The toll our celebrity worship takes

Idols always exact a human price (a preview of my Mockingbird talk!).

Hello, Beaty Beat readers!

I’m back after having taken last week off to be with family in Ohio. The trip was great, and then I returned to NYC last Friday and was thrown into an allergic meltdown the likes of which I’ve never experienced. Tree pollen coats every outside surface; it’s so beautiful and so miserable. I’m taking three over-the-counter medications and rinsing my eyeballs with a saline rinse every day and mostly avoiding being outside.

One reason I’m excited to be back, allergies notwithstanding, is that this weekend I’ll be speaking at Mockingbird, the annual conference hosted by Mockingbird Ministries, which “seeks to connect the Christian faith with the realities of everyday life in fresh and down-to-earth ways.” It’s one of two gatherings I attended last year where I thought, oh — these are my people. (The other is Laity Lodge.) It’s theologically serious and playful, ecumenical and confessional, culturally savvy and also not trying to be hip or edgy. Oh, and there’s an …