music.  I was moved by the account, in Beethoven’s own words, of his hearing loss and his intense inner struggle.   We heard portions of his 5th and 9th symphonies as he would’ve heard them at the time they were first performed.  It was a barely audible muffled sound. Though Beethoven wanted to take his own life, he felt he could not, because of his burning desire to to the work he had to do, to write the music that was in his...