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By Gregory Taggart, June 28, 2011 9:14 am

So what if you were just standing around and suddenly the person standing next to you suddenly began singing. Well, it might sound something like this:

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By Gregory Taggart, April 24, 2011 3:22 pm

Christ at Emmaus

One of them recoils
One buries his head in the Lord’s broad lap.

What would you do
if, mid-meal, light suddenly broke
from a body rather like your own

and a stranger suddenly became
in very flesh the friend you mourned?

You would be shocked, no doubt — horror,
amazement, joy, dismay competing,
no words available for the occasion.

You might embrace him, weeping, or grasp instead at some shred
of rationality while your pupils
contracted and your heart beat in your throat.

It might be harder than you think
to give up three days’ mourning,
memories already being edited and arranged.

The story had seemed complete.
Having a tale to tell, you might already
have found a way to tell it whole,
rich with mystery, rounded and
resonant with meaning.

You might have been ready
to go back home, tired of all that wandering,
ready to sit at the lakeside and take up
the nets again, writing a little, keeping
your counsel, sharing a parable now and then
with those who had seen him once,
who remembered the picnic on the hillside —
all that bread and fish.

You would have had to give up yet again
what you thought you had a right to claim.
Turns out he meant it — the promise
you’d already begun to turn to metaphor.

Here in dazzling flesh, leaning back
to let himself be seen, he leaves them no choice
but to lay aside sweet sorrow and cancel all their plans
for the aftermath.

from Drawn to the Light: Poems on Rembrandt’s Religious Paintings by Marilyn Chandler McEntyre.

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By Gregory Taggart, April 20, 2011 9:14 pm

Brazil has experienced so many failed coming out parties, that many people in the know are wary that the economic boom currently taking place in Central and South America’s largest country and strongest economy–and one of the four BRICs–will fail as well.

I don’t think so. This time it’s for real. I could point to all kinds of economic indicators to support my position. Instead, I’ll direct you to a YouTube video. But first, a little background.

Three years ago–February 2008 to be exact–my wife and I traveled to Brazil, her for the first time, me for my first visit since my two-year mission to that beautiful country back in 1971-73. I spent most of my time in Rio, though I also served in Vitoria, Espirito Santo, and in Joao Pessoa, Permanbuco. Janet and I spent 10 days in Rio. Among other things, we toured the Theatro Municipal, a beautiful building inspired by the Paris Opera of Charles Garnier. Though its previous beauty was obvious, the Theatro was in terrible condition due to years of neglect.

Today I was on the phone with Pedro Casotti of Rio Negocios, Rio’s business development agency. I asked him about the Theatro. “Were they ever going to refurbish it?”

They had already, he told me. I’d wondered about that ever since I’d read that President Obama gave a speech in the Theatro earlier this month. After we hung up, I searched YouTube for a video of the Theatro. What I discovered tells me that this time Brazil’s resurgence is for real. Watch the video. I think you’ll agree.

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By Gregory Taggart, April 3, 2011 10:56 pm

How does it compare with yours?

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By Gregory Taggart, March 26, 2011 12:15 pm

Jason Mitchell has an interesting story in Institutional Investor about the role of private equity in Brazil’s resurgence. It caught my eye because I served a two-year mission for my church in Brazil many years ago and fell in love with the country. My wife and I returned for a visit in February 2008 and hope to return again soon. In fact, my mission president has invited us to serve with him and his wife in the Campinas Temple.

Whether we’ll be able depends on a lot of things happening. We’ll see.

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By Gregory Taggart, March 1, 2011 9:23 pm

This story about Professor Clayton Christensen in Forbes magazine is impressive in no small part because the world-renown professor so effortlessly, so guilelessly shares the story of his battles with diabetes, a heart attack, cancer, and a stroke, aided by a great family and the strong conviction that God has and has had a plan for him.

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By Gregory Taggart, February 14, 2011 10:41 pm

No lift lines here:

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By Gregory Taggart, February 3, 2011 5:36 pm

Great little story from The New York Times about the theft–and eventual return–of a backyard chicken named Gertrude.

I can relate, well, not totally. Gertrude, the protagonist in the Times’ story, is a Rhode Island Red, my three dumb clucks are Buff Orpingtons. My chickens have never left the yard, while that’s the reason for Gertrude’s story in The Times.

You’ve never met my chickens? If you’ve been reading my blog, you actually have met them. If you haven’t been reading–and even if you have–here they are at a more mature age:

We’ve had them since they hatched about 10 months ago. And though they give certain meaning to the words chicken sh*t and dumb cluck, our backyard wouldn’t be the same without them, nor would our breakfast. After the initial investment for coop, food, and feeders, my Dumb Cluck #1, #2, and #3 almost pay for themselves.