Craig's Corner

Last month as I drove from Los Angeles to Minneapolis I spent several hours crossing through Iowa. It was days before the Caucuses and the national media had parked themselves throughout the state. Several of the candidates had been active in the state for years. I was tempted to pull into Des Moines and sit at a diner and claim to be an undecided farmer just to see the circus reaction…but I’m more comfortable in the role of blogger than agitpropist... though some may say they’re not all that different! Inauguration Day is just about a year away – Sunday, January 20, 2013. In the next year political prognosticating will consume Cable TV, newspapers, magazines and terabits of data on the Net. Candidates from dog catcher to President will make this the most expensive electoral season ever, with predictions that the race for the White House alone exceeding a billion dollars. The end result will look a lot like what exists today: a deeply and sharply divided country. In 2010 the...

I’m Church shopping. It doesn’t have quite the same impact as racing out at midnight for a Black Friday sale, but there are more similarities than you’d think. There’s not too much pushing and shoving, but window shoppers like me are eyed warily by the shopkeepers. I’m looking for certain specific liturgical traditions inside of my life long denomination but I’m equally interested in finding a community of people to connect with in my new city. It’s an interesting process and allows me to evaluate whether I’m drawn to a particular type of service out of habit and tradition, or out of spiritual fulfillment. Much as I miss my home Parish, I get to choose my Church, a wonderful opportunity. After last week’s decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, however, religious institutions are now able to choose the people they welcome. Religious institutions can now legally discriminate. Discriminate is a loaded word and implies judgment. The New York Times reported that  the Court ma...

I have talked about the weather more in the brief time I’ve lived in Minnesota more than I ever did in California. Maybe it’s because it’s easy small talk or more likely because it’s something that has a very real impact on everybody’s day to day existence. My lack of practice in the subject could be because Los Angeles is perceived has not having weather while the Twin Cities are famed for their winters. Not this year. We’re in the midst of the mildest winter here in recent memory with daytime highs in the 50s in a city used to sub-zero January’s. I have taken credit for bringing the warm weather with me. Maybe Al Gore is right – and Global Warming is the reason? His Oscar winning documentary “An Inconvenient Truth” laid out a powerful narrative about how the climate has changed globally. Relax, I’m not going to argue against nor deny climate change. Perspective in today’s hyper-partisan country (and world) is all about how an issue is framed than its basis in facts. From ...

Living in a hotel has its perks. Everything you needs is provided: kitchenette, desk, bureau, bed, TV and recliner. Housekeeping comes by weekly and there’s laundry on site. Utilities are included. They even plow the road. Pricing is good as tourism in January in Minnesota is low. It’s a perfect solution for me moving to a new city on short notice. It gives me the opportunity to discover the Twin Cities on my timetable before making the big determination as to where I’ll settle. Imagine my surprise, then, to learn that where I ultimately settle has as much to do with government regulation as with my own personal preferences. I thought Los Angeles’ regulation of hedge height and West Hollywood’s house color palette recommendations was intrusive. As of January 1 West St. Paul, MN has a new ordinance that limits the number of rental units in certain geographic areas of the city. It’s a variable on neighboring towns which cap rentals at 30% of housing inventory. Rental un...