Public Spaces

Arabic is Nashville’s third most-spoken language, and around 80% of its speakers are Coptic Christians. Unlike members of almost every other U.S. Coptic community, most of Nashville’s Copts are working-class people. Yet most of these working-class Egyptian Christians are invisible to most other Nashville residents.This invisibility is disempowering and deliberate. Competing and flattening narratives from liberals and conservatives and even many U.S. Coptic Orthodox clergy members tend to discourage Nashville’s Copts from organizing and from participating in mutual aid.Enter Elmahaba Center, an independent Coptic community organization founded in 2019 by Lydia Yousief. It serves all of Nashville’s Arabic-speaking immigrants, refugees, and their children—and anyone else in town who asks for help. Elmahaba offers mutual aid, tutoring, college prep classes, art classes, civic engagement, case management, livestream informational sessions for new immigrants, Arabic and English classes, and an oral history project. Elmahaba Center also creates and sponsors art and cultural events around Nashville. (Because they’re Middle Tennessee’s only Arabic community organization, the’ll create and sponsor other programs as needs arise.)Elmahaba Center is unique because of its focus on an unserved community—the Arabic-speaking working class. Learn how Elmahaba Center navigates false and deficient narratives to support Coptic and Muslim working-class solidarity, often against the wishes of the workers’ religious clerics. Learn how Elmahaba’s leadership does so by living out a vibrant Coptic Orthodox faith.You’ll hear from Lydia, from two volunteers (well, three, counting me), and from Anthropology Professor Candace Lukasik, who has written about Elmahaba’s work in her recent book Martyrs and Migrants. You’ll hear parishoners singing in a Nashville Coptic Orthodox Church and volunteers talking about their work as they hand out diapers to Nashville’s young Arabic-speaking families.My thanks to Keria Nashed and Lydia for meeting with me and to Lydia for being my guide to the liturgy during my visit to Nashville’s St. George’s Coptic Orthodox Church. Get full access to Political Devotions at www.polidevo.com/subscribe

The genuine article, and with the video. — BryceCoptic Christians who have moved from their Egyptian homeland to the United States face an unusual quandary. Since 2015, they have become for many American politicians and churches stark evidence of worldwide Christian persecution. But the dominant culture—including some of these same politicians and churches—in practice often categorizes Copts as the undesirable Other. Although Copts practice the most ancient extant expression of Christianity, many Americans find its liturgy illegible. And though many Copts left Egypt under the threat of persecution, many Americans cannot distinguish them from Muslim migrants from the Middle East and North Africa.How do Coptic migrants navigate between these narratives of exemplary martyrs and undesirable migrants? I interview anthropologist Candace Lukasik, who writes about these issues in her new book published by NYU Press, Martyrs and Migrants: Coptic Christians and the Persecution Politics of US Empire.I met Dr. Lukasik last fall at the Political Theology Network’s biannual conference in Nashville. She co-facilitated our section “Up/Rootedness” about place and migration, themes dear to my heart. After choosing the section, I found that I had migrated to a land of anthropologists, and I got a three-day practicum there on ways that anthropology can inform political theology (and vice versa).At first, our section seemed a bit like an Indiana Jones convention, full of professors who early in their respective movies seemed to trade in their tweed jackets and classrooms for fedoras and foreign fieldwork. Presenters discussed their extensive and often dangerous work in places such as Kashmir, the Columbian Amazon, Turkey, Lebanon, Israel/Palestine, and Egypt.I discuss some of that anthropological adventure notion with Dr. Lukasik, who has a different perspective. For her, anthropology is both an intellectual and a spiritual practice, and it backgrounds any distance and difference between her work at the university and in the field. While reading her book and interviewing her, I found that anthropology also has led her to remarkable friendships, a subtler and more gracious view of the world, and a conversion to the Coptic Orthodox faith.The video interview is lavishly punctuated with several of Dr. Lukasik’s striking photos from her fieldwork (see Photos & timestamps below).I hope the interview inspires your own desire to cross borders and to learn from and support those you find on the other side.Topics & timestamps00:30 — Setting the scene of Martyrs and Migrants: the Copts as a Christian minority in Egypt and as an Egyptian minority in the United States; the Copts in the U.S. being understood as persecuted Christians and Middle-Eastern Other01:35 — Lukasik’s book summary: What has migration to the West done for and to the Copts? What light does the Copts’ struggle shed on geopolitical issues? What issues about the practice of Christianity today do the Copts’ experiences raise?04:30 — What drew Lukasik to her work with the Copts in Egypt and in the U.S.? Her background, her trip as a teen for an Arabic language program and her discovery of Coptic Christianity and its “in-between-ness” within Christianity.06:30 — Her trips to Egypt and slow discovery of migration’s effects on the Coptic tradition07:10 — Her growing relations with Coptic friends and families; her description of her fieldwork, particularly during the violence of 201709:00 — The effect of the martyrdom of the twenty Egyptian Christians and one Ghanaian in Libya in 2015 and subsequent violence in Egypt had on her ongoing work12:00 — The effect of images of this violence on the Coptic diaspora and on transnational relations among Copts13:10 — How fieldwork affects her teaching; how she presents anthropology to perspective students; how she has come to understand the interplay of classroom and fieldwork (versus Bryce’s “Indiana Jones” theory of the professor with the adventurous side students hear about but don’t experience); anthropology as attending to the messiness of the world19:10 — The blend of her spiritual and intellectual journey involving her classroom, her research, and her fieldwork, including her conversion to Coptic Orthodoxy20:45 — How the situations of Coptic Christians and Palestinian Christians compare with respect to the powerful Christian persecution narrative and the applicability of Lukasik’s concept of an “economy of blood.” The nature of narratives that make a people visible to empire.24:50 — The “economy” of the “economy of blood” and the “blood” of the “economy of blood”; the “economy of blood” through theological and political lenses29:20 — How asylum law as practiced with Coptic petitioners often differs from other, less legible Middle Eastern Christian petitioners because of the economy of blood32:00 — The tension between the Christian persecution narrative and the need for specific harm in Coptic asylum application hearings to create legibility before the law35:12 — Copts work in law enforcement often to create visibility within the police forces for Copts in the community and to help the forces differentiate between Copts and Egyptian Muslims. Copts work in law enforcement often in an attempt to keep Copts from being seen as the Other.39:10 — Copts in law enforcement are somewhat like Irish emigres working for law enforcement to become legible as part of their new American community. A group’s distinction from Dangerous Others is part of becoming American.40:42 — How the Coptic Orthodox Church serves as the governments’ point of contact with its Coptic population in both Egypt and in places like Nashville, Tennessee. The causes and downsides of such relationships: the church wants to play to the role that the broader geography expects of it, but that role is challenged by the needs and perspectives of poor and working-class Copts.44:12 — The innovative work of Lydia Yousief and the Elmahaba Center in Nashville in community organizing and community support, work that makes up for the inattention to new Coptic migrants by the Coptic Church in Nashville46:12 — The first Coptic migrants came to Nashville to build the next phase of Opryland46:52 — How Tyson Foods covered up the exposure of Coptic workers to COVID; how the church discouraged the Tyson workers from unionizing and from forming coalitions with other migrant workers47:22 — Elmahaba Center interrupts the neoliberal emphasis on who are—and who are not—members of the Body of Christ by emphasizing community needs and the need for different perspectives that a community carriesPhotos & timestamps00:31 — Cover of Martyrs and Migrants05:44 — Candace Lukasik in 2009, visiting around 40 monasteries over four days with a Coptic Orthodox youth group in Cairo09:36 — Coptic martyr blood behind glass at the Coptic Cathedral in Cairo16:34 — An image on martyrdom in a Coptic church that Dr. Lukasik used in her class the day before the video. The image is from the bombing near Saint Mark’s Orthodox Coptic Cathedral in Cairo in December 2016.17:56 — An image on martyrdom in a Coptic church that Dr. Lukasik used in her class the day before the video. The image is from a commemoration room at the Cathedral for the 21 martyrs of Libya.19:31 — Bahjūra from a rooftop26:43 — Image from a church in Upper Egypt. It might be seen as a metaphor for thinking about the economy as part of inclusion in the Body and reflection of the outside27:44 — U.S. and Egyptian flags in a Staten Island home29:07 — A Coptic Church in Jersey City30:37 — One of the computers Copts use in Upper Egypt to enter in Green Card Lottery information31:06 — A white board where Coptic migrants take their photos to apply to the Green Card Lottery in Upper Egypt37:28 — “Honeywell Security / Proud to be a Coptic American”: issues of security and inclusion43:47 — An image of St. Mina in a Nashville gas station where Copts work Get full access to Political Devotions at www.polidevo.com/subscribe

You live in a neighborhood that’s been overlooked and oppressed for years. Neighbors are turning against neighbors, refusing to lend money or otherwise help one another out. Your neighborhood is a joke to the larger community. “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”Come and see four inner-city neighborhoods in Birmingham, Alabama. Or hear them, rather, in this 18-minute podcast episode.Gerrel Jones has discovered Jesus as an effective community organizer, and his Renew Birmingham and its extraordinary team of staff members and volunteers are putting Jesus’s community-building principles to work in the four poorest neighborhoods in Birmingham. Renew’s story, its approach and its outcomes will challenge you to help communities in new ways—and perhaps to understand Jesus and his mission in new ways, too.Above: Gerrel Jones, Renew Birmingham Founder and Executive DirectorResources:Makes Me Wanna Holler: A Young Black Man in America by Nathan McCallGerrel’s plug for Makes Me Wanna Holler:Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor E. FranklGerrel’s plug for Man’s Search for Meaning:Jesus and the Politics of Roman Palestine by Richard A. HorsleyJesus and the Politics provides an excellent theological and historical framework for understanding Jesus’s work as a community organizer.From the publisher: “Learning from anthropological studies of the more subtle forms of peasant politics, Horsley discerns from these sources how Jesus, as a Moses- and Elijah-like prophet, generated a movement of renewal in Israel that was focused on village communities.”Renew Birmingham’s websiteConnective Tissue’s great interview of Gerrel JonesAbove: Jason Williams, Renew Birmingham Youth Program Director Get full access to Political Devotions at www.polidevo.com/subscribe

Wes Tank of Milwaukee and Dewey Tron of Arlington, Virginia have left traditional, corporate video directing behind in favor of showcasing their cities’ neighborhoods. As government funding for traditional public media and secondary media classes becomes uncertain, could such private media expertise at the local and micro-local levels create new means of audio and video expression in public spaces?Above: Still from Reimagine Milwaukee Day | Imagine MKE, video by Wes Tank.Our first video episode includes a ten-minute introduction highlighting Wes’s and Dewey’s community video work. The episode moves into an hour-long conversation among Wes, Dewey, and Bryce about their media work, their communities’ needs, and the trends in media production that affect communities at the neighborhood level. The conversation is also sprinkled with relevant portions of more media from these local talents, Dewey and Wes.Wes owns Tank Think, a media production company that supports Milwaukee’s arts, literacy, government, health, and social justice. He also co-owns with Sara Daleiden the Washington Park Media Center, which trains neighborhood media people through an audio-visual club and mentoring. Catch Wes’s Vimeo channel for his professional videos and his YouTube channel for his more insane videos, including his viral videos setting Dr. Seuss’s work to rap. You can watch the complete version of Reimagine Milwaukee Day / Imagine MKE here.Dewey is a director at Studio PAUSE, which serves two communities in Arlington with art studios, galleries, and educational centers for the public. Dewey has documented the diverse Columbia Pike corridor for many years as a member of the Columbia Pike Documentary Project. He recently directed the “We Are Barcroft” video series celebrating the lives of several Barcroft residents from different backgrounds. Check out his work on his professional site as well as his experimental work on his YouTube channel. You can watch the complete version of the Columbia Pike Documentary Project Video here.Above: still from Nazneen Aktar — Like a memory in a frame from the “We Are Barcroft” oral history video series by Dewey Tron.Above: Still from Reimagine Milwaukee Day | Imagine MKE, video by Wes Tank.Above, still from Ronald J. Smith — The thing I learned to do is relax from the “We Are Barcroft” oral history video series by Dewey Tron. Get full access to Political Devotions at www.polidevo.com/subscribe

(18-min. podcast episode.) Several American cities have done rails to trails projects. In many ways, Milwaukee’s Beerline Trail is like most of the projects. Train service through Milwaukee’s Northeast industrial corridor left, so Milwaukee has turned its tracks into an attractive trail for walking and biking, and the residents and city are still working on it. Get full access to Political Devotions at www.polidevo.com/subscribe

The Columbia Pike Documentary Project invites us to encounter one of the most diverse communities in the world. With people speaking over a hundred languages living together with little in the way of ethnic enclaves, Columbia Pike in Arlington offers what may be a unique experience in diversity.In this 18-minute podcast episode, I interview project team members Sushmita Mazumdar, Dewey Tron, and Lloyd Wolf about what drives them to document life on the Pike in videos, books, talks, and exhibitions. This episode has some great stories and insights about how a living diversity can make public life richer.Above: Columbia Pike at Walter Reed during the 2024 Columbia Pike Blues FestivalNow in its 18th year, the documentary project has other goals besides letting the world beyond Columbia Pike in on this life-changing diverse community. The project* Holds a mirror to the various neighborhoods of Columbia Pike to help them understand themselves another way—as a single, beautiful community* Welcomes immigrants and validates their place in our society* Celebrates the activities of the various nationalities along Columbia Pike* Documents the Pike’s constantly shifting demographics and changing streetscapes for future researchAbove: my students work with materials on the walls from the Columbia Pike Documentary ProjectHere are some resources about Columbia Pike and the Columbia Pike Documentary Project, most of which are referred to in the podcast:The Columbia Pike Documentary Project websiteThe Columbia Pike Documentary Project videoWebsite for the book Transitions: The Columbia Pike Documentary ProjectWebsite for the book Columbia Pike Recipes for Recovery: Restaurant Stories from Around the World in One Zip CodeThe City of Stories project webpageAbove: Columbia Pike PlazaMusic and sound effects used with permission from BBC Sound Effects. bbc.co.uk – © copyright 2025 BBC.My thanks to Lloyd Wolf, Dewey Tron, and Sushmita Mazumdar for the generous gift of their time, stories, and insights.Above: car parked on S Highland StreetAbove: Lloyd Wolf talks to some of my students in his capacity as our Arlington project’s expert (more tireless volunteer work that Lloyd does for the Columbia Pike community) Get full access to Political Devotions at www.polidevo.com/subscribe

20-minute podcast episode. Our neighborhoods are most often like America’s Third Coast, a flyover region on our way to home or work. What would it take for our neighborhoods — urban, suburban, rural, small-town — to become as vital to us as our home or work?Sara Daleiden works on the Third Coast, literally and metaphorically. She facilitates Milwaukee neighborhoods that wish to transform their public landscapes. She’s actually bicoastal, splitting most of her time between Milwaukee and Los Angeles; hence the name of her media strategy and production agency, MKE LAX. Besides media production, Sara’s work involves organizational, economic, and community development.But mostly her work involves listening to land and people.Above: Sara DaleidenSara can feel like she moves between two cities even without leaving Milwaukee. These cities are stereotyped as “Black Milwaukee” and “white Milwaukee.” Besides racial tension, Milwaukee has suffered from the end of large-scale manufacturing and brewing over the last half century, turning many Milwaukee neighborhoods inward. Sara and her governmental and corporate partners serve some of these neighborhoods, and their service includes guiding citizens in democratic processes to discover their neighborhood’s public callings.Recently, I interviewed Sara at her media center in Milwaukee to learn how she helps to create public spaces. Our 90-minute talk was one of the richest I’ve ever had. I’ve curated our talk into a 20-minute podcast episode.If you’re interested in what it might take to make your neighborhood (outside of your home) a destination for you and your neighbors, including strangers, you’ll enjoy this podcast.In a separate episode, Public Spaces will explore the Beerline Trail, formerly an old rail line that once served Milwaukee’s historic beer industry. The community turned the rail line into a linear park, which is in use but is still in development. The trail intersects two adjoining neighborhoods that historically have kept apart because of differing demographics. MKE LAX helps to facilitate this project.Here are the resources mentioned in the episode (and some other resources):“The Milwaukee Movie” video by Mark EscribanoBlack Landscapes Matter, edited by Walter Hood and Grace Mitchell TadaThe Beerline Trail websiteRural Urban Flow’s websiteSara Daleiden’s page on the Homeworks: Bronzeville siteThe three above photos: a home, a shop, and light manufacturing near Milwaukee’s Beerline TrailStatic sound effects used with permission from BBC Sound Effects. bbc.co.uk – © copyright 2024 BBC.Our thanks to A. Wesley Chung for the licensed use of “An Evening” from Uppbeat. License code: TNIQXHGVV47YMDZC. Get full access to Political Devotions at www.polidevo.com/subscribe

11-minute podcast episode. What could liturgy and mutual aid have in common? Both are actions that, when done creatively, give all parties the freedom to respond in life-giving ways and to discover themselves in community.This the second of two podcast episodes about a small Arlington church that sold its building and land at a discount to make way for Gilliam Place, a six-story affordable-housing building.The first episode examines the 12-year democratic process that resulted in the sale and, at the same time, transformed Arlington Presbyterian Church from an introverted destination church to an outgoing community church.Above: Rev. Ashley Goff leads a portion of a service at Arlington Presbyterian this past springThis second episode covers what happened to Arlington Presbyterian soon after they began renting a ground-floor suite in Gilliam Place, their old space newly transformed. Spoiler alert: Covid happened. With Covid, a different process started, one just as democratic and covenantal as the one that got them from "no" to "yes" on the land and building sale. But the process during covid wasn't procedural. It was improvisational.Victoria and I interview the church’s pastor, Ashley Goff, who explains the cross-pollination among liturgy, community organizing, improv, and social transformation. We also interview Susan Robbins Etherton, a longstanding church member who helped to guide the church to its new meeting place and self-understanding.Above: some of the folks at Arlington PresbyterianOur thanks to Matrika for the licensed use of “When We Were Young” from Uppbeat. License code: QE0XDGAX1L4G84BZ.Above: our daughter Bethany at the entrance to the church’s new space at Gilliam PlaceIn the episode, I cite these two sources:Kohn, Jerome. “Introduction.” In Responsibility and Judgment, by Hannah Arendt. New York: Schocken, 2003, xxiii.Madson, Patricia Ryan. Improv Wisdom: Don’t Prepare, Just Show Up. New York: Bell Tower, 2005, 15. Get full access to Political Devotions at www.polidevo.com/subscribe

26-minute podcast episode. Most Arlington teachers can’t afford to live in Arlington. While Victoria and I were teaching there, we met teachers and other school staff members who were fortunate to find affordable housing at Gilliam Place, a relatively new, six-story apartment building at the corner of Columbia Pike and South Lincoln Street.The idea for Gilliam Place came at a retreat in 2009, when some members of Arlington Presbyterian celebrated the church’s centennial by seeking guidance for the future. During the retreat, they thought that they had found it: the church would sell its building and property along Columbia Pike to make way for affordable housing.But when they returned from the retreat, the congregation said no. That “no” started the church members on a remarkable, twelve-year journey of covenantal and democratic practice that led to Gilliam Place. This public journey also was the most spiritually transformative experience several people say they’ve ever had.The church sold their property at a discount to Arlington Partnership for Affordable Housing, which built Gilliam Place. The church now meets in a modern buildout on Gilliam Place’s retail level.This podcast episode tells the remarkable story of how Gilliam Place came about and what happened to the Arlington Presbyterian members who stuck with the process.Above: Susan Robbins Etherton and VictoriaThe episode includes interviews with Susan Robbins Etherton and Jon Etherton, longtime members of Arlington Presbyterian who helped to steer the congregation through the process. Church members used democratic practice that embodies values and skills such as getting to know their neighbors, listening, becoming reflective and resilient, remaining transparent, and accepting “no” as well as “yes.”Above: Jon EthertonVictoria and I also interview the church’s pastor, Ashley Goff, who responded to her call to the church at a critical juncture. Gilliam Place was under construction, the church was meeting in a temporary space, and the congregation was grieving the loss of a significant minority of longtime congregants who chose not to accompany the church in its new direction.Above: our daughter Bethany enjoys the Adirondack chars in Arlington Presbyterian’s gardenThe episode explores the church’s slow (but nimble) democratic process and the spiritual fruit gained by those who participated in it.Above: Part of the Columbia Pike community gets together for a blues festival a few blocks east of Gilliam Place and Arlington Presbyterian Church this past summerOur thanks to Rahul Popawala for the licensed use of “Bhupali Raag Teen Taal” from Uppbeat. License code: BNS6H8ZOFUKYM0GI.Above: Gilliam Place from our apartment building (Westmont Apartments) along Columbia Pike Get full access to Political Devotions at www.polidevo.com/subscribe

Last year, two of my classes remixed prominent public messages in Arlington to critique them. Their model was Zaq Landsberg’s sculpture Reclining Liberty, a remix of the Statue of Liberty that has found her new site-specific home among Arlington’s permanent monuments celebrating freedom and public life.News shows in D.C. and New York City discussed why her pose resembles the reclining Buddha and why people can climb on this version of Lady Liberty. But my Arlington Tech students and I had other reasons for interviewing Landsberg. Landsberg graciously gave us two interviews (one for each class) over the course of an hour. He spoke with us about his approach to art, remixes, history, public reactions, and public spaces. This 17-minute podcast episode contains a lot of content from these exclusive interviews as well as remarks from Ms. Blair Murphy, the curator at Museum of Contemporary Art Arlington who worked with Landsberg to bring Reclining Liberty to the museum’s front lawn.Above: some of my students climb on Reclining Liberty during our field tripPacking up in the exurbs a year ago this month, I took Reclining Liberty's move to Arlington the same month as a sign. Victoria and I would be examining public life in our new town, and Reclining Liberty would be here, too, as a conversation starter about the nature and future of freedom in America.It was great honor to develop curriculum around this statue last year.Above: sculptor Zaq Landsberg at an artists’ talk in Arlington this past April.Above: my daughter Bethany and I visit Reclining LibertyMy thanks to Zaq Landsberg for permission to use his interview for this podcast episode. My thanks also to Light Patterns for the licensed use of “Art of Play” from Uppbeat. Get full access to Political Devotions at www.polidevo.com/subscribe

20-minute episode. In 2007, three recent college grads had no intention of starting Casa Chirilagua. But it happened. Casa now serves more than 100 families with after-school programs, mentorships, adult classes, and leadership development in Arlandria, a largely Latino community just south of Arlington that the first Salvadorian immigrants nicknamed Chirilagua.The three grads moved into one of the community’s worst apartment complexes and started learning from their new community.While they moved in to learn, they moved in also to break out of an individualistic, middle-class evangelicalism and to meet the public God. And they wanted to find out what “love your neighbor” really means.This episode starts with Victoria’s realization that she doesn’t want to live her life as just a spectator. She watches Ethiopian parents and children dancing at her school’s cultural festival, and she suddenly longs to be part of a community of public participants.Matt Pritchard, a college pastor who has helped to start a number of intentional communities, including Casa, discusses his own journey to living purposefully with others and the journey of the three young women, Dawnielle Miller, Julia Simerly, and Emily Mancia, whom he supported as they started their intentional community in Chirilagua.Kate Denson, Casa’s Director of Volunteer Engagement, talks about Casa’s early days. When three of her friends started an intentional community in Chirilagua, she was helping to start one in Anacostia and was keeping in touch with them.Adriana Gómez Schellhaas, A 2022 Washingtonian of the Year and until recently Casa’s Executive Director, explains why Casa Chirilagua as a resource is secondary to Chirilagua as a creative, resilient, and generous community. She shares how her own home in Chirilagua helps to keep her grounded in a central tenet of her faith—loving her neighbors.My thanks to Moire for the licensed use of “Cicades” and to All Good Folks for the licensed use of “What Up!” from Uppbeat. Get full access to Political Devotions at www.polidevo.com/subscribe

Two days ago, Victoria and I visited the pro-Palestinian encampment at George Washington University. Because the District of Columbia isn’t willing at this point to take down the encampment, it’s one of the few encampments in the country arising out of the war protests that amount to an extended laboratory of students’ public life together.We didn’t come to discuss the war in Gaza. Instead, we wanted to find out what life was like in something new to even the most seasoned protester in this student community—an alternative polis to what passes for one in our individualized society.Manny, a GW senior who was serving his shift as one of the encampment’s marshals, was happy to talk about life in the encampment. We learned that the students are currently living a bit like the citizens who experienced revolution in first-century Jerusalem, twentieth-century Poland, and twenty-first century Kiev.Manny was also frank about the new community’s struggles with outside agitators as well as its need for discipline and focus.Finally, we talked about the dynamics of tents, which have rankled college authorities nationwide.Above: Manny, our host, opening the library tent for us.In the podcast, I refer to a number of scenes. Here is the video I describe making of University Yard the day before our trip to GW together:Other scenes described in this podcast episode (and some that aren’t):Above: Sign at the Foggy Bottom-GWU Metro StationAbove: Victoria on our way to the encampment.My thanks to Random Rap for the licensed use of “Grandiloquence” from Uppbeat.The sources for this podcast are as follows (see my manuscript’s bibliography for the books’ full citations):Armesto, Jason. “'No other choice': UVa president defends decision to call in state troopers on campus protesters,” Daily Progress, May 5, 2024.Baxter, Thomas, and Finn Trainer. “Police Forcefully Clear Encampment Near University Chapel, Detain Protesters.” Police Forcefully Clear Encampment Near University Chapel, Detain Protesters - the Cavalier Daily - University of Virginia’s Student Newspaper, May 5, 2024.Granberg, Ellen M. “Message Regarding the Ongoing Campus Protests.” Office of the President, May 5, 2024.Hermann, Peter. “D.C. Police Rejected GWU’s Plea to Sweep Out University Protesters.” Washington Post, April 27, 2024.Horsley, You Shall Not Bow, 116.Kennicott, Philip. “The Power of Putting George Washington in a Kaffiyeh.” Washington Post, May 3, 2024.Politico. “25 Arrested at University of Virginia After Police Clash With pro-Palestinian Protesters,” May 5, 2024.Shore, Ukrainian Night, 37-45, 270. Get full access to Political Devotions at www.polidevo.com/subscribe

Meet Adam Henry, who creates both art and public spaces. The combination led to Adam’s appointment in January as Amazon HQ2’s first artist in residence.On our podcast, Adam shares his approaches—his literal approaches—to strangers at coffee shops, restaurants, and subways. He sketches them and then introduces himself to his subjects. He gives them the art and, quite often, hears back from them about how this artist-stranger’s gesture helped them cope with something difficult.It’s hard to keep this artist in residence in residence.Adam (right) at Innovation Studio with his apprentice and son, also named Adam.I also interview Catherine Anchin, the Executive Director of the Museum of Contemporary Art Arlington, about Adam’s accessible art and style.Adam creates statues, paintings, installation art, costumes, and (of course) drawings, all of which draw people. His art is often complex but never abstruse or complicated.This episode also explores Adam’s notion of creativity as a means of surviving society. We examine how, except for the privileged, survival and self-actualization aren’t at polar ends of a personal or public hierarchy.After his six-week stint as the first artist-in-residence at HQ2’s Innovation Studio, Adam returns as this year’s artist-in-residence at StudioPAUSE’s Columbia Pike and Ballston locations.Adam’s gorilla-in-the making at StudioPAUSE. Adam would love for you to drop by as he works.Adam explains how he constructed his velociraptor out of discarded objects from construction sites and elsewhere.My thanks to Cutesy Chamber Ensemble for the licensed use of its “The Sweetest.” Get full access to Political Devotions at www.polidevo.com/subscribe

In this more personal podcast episode, I speak with three envoys from our public God:* Bethany and I ride the bus and discuss interior design, urban planning, and her installation art.* A local paper objects to free bus service, despite its cost effectiveness, because some citizens might make buses their homes.* My neighbor admits to, on rare occasions, riding buses to keep warm. She teaches me how far we are from the new creation’s justice.* Bethany and I consider Le Corbusier’s solution to public spaces and to the spread of a future St. Paul’s doctrines among the poor.* A panhandler tells me why he parted traffic for me.And Victoria and I discuss Arlington drivers.Finally—to assure myself of my sanity—do you, too, hear the buses chuckle?My thanks to Carol and Wayne (not their real names), Victoria and Bethany for permission to record and publish their voices. Thanks also to Arend at Uppbeat for the licensed use of his “O, Magnificence II.” Get full access to Political Devotions at www.polidevo.com/subscribe

Bryce and Victoria move from the suburbs to the city. Bryce sells his car and tries out the bus service by heading to StudioPAUSE. There he meets Sushmita Mazumdar, an artist and a poet, whose stories and curated objects hold a mirror up to support and celebrate Columbia Pike’s multiethnic community. Format: narrative with clips from interviews of Sushmita as well as of Lloyd Wolf, Director of the Columbia Pike Documentary Project. 8 minutes.Sushmita Mazumdar (foreground, folded hands) and other community members celebrate the grand opening of StudioPAUSE’s Columbia Pike location on October 7, 2023. Photos courtesy © Lloyd Wolf / Columbia Pike Documentary Project. Get full access to Political Devotions at www.polidevo.com/subscribe