Money For Nothing and Cows for Free

Conventional wisdom has it that charity works best when it focuses on long-term needs and skills, such as Habitat for Humanity, which builds and sells houses (at cost) to people in need, Rebuilding Together, which offers home repair and renovation services to cash-poor individuals, and Heifer International, which provides communities with livestock and other material goods, training, and organizational development. A new charity has burst on the scene, however, that breaks all the conventional wisdom rules: just give people cash ("Is it Nuts to Give to the Poor Without String Attached"):

In the past decade it has become increasingly common to give money right to the very poor. After Mexico’s economic crisis in the mid-1990s, Santiago Levy, a government economist, proposed getting rid of subsidies for milk, tortillas and other staples, and replacing them with a program that just gave money to the very poor, as long as they sent their children to school and took them for regular health checkups.

However, a relatively new charity, GiveDirectly, offers people cash with no preconditions, and at its most basic level, it is testing one of the simplest ideas in economics — that people know what they need, and if they have money, they will use it more wisely than some outside agency will. “This puts the choice in the hands of the poor, and not me,” Michael Faye, one of GiveDirectly’s co-founders told a New York Times reporter ("Is it Nuts to Give to the Poor Without String Attached"). “And the truth is, I don’t think I have a very good sense of what the poor need.”

GiveDirectly is the subject of a recent NY Times article ("Is it Nuts to Give to the Poor Without String Attached"), a brief segment on Planet Money ("The Charity that Just Gives Money to Poor People"), and an extended examination on This American Life ("Money For Nothing and Your Cows For Free").

Chicago: Our Kind of Town

In his recently published book, "The Third Coast: When Chicago Built the American Dream," author Tom Dyja argues that America as we know it today would be very different without Chicago’s contributions.  In fact, he identifies 10 ways that Chicago has affected everyone’s life in America:

1. Architecture
2. Music
3. Food.
4. University of Chicago
5. Television
6. Civil-Rights Movement
7. The Institute of Design
8. Urban Preservation
9. Literary Romance
10. Hugh Hefner and Playboy

I'm not sure what his book has to do with Freakonomics or incentives (except, perhaps, the University of Chicago), but Dyja is featured on the latest Freakonomics podcast, "The Middle of Everywhere," in which he details how Chicago contributed in the ten areas listed above. If Dyja's right, then perhaps we can understand why Sinatra considered Chicago to be his (or, perhaps, our) "Kind of Town:"

Holy Hilarity

This past Sunday, our church celebrated "Holy Hilarity Sunday," which I learned arose in the early days of Greek Christianity to celebrate the Easter Season. According to Michelle Bearden, for centuries the observance was kept with "days of joy and laughter," parties and picnics, in the week after Easter. Originally called Bright Sunday, the day was meant to keep the excitement of the Resurrection alive, with churchgoers and pastors playing practical jokes on one another, singing, and dancing.  The custom was rooted in the early church theologians, who reasoned that God had played a tremendous practical joke on the devil by raising Jesus from the dead. They called it risus paschalis—the Easter laugh!

In the spirit of the day, our pastor (the Rev. Jeff Cheifetz) shared the following story, which can be found in the book, Holy Humor:

During an ecumenical gathering, someone rushed in, shouting, "The building is on fire!"

• The Methodists at once gathered in a corner and prayed. 
• The Catholics passed a collection plate to cover the damages. 
• The Baptists cried, "Everybody into the water." 
• The Lutherans posted a notice on the door declaring fire was evil, because it was the natural abode of the devil. 
• The Congregationalists shouted, "Every [one] for [her]self!"
• The Seventh-Day Adventists proclaimed, "It's the vengeance of an angry God!" 
• The Christian Scientists agreed among themselves that there really was not a fire. 
• The Presbyterians appointed a chairperson, who was to appoint a committee to look into the matter and make a written report to the next Session. 
• The Episcopalians formed a procession and marched out in good order. 
• The Unitarian Universalists concluded that the fire had as much right to be there as anyone else.

And here's a few gems he shared that have been culled from church bulletins:

• The outreach committee has enlisted 25 visitors to make calls on people who are not afflicted with any church
• Ladies, don't forget the rummage sale. It's a chance to get rid of those things not worth keeping around the house. Don't forget your husbands
• The sermon this morning: "Jesus Walks on the Water." The sermon tonight: "Searching for Jesus"
• The pastor will preach his farewell message, after which the choir will sing, "Break Forth Into Joy"
• Don't let worry kill you - let the church help

And finally, 

Once a minister parked her car in a no-parking zone because she was short on time and couldn't find a space with a meter. So she put a note under the windshield wiper that read: "I have circled this block ten times. If I don't park here, I'll miss my appointment. FORGIVE US OUR TRESPASSES." When she returned, she found a citation from a police officer along with this note. "I've circled this block for ten years. If I don't give you a ticket, I'll lose my job. LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION.”

Grace-Full Congregations

I recently heard a wonderful lecture by Karen McClintock, Methodist minister and professor of psychology at Southern Oregon University, on how congregations can be a refuge from a world in which shame-based behavior is often the norm. Unfortunately, they aren't always are, and McClintock discussed how churches can become "grace-full" rather than "shame-based" congregations. She also briefly introduced four types of shame: comparison, perfection, chronic illness, and sexual, all of which she covers in more detail in her book, "Shame-Less Lives, Grace-Full Congregations." If her book's anything like her lecture, it's worth reading.

That said, one could have walked away from her lecture (and perhaps after putting down her book) with the impression that the church is actually less psychologically healthy (i.e., more shame-based) than the world at large. Such an impression would be mistaken, however. As I've noted previously ("How Religion Benefits Everyone, Even Nonbelievers"), people of faith, on average, enjoy better mental and physical health than people with no faith. That is, they are more likely to happy, healthy, and live longer lives. Thus, churches (and synagogues, temples, and so on) must be doing something right.

Some More Biblical Humor

You can actually get the slide above as a refrigerator magnet from Ephemera.com

All He Knows How to Do?

There's a heartwarming story about San Jose State football player, Anthony Larceval, in yesterday's San Jose Mercury News ("A Spartan's Resolve"). It tells how Larceval contracted a rare disease, meningoencephalitis, in mid-December of last year. After a couple of days of flu-like symptoms, he collapsed and for five weeks he was in various states of consciousness. When he finally awoke in late January, missed his team's Military Bowl victory over Bowling Green, lost 40 pounds, had difficulty walking and talking, and was told by doctors that he wouldn't be able to play again for twelve months, which meant that he would miss his senior year. The good news is that Larceval beat the odds and will be able to play this season

One quote jumped out at me that gave me a little discomfort, though. Larceval remarked, "I've been playing football since I was 6 years old. This is all I know how to do." All he knows how to do? I sure hope not. He's a fifth-year senior in college, and I would like to believe that he's learned something while he's been at State because odds are he won't be playing football next year. I'm guessing Lacerval was just engaging in a bit of hyperbole (the article does say he will graduate and hopes to teach high school special education). At least I hope he was.

School's In for Summer

Back when I was a kid, school started on the Tuesday after Labor Day. Not anymore. My daughter starts next Monday (August 19th), and she has Freshman orientation tomorrow. One of her friends started today, and in some parts of the country, school's been back in session for a week or two (or more). It seems like we're slowly creeping toward little or no summer vacation. That'd be a shame. Kids only have so much time to be kids, and it appears that we're slowly taking a good chunk of their childhood away.