I read that in some communities you don’t dare leave your car unlocked in high summer or you risk finding your backseat packed to the ceiling with your neighbors’ surplus zucchini. Hit-and-run altruism. Or desperation, take your pick.

Despite the myriad uses people have come up with to use this prolific squash*, a favorite of mine today was a Sunday morning staple when I grew up, simply called zucchini, onions, and eggs.

It’s hardly a recipe, really; like most memorable dishes, it was invented with what happens to be around. Right now in New Jersey it’s this.

Slice zucchini into rounds and saute over medium-high heat in a pat of butter or a good drizzle of olive oil. Turn them when you can start to smell them; that’s a sign they’re speckled with brown underneath.

Chop up some onion and throw it in with the zucchini, stirring often until it’s…

EgbertoWillies.com

America – He’s Your President for Goodness Sake!

By William Thomas

There was a time not so long ago when Americans, regardless of their political stripes, rallied round their president. Once elected, the man who won the White House was no longer viewed as a republican or democrat, but the President of the United States. The oath of office was taken, the wagons were circled around the country’s borders and it was America versus the rest of the world with the president of all the people at the helm.

Suddenly President Barack Obama, with the potential to become an exceptional president has become the glaring exception to that unwritten, patriotic rule.

Four days before President Obama’s inauguration, before he officially took charge of the American government, Rush Limbaugh boasted publicly that he hoped the president would fail. Of course, when the president fails the country flounders. Wishing harm upon…

From Dee Ledger of Maryland, US, comes this amazing call to worship which speaks to next Sunday’s Hebrew Bible text for the Revised Common Lectionary.

Call to Worship — Daybreak on the Rise based on Genesis: 32:22-31

Leader: We are sent as family.
Sisters, brothers, aunts and uncles, mammas and pappas, the wanted and unwanted…

Men: Sent across the scorching desert, the churning river,
the quiet chasm of despair, the gaps of want
and need
and desire.

Leader: We are daybreak on the rise!

Women: After angels two-steppin’ rungs vertical and horizontal.

Leader: After God shoutin’ promises of real estate, real protection, and real freedom

Men: Even stone pillows grow soft with yearning and naming,
witnessing and being,
singing about some forgotten awe.

ALL: Daybreak on the rise, my people! Daybreak on the rise!

Leader: Jacob found an angel in his tattered pocket.

Men: That angel just won’t keep still…

Two of my favourite people in the academic world are my friends Rachael Pitt (aka @thefellowette) and Nigel Palmer. Whenever we have a catch up, which is sadly rare, we have a fine old time talking shop over beer and chips (well lemonade in my case, but you get the picture).

Some time ago ago Rachael started calling us ‘The B Team’ because we were all appointed on a level B in the Australian university pay-scale system (academic Level B is not quite shit kicker entry level academia – that’s level A just in case you were wondering – but it’s pretty close). I always go home feeling a warm glow of collegiality after a B team talk, convinced that being an academic is the best job in the entire world. Rachael reckons that this positive glow is a result of the ‘circle of niceness’ we create just by being…