


An Open Letter — to the Writer that Is Me
This entry is inspired by an idea from Andi Cumbo-Floyd, an American writing mentor to whose newsletter I am subscribed. Having just finished a three-part blog entry series on books and reading, I wish now to shift the focus a bit. Before I go back to writing about movies and youth ministry and other topics, this piece can serve as a sort of interlude.

A Few Prized Finds
The Book Stash Adventures — Part 3
Actually the first one is not really the kind of book that will make you gush and drool. As I already mentioned it previously, the title is A New Kind of Conversation: Blogging toward a Postmodern Faith (edited by Myron Bradley Penner & Hunter Barnes, Authentic Publishing, Colorado Springs, 2006). It’s a bit of a novelty for me, despite my familiarity with both postmodernism and blogging. In fact, the only recognizable name for me in the data about the book is one of the contributors: Brian McLaren, the well-known Evangelical author, speaker, and pastor.

Harvesting and Salvaging Old Books
The Book Stash Adventures — Part 2
I call the whole thing (as my title above puts it) harvesting and salvaging old books. Trash and treasure mix it up, and it takes a trained eye and an alert mind to sort them out. (Well, okay — add to that a passionate heart.) I can’t help but quote the “trademark” or “signature” of the evangelist Matthew — that “scribe who has been instructed in the kingdom of heaven [who] is like the head of a household who brings from his storeroom both the new and the old” (Mt 13:52).

Trash and Treasure in an Old Library
The Book Stash Adventures — Part 1
“One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.” Yes, this can’t be any truer for me as I carry out a book-related chore. It’s not cleaning up the Augean stables or anything herculean, thank God. It’s actually just a revamping of the old mini-library here where I am, in Don Bosco Batulao.