Category: Story

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Arguing About Empathy

Gary Furr

I do not engage in arguments that are not looking for common understanding, which would, of course, cancel the entire X-universe, but I have been intrigued to watch the hubbub over empathy. Rightwing political pastors jumped on the anti-empathy bandwagon (now, that is a strange one!). Reminds me of a pastor my mother told me about once who, after being criticized for being uncaring and not tending to his flock offered the explanation, “I was not given the gift of mercy.” I would at least consider in that case another line of work—used cars or televangelism come to mind. A … Continue reading Arguing About Empathy

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Welcome to Regrets

Gary Furr

“Welcome to Regrets” is a song that I wrote in 2014 with the great songwriter Pat Terry and my daughter Katie Furr, who gave me the original idea.  One day she said, “Dad, I have an idea for a song—a tattoo parlor in Brooklyn where old hipsters can go to get their tattoos removed.”  Great idea!  So I set out to write it.  Originally, I went for funny, and wrote all the “droopy tattoo” ideas you can imagine.  When I pitched this to Pat when we were together for him to lead a workshop, he suggested it had some rich … Continue reading Welcome to Regrets

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Being the Gospel

Gary Furr

It isn’t conservative, it isn’t Christian, it isn’t even the best of being American. What is this boiling pot of rage and hatred against the weakest and most frail of God’s children? How is it that we who bear Christ’s name are so indistinguishable from local culture and the latest bubbling fear? Time to go back, not to the beginnings we imagine them to be, but the foundations that, in fact, we may need to encounter afresh or for the very first time. “What is true in the position of the social activists is that a Church which exists only … Continue reading Being the Gospel

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Native Americans Sue to Reclaim American Land, Deport Europeans

Gary Furr

(IPS, Imaginary Press Release) The immigration crisis in the United States took an unexpected turn today when Native Americans launched a lawsuit to deport all European descendants from the US back to their homelands. Following recent Supreme Court decisions on immigration, leaders representing all the major tribes gathered at Little Big Horn to announce an impending lawsuit. They are seeking a lawsuit to remove all European Americans whose ancestors emigrated to this country illegally during the past 300 years, claiming that they had illegally squatted on tribal land, brought a plague of drug and alcohol abuse, took jobs that unemployed … Continue reading Native Americans Sue to Reclaim American Land, Deport Europeans