Terry Berg submitted this piece to our site months before his untimely and tragic death.  It had been his plan to write and submit a second – maybe even a third – installment to the series.  Instead we have only this one part of the whole story, offered here in Terry’s memory.

It is one experience to read history and quite another experience to encounter history with the senses. It is one experience to read the Passion Story and quite another to eat the bread and drink the wine.

Ancient Mystery: Part I – (Bru na Boinne) the Bend of the Boyne
by Terry Berg

A

remarkable feature of a trip to Ireland besides the obvious…the emerald of the Emerald Isle, Guinness, the full Irish Breakfast including black pudding & fried tomatoes and the wonderful people, is the preservation and management of it’s Heritage (historic) Sites. Listed in the official guide to Heritage Sites of Ireland are over 60 locations along with 11 National Cultural Institutions in Dublin and over 16 National Parks and Gardens scattered throughout the Island. Many of these sites have visitor centres with guided tours. Many of these sites echo more than the ancient history of an ancient time but resonate with the foundation of the early church as it proclaimed its presence among the people.

(more…)

Writing | No Comments »

by Erick Pay

O

ver the last couple of years I have had a growing desire to make a difference in the world around me but struggled with figuring out how to do that beyond volunteering time or money to social programs (both which I value doing). I really wanted to give something uniquely me, something that not just anybody could give. Through the soul-searching that this initiated I realized that my love for photography could be used to tell the stories of people and the stories of the work that development organizations do. This past year I had the opportunity to put this into action as I traveled through northern India.

(more…)

Photography | No Comments »

Jamie Howison on the success of Johnny Cash

O

nce again, the legendary Johnny Cash is selling records. Some three years after his death, there is a new album in the Rick Rubin-produced “American Recordings” series, and as has been the case with its four predecessors, this one is making serious waves with a generation of listeners many of whose parents weren’t even born when Cash first arrived on the scene way back in the mid-1950’s. Rolling Stone, that iconic magazine of the world of pop culture, gave American V: A Hundred Highways a solid four out of five stars, describing it as “a hard record to bear,” and then adding “but it’s a deep one.” “A deathbed benediction” the reviewer called it, and this is meant to be high praise and a solid recommendation to potential buyers.

(more…)

Music | No Comments »