Youth Need Values and Dreams

Anthropologist Scott Atran is one of the leading researchers on the question of why people turn toward violent extremism. He's spent a great deal of his career interviewing members of radical movements all over the globe, most recently Islamic State (also known as ISIS) members in Kirkuk, Iraq, and aspiring members in Barcelona and Paris. He recently addressed the United Nations Security Council on how to counter ISIS's disturbingly potent appeal to some people, and he provided some key insights, some of them a bit counterintuitive. Atran's entire address is worth watching.  It's titled, Youth Need Values and Dreams, Click here.

Two Winters in a Tipi

Mark Warren is a naturalist, composer, novelist, and director of Medicine Bow, a “primitive school of earthlore.” In the summer of 1989, a streak of lightning scorched his house and everything inside, so he moved into a tipi. He tells his story in Two Winters in a Tipi.  I loved this book and it's perfect for intermediate to advanced readers.  If you have a reluctant reader, this is a great read-aloud book.  It's a story of one man's search for the soul of the forest.  Mark is an amazing storyteller and he expertly weaves an intimate yarn that you will not be able to put down.  You'll love his dog, Elly.

Mark is a very wise man and has lived an admirable, adventurous, and rich life close to nature.  We can all learn a lot from him as to how we too can reconnect with ourselves by reconnecting to the natural rhythms of the wilderness.  The world needs more men and male teachers like Mr. Warren.  If I lived anywhere close to North Georgia, I would attend as many of his workshops as possible.

Click here to visit Mark's website.