“Meet the Patels,” Meet Interfaith America

movie poster of Meet the Patels This funny, interesting, thoughtful documentary intersects religion, culture and identity while shining a light on Hindu Indians in America. Meet The Patels in Meet the Patels.  Ravi, is an Indian-American (or American Hindu), and actor. His parents emigrated to the United States where he and his older sister were born. Now 29,  his parents wonder why he’s not married. They volunteer — to find him a nice Hindu girl from the pool of Patels, that is. Ravi’s sister, Geeta, films the whole family as they search for her brother’s mate. You can imagine what happens OR, you could see the movie!
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“Caravan of No Despair” by Mirabai Starr

book cover for Caravan of No DespairWhen I met Mirabai Starr at an Interspiritual Conference in Arizona, I got the cliff-note version of her now latest book, Caravan of No Despair. This 275 page edition of her spiritual transformation fueled by her daughter’s death invites readers through her darkest despair as she holds our hands through the process.
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“The Year the Trees Didn’t Die” by Mary Koral

Though not an interfaith book, this story has inter-ness all over it. Interracial, intercultural, international. Such inter-connectedness is a hallmark of the interfaith movement. This mom deserves gratitude for paving an inter-way. Continue reading “The Year the Trees Didn’t Die” by Mary Koral

“How’s Your Faith?” by David Gregory

imgresI don’t watch television journalism, so I didn’t recognize David Gregory’s name from  Meet the Press when his memoir came to my desk. But the title got my attention. How’s Your Faith? is a courageous testimony by an adult child of intermarriage whose own interfaith marriage sparks his spiritual journey. Raised as a Jew, he marries a devout Christian only to realize  his relationship with religion, and ultimately, with himself, needs attention.  Continue reading “How’s Your Faith?” by David Gregory

CAN WE MAKE $ MORE PERSONAL?

An employee counts U.S. dollar notes near renminbi notes at a bank in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, December 2, 2008. The yuan hit the bottom of its daily trading band against the dollar for a second straight day on Tuesday, amid speculation that China was shifting currency policy to allow moderate yuan depreciation as a way to stimulate its economy, traders said. REUTERS/Sean Yong (CHINA)If you’re here because of a particular $20 bill, Yay! 
Maybe you earned it, or someone gave it to you, or you found it. How ever you got it, did you wonder who had it before? Or who will have it after you? What did it buy or do for others? Does it matter? YES!

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The TEN Plagues of Money

imgresGiven the global growing divide in wealth concentration and given that this happens to be a year of shmita (release) when all debts are to be forgiven (according to biblical law), it makes sense to use the holidays of Passover and Easter to reconsider our relationship to money. Are we enslaved to a certain way of perceiving money? Could our relationship to it be ‘reborn’?
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