Andrew Wetzel
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circlereader.bsky.social
Andrew Wetzel
@circlereader.bsky.social
770 followers 1.8K following 640 posts
Human first, then: curious, Christian, parent.
Other Evangelical.
#YouCannotServeGodAndMammon
#TheKingdomOfGodIsNotAPoliceState
He/him.
🔗🌳/CircleReader
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circlereader.bsky.social
Classic Matt Bors cartoon:
Cartoon about a Trump supporter blaming his girlfriend for his increasing commitment to Nazi expression & identity as if it were a required reaction to her objections to MAGA racism and not his own choice.
November 11, 2025 at 11:17 PM
circlereader.bsky.social
A good resource for parents, caregivers, and teachers on the foundations of helping children (and adults!) learn to read better:
www.improvingliteracy.org/resource/the...
The Science of Reading: An Overview from National Center on Improving Literacy The Science of Reading is an interdisciplinary body of research about reading that helps explain why some people have difficulty, how to most effectively assess and teach reading, and how to improve. What the Science of Reading Is: A Collection of Research Research, over time, from multiple fields of study using methods that confirm and disconfirm theories on how children best learn to read. Teaching Based on the 5 Big Ideas Phonemic Awareness - The ability to identify and play with individual sounds in spoken words. Phonics - Reading instruction focused on understanding how letters and groups of letters link to sounds to form letter-sound relationships and spelling patterns. Fluency - The ability to read words, phrases, sentences, and stories correctly, with enough speed and expression. Vocabulary - Knowing what words mean and how to say and use them correctly. Comprehension - The ability to understand what you are reading. Ever Evolving It is continuously developing, with ongoing research and evidence deepening our understanding. As populations, communities, and approaches progress, teaching practices and methods should adapt to reflect these changes while staying grounded in effective, research-based methods. What the Science of Reading Isn't: A program, an intervention, or a product that you can buy. The Science of Reading could be considered an approach to teaching reading that is based on decades of research and evidence. It is NOT a specific program. Phonics-based programs that drill phonics skills. Phonics is an integral part of teaching reading based on science, but it is just one of the five big ideas that should be taught so all children can learn to read. Complete and no more study needs to be done. As with any science, it is never complete. We can always know more. New research is happening all the time, and researchers, teachers, and families can work together.
November 11, 2025 at 10:48 PM
circlereader.bsky.social
So much depends
upon

a red wheel
barrow

glazed with sun
gold

beside the white
labradoodle
Photo of a white dog lounging on grass in a back yard with sunlight filtering through garden plants (a grapevine, prairie grassed, and biennial gaura flowers) and a red wheelbarrow in the middle-foreground.
October 11, 2025 at 11:01 PM
circlereader.bsky.social
Nested Frog Skeets
Screenshot of a quote Skeet of Rose Lerner appreciating a screenshot of Claire Willett's skeet about the Portland Frogs being followed on her feed by the Frog and Toad Bot's skeet reading, "Don't be silly," said Frog, followed on my feed by Django Wexler's skeet imagining the office conversation between the sales manager at the company that makes inflatable frog suits and his boss… (Sorry I called them "skeets.")
October 10, 2025 at 10:06 PM
circlereader.bsky.social
If we Evangelicals had focused on the first half of 1 Thessalonians 4 (especially verses 3-6) instead of the end times, we all would have been a lot better off!
Screenshot of 1 Thessalonians 4:1-12 (NRSV) "A Life Pleasing to God 4 Finally, brothers and sisters, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus that, as you learned from us how you ought to live and to please God (as, in fact, you are doing), you should do so more and more. 2 For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus. 3 For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; 4 that each one of you know how to control your own body[a] in holiness and honor, 5 not with lustful passion, like the gentiles who do not know God; 6 that no one wrong or exploit a brother or sister in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, just as we have already told you beforehand and solemnly warned you. 7 For God did not call us to impurity but in holiness. 8 Therefore whoever rejects this rejects not human authority but God, who also gives his Holy Spirit to you. 9 Now concerning love of the brothers and sisters, you do not need to have anyone write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another, 10 and indeed you do love all the brothers and sisters throughout Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers and sisters, to do so more and more, 11 to aspire to live quietly, to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we directed you, 12 so that you may behave properly toward outsiders and be dependent on no one."
September 23, 2025 at 11:47 PM
circlereader.bsky.social
WHOA!!!
View of the Madison, Wisconsin, isthmus from the air. As one might see while being raptured…
September 23, 2025 at 11:20 PM
circlereader.bsky.social
Well, the Rapture does have a *thin* Biblical basis, one passage in 1 Thessalonians 4, which the Scofield Reference Bible notes fit into its Dispensationalist theological framework like a puzzle piece.

But one interpretation of one passage is all they need!
Screenshot of 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 in the King James Version: "13 But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. 15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. 16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. 18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
September 23, 2025 at 11:07 PM
circlereader.bsky.social
Our daughter just moved to New York City yesterday and is getting settled properly!
#NYC #VOTE #LoveYourLibraries
Screenshot of a text thread with two photos, the first a selfie of a young white woman with her hair pulled back wearing big round black sunglasses, dangly hoop earrings, and a sleeveless black shirt over black corduroy overalls bearing a multi-color VOTE pin. The second photo shows her hand hodin a red New York Public Library card with a lion logo on the left and KNOWLEDGE IS POWER printed across the bottom. A text message from her below the photos reads, "Registered to vote AND got my library card!"
September 16, 2025 at 5:53 PM
circlereader.bsky.social
Smart watches failed us. #DoesAnybodyReallyKnowWhatTimeItIs
XKCD Comic showing a timeline with a bar lableled "Regular Watches" from pre-1900 to around 2005, and a bar labeled "Smart Watches" from 2015 on post 2030. The gap between the bars from 2005-2015 is labelled, "Brief, glorious period in which our wrists were free"
August 18, 2025 at 9:08 PM
circlereader.bsky.social
*googling "the tiger is out poem"*
Sickos "Yes…HA HA HA…YES!" meme image.
August 3, 2025 at 7:07 PM
circlereader.bsky.social
If Antonio Byrd hasn't written that essay, you might incite him to write that essay!
antonioabyrd.com
Website description of Antonio A. Byrd's research on race, coding, writing, literacy, pedagogy, & generative AI.
July 28, 2025 at 10:27 PM
circlereader.bsky.social
Misinformation's companions.
The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse — War, Famine, Pestilence, and Death — are joined by another, texting on a phone as he rides. Death asks, "And you are…?” and the Fifth Horseman answers, "Misinformation."
July 27, 2025 at 6:01 PM
circlereader.bsky.social
Annika Mann preaching at #FCBCMadison on Jesus's teaching that #YouCannotServeGodAndMoney & we should instead of hoarding wealth "store up treasures for yourself in heaven."
July 20, 2025 at 3:47 PM
circlereader.bsky.social
My own Christian understanding is that Dispensationalism is nonsense & we've been in/near the end times since the resurrection…but…man, some of those verses seem creepily on point!
Screenshot of Matthew 24:4-8 (NRSV) 1 As Jesus came out of the temple and was going away, his disciples came to point out to him the buildings of the temple. 2 Then he asked them, “You see all these, do you not? Truly I tell you, not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down.” 3 Signs of the End of the Age When he was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will this be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” 4 Jesus answered them, “Beware that no one leads you astray. 5 For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Messiah!’ and they will lead many astray. 6 And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars; see that you are not alarmed; for this must take place, but the end is not yet. 7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places: 8 all this is but the beginning of the birth pangs. Screenshot of Matthew 24:9-13 (NRSV) 9 “Then they will hand you over to be tortured and will put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of my name. 10 Then many will fall away, and they will betray one another and hate one another. 11 And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. 12 And because of the increase of lawlessness, the love of many will grow cold. 13 But the one who endures to the end will be saved. 14 And this good news of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the world, as a testimony to all the nations; and then the end will come.
July 15, 2025 at 5:12 PM
circlereader.bsky.social
Bumper sticker spotted earlier today:
Bumper sticker with white stars on a blue background on the left border, and in red text on a white background, "PUBLIC SERVICE IS NOT A CRIME"
July 11, 2025 at 11:07 PM
circlereader.bsky.social
Putting on the full armor of Dad…
Photo of a gray bearded man wearing o summer floral button down shirt that was a gift for Father's Day. In a line above the shirt pocket is a row of six Eagle Scout Dad pins, and on the top edge of the pocket is a pride rainbow pin with a Holy Spirit dove descending toward one end.
July 7, 2025 at 2:31 AM
circlereader.bsky.social
Meanwhile, at our local grocery store tonight:
Madison, Wisconsin, Woodman's East grocery store aisle with water crashing in through a collapsed ceiling & completely flooding the floor between seafood and chicken.
June 24, 2025 at 3:13 AM
circlereader.bsky.social
imgs.xkcd.com/comics/query...
June 24, 2025 at 2:31 AM
circlereader.bsky.social
Propagandist vs. propagandist…
June 20, 2025 at 4:52 PM
circlereader.bsky.social
OK, putting that on the list to get for my wife as she builds a garden for her neighborhood center kids!
The back yard at BLW Neighborhood Center, with a peeling, leaning, blue-painted wooden fence around an area of weeds, compacted earth newly grass-seeded, and a 4 x 8 foot garden bed with small veggies & marigolds.
June 18, 2025 at 8:33 PM
circlereader.bsky.social
No flashing fireflies visible tonight…but they're out there!
Firefly resting on brome grass in daylight. Rain garden at night, illuminated by streetlight.
June 5, 2025 at 2:38 AM
circlereader.bsky.social
Dad: harvests mushrooms
Daughter: makes ramen
#winning
Bearded man with glasses standing outside holding an armful of Winecap mushrooms. Young woman with pink tinted hair eating a bowl of soup, with mushrooms in the foreground.
June 5, 2025 at 1:12 AM
circlereader.bsky.social
Anyway, the "adaptive cycle" is one of my favorite broadly useful science models / metaphors:
www.resalliance.org/adaptive-cycle
Diagram from "Panarchy" by Gunderson & Holling (2002) illustrating the ecological concept of an adaptive cycle, charted along the system axes of connectedness vs potential, and showing a looping path through four phases that ecological & human systems display: 1. Growth/exploitation of resources 2. Conservation 3. Collapse/release of resources 4. Reorganization
June 4, 2025 at 5:18 PM
circlereader.bsky.social
Here's how my conservative Lutheran grade school explained the Fifth Commandment to us. Maybe someone from #Iowa ought to ask Senator Joni Ernst (R) what her #ELCA #Lutheran Christian "fear & love of God" teaches her about destroying life saving healthcare policies.
Text of Martin Luther's Shorter Catechism that reads: The Fifth Commandment: You shall not murder. What does this mean? We should fear and love God so that we do not hurt or harm our neighbor in his body, but help and support him in every physical need. The Central Thought: God created us to care about other people and to help them in their times of need. What are the needs of people in my immediate community and society? Read Luke 10:25--37. How did the Samaritan view his relationship to the beaten man differently than the priest or the Levite did? ✠ As Christians, we look after our neighbors so that they may enjoy the life God has given them. What opportunities does God give me to help my neighbor?
May 30, 2025 at 4:15 PM
circlereader.bsky.social
Peter Horton preaching in the new Regent St. home of #FCBCMadison!

"'Take my yoke upon you, and I will give you rest.' This is an invitation to discipleship!"
View of the new building for Faith Community Bible Center in Madison, Wisconsin, with a sandwich board sign for the church in the foreground. Peter pointing to Matthew 11:28-30, where Jesus says, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” and telling us, "This is an invitation to discipleship!" Peter explaining how oxen are trained to pull a yoke together, often with a more experienced ox yoked together with a newly learning ox. Projected on the wall is a picture of two yoked oxen pulling logs while their trainer follows along. Describing the process of discipleship / spiritual formation as: 1. Spend time with Jesus, 2. Become like Jesus, 3. Do what Jesus did (with [in collaboration with] Him and with each other)
May 25, 2025 at 4:11 PM