A dispatch from the shrinking middle class.

Thirty-four years later, nearly two decades into the Internet age, the September 2011 break-up of the rock band R.E.M. reminded me just how right Bangs was. R.E.M. was one of the last traditional rock bands still doing relevant work.

In a country where parents lit their wounded daughters on fire, women lit themselves on fire to escape. I couldn’t shake the image of a young girl stepping into flames with a despair so profound that she would rather scorch her own flesh than face her own future.

Hugo, Take Shelter, and The Mill and the Cross have little in common on the surface other than their quality; look deeper and you may find love-filled, theologically profound, hopeful invitations to live better.

Contrition seems more popular than ever.

Consensus decision-making can make an old-style Senate filibuster seem purposeful and engaging.

War and the American Difference: Theological Reflections on Violence and National Identity, by Stanley Hauerwas.

Activist pastor Gardener C. Taylor on lessons learned in a long life of faithfully taking the side of the oppressed.

Clooney's new movie, The Ides of March, serves as a thoughtful and entertaining mirror for next year's presidential election.