Garbage City, Cairo, Egypt

Here are three moving Christmas stories to ponder about justice, hope, and peace:

1. A Prisoner’s Christmas by Yuliya Tymosjenko
Yuliya Tymoshenko, twice Prime Minister of Ukraine, and leader of Ukraine’s political opposition, is currently imprisoned in Lukyanivska Prison, Kyiv. She reflects here on the meaning of Christmas as one wrongly imprisoned for her political resistance. 

2. Christmas Amidst the Rubbish by Rich Lowry
National Review Editor, Rich Lowry, tells the story of Coptic Christians in Egypt struggling for survival in Cairo’s “Garbage City.” Lowry reflects on how Christmas is about seeing the world from below.

3. Christmas Eve, 1914 – It Started in Ypres by Gabriel Gadfly
Poet Gabriel Gadfry’s poem about one of my favorite Christmas stories—a miraculous truce that occurred Christmas day 1914, in the trenches of World War 1.  You can read more about this amazing story on Wikipedia as well.

Here’s the trailer to an interactive web based documentary called Highrise: Out My Window, which looks at the lives of people living in highrise dwellings around the world. This isn’t a “suburban” theme, but watching the trailer reminds me all the more how isolated suburban life can be. Would there be many stories to tell if this were Subdivision: Out My Window?

Maggie Doyne — Why the human family can do better from The DO Lectures on Vimeo.

Most people on a gap year are content with just seeing the world. And not to try and change it. But on her return, Maggie decided to start a home in Nepal with the aim to sustain and improve the quality of life for children of Nepal. Her next big goal is to to build a school for the children. She has since started her foundation called BlinkNow Foundation to share her ideas with other young people. Maggie won The prestigious Do Something award in America for all that she has done so far.

Maggie speaker profile — http://thedolectures.co.uk/speakers/speakers-2010/maggie-doyne
Maggie’s website — http://blinknow.org
More Do Lectures — http://thedolectures.co.uk/speakers

Everyone’s got their favorite Super Bowl ads. My favorite is “Parisian Love” from Google. The simplicity of it, the way it weaves a love story together in a matter of seconds, the music, it’s brilliant (plus I admit it made me emotional).

Coby

Here’s some good news for a change! This is a story from WSMV-TV in Nashville, TN. It features my sister-in law, nieces, nephew, Coby, their Labrador Retriever, and the remarkable timing of a UPS delivery. Enjoy!

Note: My nephew is actually pictured a few posts back in a photo with my son.