Drew Downs

Make a New Normal

abuse

  • Innocence

    Kalief Browder, Held at Rikers Island for 3 Years Without Trial, Commits Suicide The fact that Kalief Browder was innocent is a tragedy. The fact that his mother found his lifeless body is a tragedy. The fact that he was abused in prison by guards and prisoners alike is a tragedy. The fact that he…

  • Our Side

    Our side is the side that sits with the maimed and the murdered. Our side is the side that sits with the peaceful and the beaten, the prophet and the martyr. Our side is the side that sits with the people pained by the world and wrestles with the pain itself. Grappling with hate and…

  • a Homily for Proper 9 A Text: Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30   Dance, Puppet! “It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to one another” This is how Jesus speaks to “the current generation,” His generation. Returning from seeing John the Baptist who summoned Him, to question Him. John, asking Jesus of Nazareth: Are you…

  • Following the bizarre bullying case out of Miami is becoming as absurd as Greg Schiano’s self-destruction in Tampa Bay, but I’m left with a more chilling and disturbing idea from the coverage: that we seem to have the wrong idea of how to respond to it. This isn’t a sports blog, though I do indulge…

  • Simple foods really are bad for us. Nutritionally, they are too easily digested, which is actually a bad thing most of the time. Heavily processed and enriched grains and sugar go through our systems inefficiently and cause us to consume even more of them. Complex foods like raw broccoli, whole grains, and proteins, are healthier.…

  • The sex abuse scandal in the Roman Catholic Church has caused a great deal of speculation and fighting–ideological, political, theological–and all (theoretically) for the betterment of the church. A new study, which I expect to do little to squash the fighting and speculating, attempts to make good PR for the Roman church by countering the…