Helping others does not have to be a sacrifice, and Mennonite relief sales are living proof: everything from quilts and furniture to art and old books get sold, food from a variety of traditions gets eaten and everyone has fun, while raising millions for those facing poverty and disasters--natural and manmade. One such sale happens in Fresno April 4 & 5. Kevin Enns-Rempel gives a historic background to the event in this week's Scholars Speak.

Everyone wants children to become fluent readers. But how do we measure fluency? Is reading a speed sport, like auto racing, or a plunge for depth, like cliff diving? This week in Scholars Speak, Renee Mendel Lebsock, language and literacy professor at Fresno Pacific University, says the focus on fast reading misses the mark and offers alternatives.

Video cameras are making public places more public for private citizens. Supporters say they deter crime and help police put the bad guys behind bars. Opponents call them one more step toward the United States of Big Brother. Scott Key turns his eye to the subject in this week's Scholars Speak.

Practically since her first day as first lady, Hillary Clinton has engendered emotions far beyond those of normal politicians or political wives. When she ran for Senator from New York, interest ran as high as for a national campaign. Now that she's in a national campaign, both the right and left are aflame with—dare we use the word?—hate for Hillary. Hope Nisly wonders what drives this extreme dislike, and challenges us to examine what lies beneath in this week's Scholars Speak.

Ahhhh, water. Just open the tap and out it pours: cool, clear and clean. Nothing could be less complicated, right? Where have you been? Water is the latest fashion accessory. It comes in all manner of colors, styles and prices—each of which says something terribly important about the person who carries it. Forget little dogs, water is the consumer must-have of the moment! The few of us still scratching our heads over the sanity of that last paragraph may thirst for the clarity of Pamela Johnston's Scholars Speak.

What are we going to do about these young folks? No matter what we do, they won't go to church? Harrumph! But wait, studies show twentysomethings value faith and search for spirituality, just not in the ways and places their parents do. So, again, what is to be done? Tim Neufeld has some ideas this week in Scholars Speak.

So often we debate the Big Issues like peace and security in the abstract and over there: Iraq , not Clovis. Distance makes answers neat, tidy and obvious. But what happens when the choice bares its teeth at you in your own garage? Let Duane Ruth-Heffelbower—faculty in peace and conflict studies at Fresno Pacific University—tell you all about it in this week's Scholars Speak.

Individual freedom vs. collective security—a question as old as democracy that rose from the ashes of September 11, 2001. Can we have one without the other? Must we choose? Is the question too simple, or is it event the right one? In this week's Scholars Speak Scott Key, Fresno Pacific University professor and peace activist, presents his view of the current health of civil rights and a call to action to make things better.