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Edith Stein and Laudato Si’: Recovering the Interior Life of Creation

Here’s a “study guide” and reflection to go along with these thoughts if you’re interested!

Most readers of Pope Francis’s Laudato Si’ approach it as an ecological document. It is that, of course. It gives us the vocabulary of “integral ecology,” names the Cry of the Earth Cry of the Poor (Leo Boff), and pushes Christians to confront the ecological devastation happening right in our backyards. But reading it alongside one of my favorite thinkers, Edith Stein (St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross), has helped me see the encyclical in a deeper light. It is not only a call for ecological reform. It is a call for a renewed way of perceiving the world.

Continue reading Edith Stein and Laudato Si’: Recovering the Interior Life of Creation

OpenAI’s ‘ChatGPT for Teachers

K-12 education in the United States is going to look VERY different in just a few short years…

OpenAI rolls out ‘ChatGPT for Teachers’ for K-12 educators:

OpenAI on Wednesday announced ChatGPT for Teachers, a version of its artificial intelligence chatbot that is designed for K-12 educators and school districts.

Educators can use ChatGPT for Teachers to securely work with student information, get personalized teaching support and collaborate with colleagues within their district, OpenAI said. There are also administrative controls that district leaders can use to determine how ChatGPT for Teachers will work within their communities.

The Wonder of Bodegas

I love bodegas and am always so happy to discover a new one, whether in New York City or Garden City, SC!

New York’s Bodegas Are Here to Stay – The New York Times:

Even if their hours and the items they stock on their shelves change, there is one thing that will perhaps never disappear from the bodega — the human touch.

“It’s the warmth that we give to our customers,” said Ms. Kim. “It’s very, very important that customers know that we see them and know that we’re there.”

End of Farmer’s Almanac (Not the Old One But Still)

I’m a huge fan of the Old Farmer’s Almanac (not the one shutting down), but still hate to see this.

A lesser-known Farmers’ Almanac will fold after 2 centuries, citing money trouble (AP):

The Farmers’ Almanac, not to be confused with its older, longtime competitor, The Old Farmer’s Almanac in neighboring New Hampshire, said Thursday that its 2026 edition will be its last. The almanac cited the growing financial challenges of producing and distributing the book in today’s “chaotic media environment.” Access to the online version will cease next month.

ChatGPT and Search Engines

Interesting numbers for Google, etc…

Are AI Chatbots Changing How We Shop? | Yale Insights:

A very recent study on this topic was conducted by a group of economists in collaboration with OpenAI’s Economic Research team. According to this paper, most ChatGPT usage falls into three categories, which the authors call practical guidance, seeking information, and writing. Notably, the share of messages classified as seeking information rose from 18% in July 2024 to 24% in June 2025, highlighting the ongoing shift from traditional web search toward AI-assisted search.

Lignin instead of OLED?

Fascinating… more things like this, please.

Scientists turn wood waste into glowing material for TVs and phones:

An eco-friendly substitute has been developed for the light-emitting materials used in modern display technologies, such as TVs and smartphones.

The new material uses a common wood waste product to create a greener future for electronics, removing toxic metals and avoiding complex, polluting manufacturing methods.

Researchers from Yale University and Nottingham Trent University have designed it.

Overnight at USS Yorktown with Ben

Ben and I are just getting back from his Scouts trip and overnight at the USS Yorktown in Charleston. I’ve been to the Yorktown several times over the years and have done overnight stays on the ship with middle school groups I’ve taught, but getting to spend the last few days with my son on board was such a great experience.

Sitting in the theater watching The Fighting Lady: The Lady And The Sea (1945) with him last night and hearing how silent and engaged all the boys were during the movie about the ship’s early role in WWII was incredibly moving (warning, there’s some ethnic and racial slurs in the film as was the style of the time, but it’s still an interesting timepiece).

I’m also glad to see Gov. McMaster taking seriously the ongoing pollution from the aging ship and working on ways to remediate some of it to protect the incredible beauty and diversity of Charleston Harbor’s ecosystem, which was in the news this week! We enjoyed watching the dolphins play in the water this morning, and I hope that unique area thrives for many more decades and centuries to come.

Plasma Consciousness: Thinking With the Luminous Universe

Some nights here in Spartanburg, when the humidity settles like a gentle hand on the earth and the sky finally exhales after a hot Carolina day, I go outside to stand beneath the walnut tree. There’s a particular quiet that isn’t silence at all. It hums. It holds. It feels charged, like something is speaking in a language older than breath.

That stillness always reminds me: we don’t live in a dead universe.

Continue reading Plasma Consciousness: Thinking With the Luminous Universe

The Great Work Ahead of Us

Worth the time to read and process… The Great Work (to invoke Thomas Berry here) ahead of us is daunting. Still, we have the opportunity to create something where human and the more-than-human are encouraged not only to survive but to thrive (together), ultimately, if we only speak up… 

Is This Rock Bottom?:

So yes, the fights over SNAP, ACA subsidies, and shutdowns matter — but they’re symptoms, not causes. You don’t get 40 million people needing food aid and 100 million drowning in medical debt because of one bad president or one unlucky decade. You get there because the institutions that were supposed to protect the public spent decades serving somebody else.

An Ecology of the Cross Audio Reflection

Here’s my audio reflection on Marder’s thought technology of “The Ecology of Thought”… it’s a really powerful notion. This is from my regular tracking and tree-sit journal with a black walnut that I’ve grown to love and learn from daily.

Mullins Church Celebrates 250th Anniversary

I grew up in Mullins and attended Little Bethel Baptist down the street from Gapway Baptist, but have been to Gapway many times over the years (and my best friend Eric lived beside the church growing up, so we used the grounds as our staging area for Voltron and Transformer and He-Man adventures)… congrats on 250 years and here’s to the next 250!

‘A Blessing’: Mullins church celebrates 250th year during Homecoming service | WBTW:

Sunday’s service at the Gapway Baptist Church in Mullins looked a little different as worshippers celebrated 250 years of service and community.

The church was founded in 1775 and has continued to stand strong. On Sunday, lifelong members, new members and former members filled its pews for the homecoming service.

Boomer Ellipsis…

As a PhD student… I do a lot of writing. I love ellipses, especially in Canvas discussions with Professors and classmates as I near the finish line of my coursework. 

I’m also a younger Gen X’er / Early Millennial (born in ’78 but was heavily into tech and gaming from the mid-80’s because my parents were amazingly tech-forward despite us living in rural South Carolina). The “Boomer Ellipsis” take makes me very sad since I try not to use em dashes as much as possible now due to AI… and now I’m going to be called a boomer for using… ellipsis.

Let’s just all write more. Sigh. Here’s my obligatory old man dad emoji 👍

On em dashes and elipses – Doc Searls Weblog:

While we’re at it, there is also a “Boomer ellipsis” thing. Says here in the NY Post, “When typing a large paragraph, older adults might use what has been dubbed “Boomer ellipses” — multiple dots in a row also called suspension points — to separate ideas, unintentionally making messages more ominous or anxiety-inducing and irritating Gen Z.” (I assume Brooke Kato, who wrote that sentence, is not an AI, despite using em dashes.) There is more along the same line from Upworthy and NDTV.

On Whale Poop

I learned something new today…

Impact of baleen whales on ocean primary production across space and time | PNAS:

Whales have long been suggested to enhance ocean productivity by recycling essential nutrients, yet their quantitative impact on primary production has remained uncertain. Our study quantifies nutrient release via feces and urine by baleen whales in high-latitude feeding grounds and evaluates its impact on primary production using ecosystem models. Results indicate that whales enhance ocean productivity, particularly in offshore regions where nutrients are scarce, leading to cascading effects on the food web. These findings highlight the ecological importance of whale-mediated nutrient cycling and emphasize the role of whale populations in sustaining productive and resilient marine ecosystems.

Magnolias Over Ballrooms

I’d rather have a magnolia or most any vegetal kin over a ballroom to honor my memory, but that’s just me…

Trump Rips Out Presidents’ Historic Trees for New Ballroom:

Satellite imagery shows that six trees, including southern magnolias commemorating presidents Warren G. Harding and Franklin D. Roosevelt, were axed or removed from the White House grounds this week as Trump abruptly demolished the East Wing.

OpenAI’s Sky for Mac

This is going to be one of those acquisition moments we look back on in a few years (months?) and think “wow! that really changed the game!” sort of like when Google acquired Writely to make Google Docs…

OpenAI’s Sky for Mac wants to be your new work buddy and maybe your boss | Digital Trends:

So, OpenAI just snapped up a small company called Software Applications, Inc. These are the folks who were quietly building a really cool AI assistant for Mac computers called “Sky.”

Integral Plasma Ecology: Toward a Cosmological Theology of Energy and Relation

I’m talking about plasma and ecology a little more… there’s a lot here that needs to be explored.

Abstract

This paper develops the concept of Integral Plasma Ecology as a framework that bridges physics, cosmology, and ecological theology through a process-relational lens. Drawing from Alfred North Whitehead’s cosmology, Teilhard de Chardin’s evolutionary mysticism, and Thomas Berry’s integral ecology, I propose that plasma, the most abundant and least understood state of matter in the cosmos, can serve as a metaphysical and theological metaphor for participatory consciousness and relational ecology. My background in physics education informs this exploration, as I integrate scientific understandings of plasma’s dynamics with phenomenological and theological insights from Merleau-Ponty, Edith Stein, and Leonardo Boff. The result is a vision of reality as a living field of plasma-like relationality, charged with energy, consciousness, and divine creativity.

Continue reading Integral Plasma Ecology: Toward a Cosmological Theology of Energy and Relation

Connecting Churches with the Communities in Our Distracted Age

I don’t like the “consumers” language for ontological and theological reasons, but the intent is still helpful. He’s not wrong here… and it’s something that nonprofits and churches could learn as well if they want to get past the noise and have meaningful engagement with their communities.

Connecting with the Consumer in a Distracted Age | Yale Insights:

Consumers are overwhelmed a bit with the paradox of information available to them today. We’re in this environment where you have every song available on your phone yet there’s never anything to listen to. You have every show available on your TV, and there’s nothing to watch. You have every food available for delivery, and there’s nothing to eat.

So as brands are trying to reach these consumers with messages—when they have access to everything and often don’t pay attention to all the inbound messages—it’s hard to cut through.

Marketing That Happens is essentially the hack. It’s how you get people to engage. It involves taking your brand beyond the walls of paid media to leverage the power of earned media, organic social media, and creativity to create something interesting enough and relevant enough to talk about. Marketing That Happens is about a creative standard of higher engagement. It’s about people self-selecting and “opting in” to your brand’s content—and seeking it out themselves—because it’s interesting to them, given its context, cultural relevance, and the uniqueness of the core creative idea.

Prompt Injection Attacks and ChatGPT Atlas

Good points here by Simon Willison about the new ChatGPT Atlas browser from OpenAI…

Introducing ChatGPT Atlas:

I’d like to see a deep explanation of the steps Atlas takes to avoid prompt injection attacks. Right now it looks like the main defense is expecting the user to carefully watch what agent mode is doing at all times!