Jason Lief

Iowa is a great place to be during an election year. Yes, the rest of the nation pisses and moans about Iowa getting to go first, but what do they know? Iowans are dismissed as monolithic, back water, goat herders,…

Star Wars has always been about family. From the very beginning Luke wondered about his father as he pushed against the domesticated life of his Uncle Owen. The Empire Strikes Back put parenting at the center of the story with…

Lately, it's easy to get caught up in either anxiety or rage. The speed of cultural change, and the inevitable backlash, leads to a permanent state of dis-orientation. As we get caught up in careers, family life, political campaigns, it's…

As I travel around the area talking about immigration reform, a common response is the fear the church will become too "political". I get it—we're living in trying times, where everyone is polarized and few are willing to listen. Both…

My most vivid memories of childhood involve Halloween. My brother and I would join our cousins walking the neighborhood to get as much candy as possible—always with the obligatory picture of all of us lined up on the couch, sweating…

I'm in the stage of life when watching movies is difficult. It's not just finding a block of uninterrupted time that's long enough, it's that I usually fall asleep in the middle. I guess I could try to watch standing…

Recently, I invited students to consider what it means to say God speaks through paper and ink. That somehow this book, with different authors and genres is God's word to us. Scripture points us to God's action in Jesus Christ,…

This past week the U.S. Justice Department instituted new rules pertaining to the detention of children and families at the southern border. The ruling changes the Flores settlement of 1997 that said children and families are to be held in…

Last weekend my family attended the Hinterland Music Festival. It takes place in St. Charles, Iowa—a small town just off I-35 about 20 minutes south of Des Moines. Three days of music, craft beer, and pretentious-ness. All in all, a…

Sitting at St. Paul Catholic Church in Marty, South Dakota, we (fifty young people and their youth leaders) listened as Sr. Miriam spoke about her time living among the Yankton Sioux. "Yankton" and "Sioux" aren't the names they prefer; they…