#tbt: Icona Pop — Do You Still Love It?

#tbt: Icona Pop — Do You Still Love It?

About a year ago, two well-known women “had this feeling on a summer day when you were gone” and then they “crashed their car into a bridge” and “watched” and “let it burn.” They “threw your sh*t into a bag and pushed it down the stairs” – Remember them? They didn’t...
The Beauty Is the Struggle, After All

The Beauty Is the Struggle, After All

Are you ever a little jealous of people that appeared to have it easy? I am! Over the years, as I have encountered particular Jesuits, friends, coworkers and family members gracefully walking a road to happy destiny, I am in awe of how daily struggles evaded them,...
Pope Cup 2014

Pope Cup 2014

Football fever is running high here at TJP.  Even though the Vatican has said that the game’s on well after normal papal bedtimes — and it’s a well known fact the that Benedict isn’t the world’s biggest sports fan — we’re holding out hope for a...
The Truth about Storytelling

The Truth about Storytelling

I come from a long line of storytellers, birthed from the dusty boots of coal mining Croatian immigrants. Those who hear these stories might think that the transplant home of the Biegler/Star family, Helper, Utah, is paradise. Story after story after story relates...
Wanted: Real Immigration Reform

Wanted: Real Immigration Reform

I don’t know how to feel about this latest episode in the long, convoluted, painfully overdue march toward comprehensive immigration reform. President Obama has announced that he will be using executive orders to do what he can to change existing immigration policies...
The World Cup By Day and By Night

The World Cup By Day and By Night

I love the World Cup. I love the Olympics. I especially love what they represent: Team meeting team, each under its own flag and anthem, competing and celebrating athleticism on an even playing field, an honor passed nation to nation. The exhilaration! The vigor! The...
The Seven Deadly Sins in the Digital Age

The Seven Deadly Sins in the Digital Age

Gluttony: Tweeting or posting pictures of your food Look, we all know where the sushi restaurant is located and what it serves. They have a website, and the menu is already made up of pictures. Hello, redundancy!   Greed: Getting the latest iDevice, even though...
Star Spangled Poetry

Star Spangled Poetry

It’s Independence Day—you know the drill. Throw on your American flag tank top and get ready for parades, watermelon, baseball, explosions, trips to the emergency room, and… poetry? Poetry, rap’s shy and occasionally awkward cousin, can offer a quirky...
Superstar

Superstar

A few weeks ago I stood with a wired shrieking crowd behind police barricades and watched as men and women stepped out of black sedans and black luxury trucks pulled up in front of a museum. In dark suits and epic gowns they walked beneath a white canopy and onto a...