One thing I can say about the Data Road Trip is that it’s taking me places I wouldn’t have thought to go on my own. Like Northern Idaho, which I had heard was lovely, but previously had no reason to trek out to.
The story here? Well, according to the numbers we found, Idaho has the lowest abortion rate in the country. Folks [see entire entry...]

In the next segment of our trek across America, we explored two of the most prominent communities one thinks about when they think “USA”; New York and Washington D.C.

D.C. leads the nation in new cases of HIV/AIDS, and New York leads with the highest abortion rate. So the question we asked was: how do the religious communities in these places respond to these statistics?

This convent in the middle of the Bronx, NY is surrounded by public housing units. 50 nuns live here. Every month (except in July and August) they hold post-abortion healing retreats for women (and men) from all faiths. The NY area has the highest rate of abortion in the nation, and the Bronx is especially [see entire entry...]

TV screen with a Google map tracking
our coordinates, an iPod and jotting notes
on the TMobile Dash.
Data Road Trip is off to another location - this time the east coast. We’re reporting in DC and NYC. Jeremy Rue, the News21 website czar (and talented photographer) has joined us on this trip.
In DC, Joelle Jaffe will interview religious and community [see entire entry...]

After a long stretch on 1-40 from Memphis, Clayton and I left the superhighway to climb up into the mountains of northeastern Tennessee. Hancock County spans several mountain ridges, winding roads climb steeply only to dive down into the next valley just when you thought you’d reached the top. In the widest valley, the Clinch River cuts a gentle blue swath through tobacco [see entire entry...]

Clayton and I started our day in a tuxedo shop in Benton, a small, sleepy town outside Little Rock, where the couple we’ve been profiling for the story on covenant marriages was shopping for their wedding.
This was no ordinary tux shop – a Bible lay open on a pedestal near the door, and the owner took off his heavy ring and held it toward us. [see entire entry...]

The Church at Rock Creek is a twelve million dollar facility that sits on top of a hill 15 minutes West of Little Rock. We’re told it’s among the 100 fastest growing churches in the country. It’s a one-stop shop for families of faith: Starbucks coffee, a bookstore, baby gifts and charity options all line the tremendous corridor. A dozen security personnel roam the lobby, and the head of security told us [see entire entry...]

Sunday marked my first trip to the San Francisco’s gay pride parade, where the themes of God, sex and family were on rainbow display, marching down Market Street. Joelle and I were there to follow the march of an Episcopalian parish from the area, St. John’s of the Mission, whose priest is a gay man. The Episcopalians were in good company - in the stretch where we congregated, the people of faith were lining up [see entire entry...]

In search of late-night food in downtown Little Rock, Singeli and I ran into a guitarist named James and his friend Alvin, an artist and local historian of sorts who drew our portraits. James, a self-avowed Christafarian, sang songs about Haile Selassie I, while his companion told us of Arkansas’ forgotten Norse roots. Both talked about the corrupting influence of money when it comes [see entire entry...]

There were many firsts for me, a city slicker, visiting Lincoln, NE. I came to profile a same-sex couple about their life. Gwen and Amy took me to a Heartland Gay Rodeo fund-raising event (in the style of “Cowboy 101″) just outside of town. We spent the day learning how to rope a metal calf, ride like madwomen on a John Deere Gator and put underwear on a goat.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTl4_i-NZA0

I also saw my [see entire entry...]