Professionally, I've an applied materials research scientist, a non-profit administrator, and, most recently, an academic librarian. Spiritually, I've been a member of Chinese Christian Church and Center in Philadelphia since 1989 serving in multiple capacities, including worship leader, Joy Fellowship sponsor, church administrator (2000-2005), Deacon of the Christian Education Committee, Deacon of the Youth Ministry Committee, and 11th and 12th grade Sunday School Teacher.
• And so I did. Right then. • [1½ MIN READ] Erdem was in a pinch. He needed a ride to New York City and Wife and I could provide one. A philosophy undergrad from Turkey fresh off of a work/travel opportunity in the US, he was thrilled to learn I’d been an academic librarian. … More I’m Going to Pray for You
• An Anchorage version • [2½ MIN READ] A community-service trip, like a mission project, might not conventionally feature a fixture like a foodfest, at least not one I was to design. One like that would prioritize conversation. This is a truth that people who spend time with me might soon discover; however, my annual … More Consumption and Conversation
• More inattentive than I dared imagine • [2 MIN READ] A recent organizational conference I attended was inordinately full of moments of ditziness that amounted to mostly just annoyance: managing to get into the wrong dorm room for host-college housing, continuing a run down the street and entirely forgetting to turn over to the … More Putting on the Ditz*
• Sloppy and sloggy • [1 MIN READ] Forbidden Drive was everything you’d expect after 2 snowstorms…and less. Five of us converged on the trailhead with varying degrees of punctuality and preparedness. The cold made the wait unpleasant for Happ and Teddio, but wait they did. We five intrepids made cautious headway on the snow, … More Run Report (#151: ZY Weekly Newsletter 1/20/24)
In fall 2023, a group of us at Philadelphia Chinatown’s Chinese Christian Church & Center made a plan to read the Bible together in one year. As someone who had generated not a little notoriety for doing it regularly, I shared the following to help us get started: What We Believe Reading As … More Inaugurating This New Discipline
• Featuring the gals • [1 MIN READ] Last week the girls ran GGR, outnumbering the boys 5:4. JRC Keith remembers the days when the group was virtually exclusively male (2022’09’21’W). Thanks to regulars like Adelaide, Candasay (AKA Candace), and Grace and others going back over the last or so year (like Ali, Amy, Brigid, … More Gender Supremacy (#220: 2023’08’30’W)
• It’s all I have to wear • [1 MIN READ] Because I’ve anchored the Growlers Group Run since 2018, I get certain privileges. Me being the author of this weekly message has helped. It’s meant I get to drive more than one topic of conversation. The running club’s former anchor Chas was known for … More Do I Look Good in This? (#219: 2023’08’23’W)
• Two healthy Achilles tendons • [1½ MIN READ] For the last 5 years, I’ve had some significant problems with both Achilles tendons. First it was the right. Then a year later, the left demanded equal time. Both times, I finally went to a good physical therapy clinic and recovered. Each time I got lazy … More Not Again (#218: 2023’08’16’W)
• A lesson in the history of journalism • [2 MIN READ] One week’s Submarine Route run was prompted only in part by a desire to shake up the S5K Route run which has become the Growlers Group Run SOP (standard operating procedure). The other degree of appeal was the opportunity for a newbie to … More Sensationalism (#217: 2023’08’09’W)
• We’re talking about family • [1½ MIN READ] Running club as community? Growlers Group Run has that. Couples as community? We have that, too. Families as community? We have even had variations of that (thinking Brigid w mother Nora and Aunt Smileen, among others). As for generations, we have Mo with his grandson Tristan, … More Generations as Running Community (#216: 2023’08’02’W)
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