Quick Takes

End of the month is in sight, so it's time for a quick run-through...

-- Wedding Day approaches. Yesterday, Nathan and I and Jordan's good friend, Vaughn Emmons, headed to Lloyd Center to be fitted for our tuxedo rentals. Pretty amazing that, as of Sunday, we are only four weeks out from the big day -- Jamie and Jordan's wedding on Nov. 22. Looks like there will be a good turnout of friends from Portland who'll join us in meeting the bride's side of the family that weekend. My mom will be coming up from California. Unfortunately, neither of my sisters nor my dad and stepmother will be able to make it.

-- A birthday candle for Kyndall. In the couple of years that we've known her, Simone's partner, Kyndall, above, has won a place in our hearts as a virtual member of the family. Always talkative, always entertaining, always helpful, she's a delight to be around. She's having a golden birthday (31 on the 31st) this Saturday, so it only makes sense that she'd have a "Golden Girls" themed party (a la Bea Arthur) on Halloween. We celebrated early with a home-cooked dinner, featuring a surf and turf entree, risotto, zucchini and two (not just one) desserts.

-- A new book, a new topic. After managing to squeeze past the sidewalk zombies Saturday, I did sell a few books at Cameron's and decided to use the in-store credit to get "God's Politics," a much-acclaimed book about religion by Jim Wallis, an evangelical preacher who founded Sojourners, a nationwide network of progressive Christians. The book came out in 2005, right after GWB was re-elected (yes, I know I'm a whole election cycle behind in getting to it), and made The New York Times best-seller list. I'm not a particularly religious person and, in fact, have felt pretty strongly that there ought to be a firewall between religion and secular politics. This book may make me change my mind.

Consider the liner notes:

Since when did believing in God and having moral values make you pro-war, pro-rich and pro-Republican? And since when did promoting and pursuing a progressive social agenda with a concern for economic security, health care, and educational opportunity mean you had to put faith in God aside?

While the Right in America has hijacked the language of faith to prop up its political agenda -- an agenda not all people of faith support -- the Left hasn't done much better, largely ignoring faith and continually separating moral discourse and personal ethics from public policy.

I'm looking forward to digging into it.