The Christian Century

So it sounds like Tony Perkins--whose relative civility we both acknowledged and declined to be overly impressed by last week--will accept a dinner invitation from gay rights activist Jennifer Chrisler, who is married to a woman. Chrisler's invitation to Perkins followed Dan Savage's to Brian Brown, of the anti-same-sex-marriage National Organization for Marriage.

Chicago-based artist Michael Rakowitz is opening a food-truck this week, a date set to coincide with the ninth anniversary of the beginning of the Iraq War.

Through his project Enemy Kitchen, Rakowitz has been using Iraqi food and culture to break down cultural barriers for several years. He is launching the food truck as part of the Smart Museum of Art's new exhibit called "Feast: Radical Hospitality in Contemporary Art."

My local Starbucks—and probably yours too—has a large sign on each door that proclaims, "Take comfort in rituals." When I'm being cynical, I read it as a multinational company preying on our cultural longing for meaning by suggesting we can buy happiness with a $4 cup of coffee.