1. Zion Williamson is taking Duke and college basketball by storm, and thanks to 1.9 million Insta followers and a huge Youtube presence your Gen Z-ers probably already know him. 

2. Arianna's new song that covers breakups and relational history without being savage...interesting...it shows a growth mindset and strong self-reliance...

3. Churchome Global is the new app that claims to give you church on your phone. Nothing new here, but it's one of the biggest to make this jump and will strongly go for the modern parent and hipster crowd. 

4. (excerpt from  https://axis.org/vol-4-issue-45/)

Kristallnacht

Motivated by governmental lies, the fear of outsiders, and militant nationalism, 80 years ago todayordinary men and women participated in a sudden and deadly campaign of terrorism, killing 100 Jews and destroying 7,500 Jewish businesses. Kristallnacht or “Night of Broken Glass” foreshadowed the legal and state-sanctioned annihilation of European Jewry. In 1930s Germany, “Racial hatred and hysteria seemed to have taken complete hold of otherwise decent people.”

And just when we think our culture is immune to historical atrocities, a 57% rise in anti-semitic incidents, white supremacist marches, (((echoes))) being used online to flag things as Jewish, and the murder of 11 Jews in Pittsburgh should tell us otherwise.

Kristallnacht and Pittsburgh aren’t aberrations that spontaneously erupted in a vacuum. The Holocaust didn’t originate in the gas chambers; it started with words. Language matters, fear-mongering matters, labeling people matters (“wingnut”, “invading horde”, “Thot”). Whether its on Instagram, the news, or in school hallways, help your students spot and stop dehumanizing language in its tracks. Because those who don’t know history are doomed to repeat it. Thankfully, the opposite of dehumanization is empathy, compassion, and the recognition that every human being—no matter their religion, skin color, or nationality—is made in the very image of God. Here are seven convicting reads to help you and your teen combat a culture of violence and intolerance.

1. Dehumanizing Always Starts with Language by Brené Brown
2. Caring for Words in a Culture of Lies by Marilyn McEntyre
3. Ordinary Men by Christopher Browning
4. Night by Elie Wiesel
5. Boy 30529: A Memoir by Felix Weinberg
6. Survival in Auschwitz by Primo Levi
7. The Complete Maus: A Survivor’s Tale by Art Spiegelman (graphic novel, so might be a good way to engage those who don’t love reading)

 

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