Meador News April 2022
Well, I didn't make the first Friday. But here we are.
The Work
Print #2 is scheduled to ship out on Tuesday. So that one is done and dusted and we're onto issue 3, which is now being edited. We have a number of pieces I'm really excited about in this one. Leah Sargeant has written a great piece about how to value caring work, Tessa Carman has a lengthy interview with Paul Kingsnorth, and Charlie Clark has written for us about the idea of "good work." We also have an essay from Andrew Arndt on the Magnificat that I'm excited about along with a number of book reviews. It should be a great issue. A few pieces are already being copy edited, the rest are being revised by authors. We're in good shape, it appears, to have this out to subscribers by late May.
Print #4 is now in the works as I have pitches out to a number of authors and have about half the magazine already commissioned while I wait to hear from everyone else. The theme will be "de-radicalization." One of the core concerns we have at Mere Orthodoxy is preserving virtues of neighborliness, persuasion, and patience in a time of noise, ideology, and anger. So this issue will align well with those goals. Jess Joustra is going to be writing the cover essay on what we can learn from Herman Bavinck about staying centered during tumultuous times. Print #4 will mark the end of volume 1 of the print edition of Mere O.
For myself, I've kept Commonplaces active, as much as I can, while also trying to keep the trains arriving on time with the rest of Mere O operations. Three other items: I'm helping edit a volume on Protestant Social Teaching for the Davenant Institute. Other contributors include Susannah Black, Steven Wedgeworth, Onsi A. Kamel, Eric Hutchinson, Brad Littlejohn, Eric Enlow, and a number of others. It should be a great volume that helps provide wise counsel for pastors and lay people as they confront various social questions. My essay in the volume will concern environmental care.
Second, my agent and I are currently shopping a book on remaining Christian after observing and experiencing various forms of abuse in church communities. If all goes well, we'll have a signed contract with a publisher within the next month and the book will hopefully be out fall of 2023.
Third, if all goes well on the Davenant project, I'll be presenting a paper on anxiety, Walker Percy, and Marilynne Robinson at the Davenant regional convivium in the Twin Cities in May.
The other big item is that one week from Monday I'll be making my trip out to the east coast. I'm going to be spending time in New York City, Boston, and Washington DC to meet with some potential board members and some other friends of Mere O.
Home Life
Ambrose is... not sleeping any better. Most days he's up between 5 and 6. Sometimes he's up before that. So, yeah, keep praying. One exciting item for us: Joie spent last week in Minnesota at RiverTree School near Minneapolis. RiverTree is part of the Ambleside Schools movement, which is a network of schools modeled on the curriculum and pedagogy of Charlotte Mason. (If you've read Susan Macaulay's For the Children's Sake, you'll know Mason's work. If you haven't, go read that.) Joie was doing an internship there and is now trying to discern what next steps to take with regard to Ambleside. But she came away from it convinced that she needs to be doing something related to that work in the future. Aside from that, we'll be celebrating Wendell's birthday this weekend, he turns seven on April 10, with a party at our church on Sunday afternoon and then dinner with our family afterwords at HuHot, which is a favorite of his.
Prayer
Several items come to mind immediately:
Better sleep for Ambrose
Vocational direction for Joie with regard to Ambleside
Fund raising for Mere O
The other items would just be that I'm able to have the time (and that I'd use the time I get well!) so that I can do these various projects. Additionally, we're trying to figure out what we can do to help build a stronger local community for us and for neighbors here in Lincoln, which is not easy but is something we want to try to do a bit better.
Food and Drink
I've been on a chai tea kick at home lately. Rishi and Oregon Chai are both really good concentrates you can use at home and both will be way cheaper than getting it at a coffeeshop. Though also: If you live in the Twin Cities or are ever in the Twin Cities, get a chai at the Snelling Cafe on Snelling Ave in St Paul near the soccer stadium. I'll warn you though: Once you've had chai from a Somali-owned cafe, like that one, you'll probably be ruined for chai at other coffeeshops. (The chai and coffee at the Somali mall in Whittier in Minneapolis are also spectacular, by the way.) The other thing we've enjoyed at home this month is this sangiovese. It's a really fruity Italian red wine, if you've never had that kind of wine before, and one Joie and I both like quite a lot.
The other food discovery I made in the past month: Apparently gyros in Greece are not usually made with the beef/lamb composite that we're used to in the US. They use pork. Specifically they cut the shoulder and belly into thin slices, stack them (in alternating slices) on a spit, and then roast it vertically in the same way we're used to seeing gyros cooked. This is how they do it at the Naughty Greek in the Twin Cities and now I'm trying to figure out how to do it at home. (It seems like it's pretty similar to tacos al pastor, if you've ever had those.)
Grateful for you all! Till next month,
~Jake