Drew Downs

Make a New Normal

Culture

What’s going on, who we are, and what the big deal is.

  • At least they are counting

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    2 min read

    On June 1, The Guardian launched a new site: The Counted. The US government has no comprehensive record of the number of people killed by law enforcement. This lack of basic data has been glaring amid the protests, riots and worldwide debate set in motion by the fatal police shooting of Michael Brown, an unarmed 18-year-old, in Ferguson,…

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  • Saying sorry

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    2 min read

    “Australia’s policy was to assimilate the indigenous population by “breeding out their color.” An estimated 100,000 Aborigines were kidnapped and are now known as the Stolen Generations. The practice continued until 1970, although the government didn’t apologize until 2008.”

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  • Mercy Is What We Love

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    3 min read

    It strikes me that our society is more interested in public shaming than actually changing the behavior of its people. We are more interested in taking pictures of people watering their lawns during a drought than we are in more effectively curbing the practice, or better, than transforming how Californians landscape. Of course, I’m not…

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  • Food Allergies Are a Big Deal

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    2 min read

    Food allergy is more common than before. Much more common. 50% more of our children have allergies than children two decades ago. We all know a child with at least one allergy; it is statistically certain. At the same time, I find a willful ignorance on the subject. I hear complaints of inconvenience. I see…

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  • Not the Sacraments, But the Sacramental

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    9 min read

    A Fad That emerging church stuff is just a fad. the young priest said to me. This was right after I told him I had just come back from a conference. It was 2010 and a group of emergence Episcopalians sponsored a church planting conference called Episcopal Village. It was a clear nod to Emergent Village.…

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  • Have you checked out the newsletter yet?

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    1 min read

    A little over a month ago, I started the Drewsletter. If you haven’t seen it yet, the newest issue came out this morning. It may be called The Drewsletter, but I don’t want it to be about me. I want it to be helpful and hopeful. Can you help me? I’m taking ideas, submissions, and questions that might…

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