Wednesday, May 11, 2022
Getting through the day …
… First Known When Lost: Secret Sharers.
… our concern is how to get through "an ordinary Wednesday afternoon" (to borrow from Walker Percy). In her own quiet, lovely fashion, Jennings shows us a "mind keeping as a solitary prisoner its own dream of a world." The man in the park may not be a complete stranger to some of us. I suspect he was not a complete stranger to Jennings. Like Pater, she goes a step further (but in her own way), and gives us those wonderful, beautiful, and mysterious final eight lines, which seem to be about getting through an ordinary Wednesday afternoon.
Something to think on …
In oneself lies the whole world and if you know how to look and learn, the door is there and the key is in your hand. Nobody on earth can give you either the key or the door to open, except yourself.
— Jiddu Krishnamurti, born on this date in 1895
Tuesday, May 10, 2022
Definitely worth thinking on …
… THINK ABOUT THIS: Outlining Intelligent Design's Positive Argument - HillFaith.
I just finished reading Eric Metaxas’s Is Atheism Dead? It is vey well-written and researched. The extent to which quantum physics has indicated that some principle of intelligence and purpose must be at work in being is pretty impressive. This is pretty much what Heraclitus and Lao-tse had inferred millennia ago.
RIP …
… Remembering Midge Decter | City Journal.
Commentary was part of Decter’s family, but it was also a key magazine of The Family, a collection of mostly Jewish New York liberal anti-Communist intellectuals of the 1950s and 1960s. Decter and Podhoretz were important figures in this group, and their apartment became a hub of activity and social events. In 1964, they hosted a party for Jacqueline Kennedy, widow of the recently assassinated president. (Philip Roth referred to her as “the shiksa.”) Former attorney general William Barr’s father was in the Family milieu as well, and Barr recalled in his recent memoir attending “birthday parties at the home of power couple Norman Podhoretz, editor in chief of Commentary magazine, and Midge Decter, a prominent journalist and author.” Decter also wrote for magazines like Harper’s, where she served as executive editor from 1969 to 1971.
Joseph Conrad
Having recently finished Joseph Conrad's Secret Agent, I've concluded that while it is a near-perfect novel, it results in a decidedly imperfect reading experience. No doubt, Conrad was a master stylist: the structure and composition of his works -- including Secret Agent -- are exceptional. The pacing, the drama, the technique: all of it is deliberate; there is no hesitation. And yet, why is that after nearly 300 pages, I felt very little for Conrad's characters, and less, still, when their web comes undone? I think, ironically, that it owes something to Conrad's style: everything is intentional; the prose are superb; but there's a heavy lift which must be done: this is not quite Henry James in the fragmentation and heft; and yet, there is an aspect of having to traverse a great deal of beauty in order to arrive at satisfaction. In the end, as much as I admired Secret Agent as just that -- as a thing of literary beauty -- I failed to attach myself and my imagination to its characters and their denouement. Conrad's subtle plot comes undone in flawless prose: but perhaps, upon reflection, all that perfection, and all the work required to seize it, had left me fatigued, and less interested in all those sinister agents than I might otherwise have been.
Just a poet …
… Ada Limón Makes Poems for a Living - The New York Times. (Hat tip, Rus Bowden.)
She manages this career, in part, by embracing poetry as a form that is meant to be not just quietly read, but also performed aloud. A former theater major who gets a charge out of performing, she earns much of her income by giving frequent readings and hosting a poetry podcast called “The Slowdown,” in which she shares the work of other poets.
Something to think on …
The person who knows only his side of the argument knows little of that.
— Karl Barth, born on this date in 1886
Monday, May 09, 2022
Unmixed attention …
… Prayer Consists of Attention: On Reading as a Spiritual Practice - The Millions. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
What Davis describes isn’t much different from what I tell my spiritual direction clients who want to know more about how to practice lectio divina. I mention the mindfulness required while listening to the scripture multiple times, the role of the imagination, how certain words will demand one’s attention, and the sense of being transported to the place where the scripture’s events initially unfolded. I imagine Davis inhabiting a posture similar as she translates. Davis, my clients, and I all come to the text hoping for a meaningful encounter, then we let the spirit, the magic, the mystery do its work.
Bring it on, folks …
… The Morning Briefing: Already Unhinged Abortion Cretins Sink to New Lows.
South Philly would not be the place to try that sort of thing.
Something to think on …
The real magic wand is the child's own mind.
— José Ortega y Gasset, born on this date in 1883
Sunday, May 08, 2022
We can only hope …
… Won’t Get Won’t Get Fooled Again Fooled Again.
If one brief bad experience can transform people’s thinking, imagine the impact of the pandemic’s ceaseless misery. It’s been a two-year-long version of Hell Week, especially in America’s blue states, with Anthony Fauci and Democratic governors playing the role of fraternity presidents humiliating the pledges. Americans obediently donned masks day after day, stood six feet apart, disinfected counters, and obsessively washed their hands while singing “Happy Birthday.” They forsook visits to friends and relatives and followed orders to skip work and church. They forced young children to wear masks on the playground and in the classroom—a form of hazing too extreme even for Europe’s progressive educators.
Overreaching …
… We Must Find a Way to Prevent Bill Gates from Preventing the Next Pandemic.
Early on in the pandemic, to get a sense of Gates’s views, I watched his TED talks. I began to realise something astonishing. He knew much less than anyone could discover by reading a book on cell biology from Amazon. He couldn’t even give a basic ninth-grade-level explanation of viruses and their interaction with the human body. And yet here he was lecturing the world about the coming pathogen and what should be done about it. His answer is always the same: more surveillance, more control, more technology.
William Blake for parlous times …
… William Blake and learning from Covid. On dying before you die.
Eternal perception, joyful dust, continual creativity, the resurrection of life and sparkling imagination comingle, Blake knew. Along with Tolkien and other writers, from Samuel Taylor Coleridge to Henry Corban, Blake was a passionate advocate for these qualities of true existence. They are not optional extras, surplus to living requirements, as if relics of the premodern age. Fantasy should not merely entertain. It is the heart of lives lived as human beings.
Post-modernist …
… “To Crawl Under the Earth”: The Persistence of Expansive Poetry.
Since modernism, the dividing line between lyric and narrative had tended to blur. Expansive poets defined narrative as the linguistic or verbal presentation of a sequence of fictionalized, non-autobiographical events (plot) concerning recognizable characters (protagonists), whether imagined or historical, who faced conflicts that must be contended with, overcome, or somehow resolved. Expansive poets wrote narratives in meter and rhyme, meter alone (usually blank verse), and in tightly controlled free verse. Unlike modernists, Expansive poets made a clear distinction between narrative poems, which could be written in any form and at any length, and lyric poems, which were typically brief and song-like.
Something to think on …
It's impossible to lose your footing when you're on your knees.
— Fulton J. Sheen, born on this date in 1895
Saturday, May 07, 2022
Giving voice to faith …
… Paul Claudel and the Poetry of Praise - The Catholic Thing. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
From beginning to end, the poems depict Claudel as a recipient of inspiration and grace; his struggle is to do justice to the vision that God gives to His people
A cautionary tale from Nature …
… Climate simulations: recognize the ‘hot model’ problem.
The broad and diverse community studying climate change and its impacts urgently needs guidance on best practices for combining the outputs of multiple climate models. One key message: the multi-model mean and spread of the new ensemble (CMIP6) should not simply be used like the old one (CMIP5).
Something to think on …
My business is not to remake myself, but to make the absolute best of what God made.
— Robert Browning, born on this date in 1813
Birthday poets …
… Now by Robert Browning | Poetry Foundation. (Born May 7, 1812.]
(Hat tip, Rus Bowden.)
Friday, May 06, 2022
For their sake …
… I hope none of them stop by my church. I can get pretty testy, and don’t even think of trying to push me around. You’ll only make my day: Pro-abortion activists to protest at Catholic churches on Mother’s Day.
Art and illness …
… TB or not TB: the literature of consumption | John Self | The Critic Magazine.
…
… for longevity and spread, no infectious disease has left its scars on a body of literature like tuberculosis (TB).
Quite a takedown …
… ‘Unchecked Speech’ Causes Racism and Censorship Somehow.
This is fantastically stupid. Communication was so heavily policed under apartheid that South Africa didn’t even have television until 1976 – when Musk was five years old
Anniversary and reminiscence …
… Philadelphia First Fridays celebrate 30 years or art in Old City - On top of Philly news.
During that cold winter, and that hectic time in my life, the experience of an evening hopping through galleries and meeting other creative people was striking.
Expect more like this …
… Study into mRNA vaccine death rates sends 'danger signals' - The Post.
… Stabell-Benn and her colleagues found no statistically meaningful evidence in the trial data that the mRNA vaccines reduced all-cause mortality. The numbers of deaths from other causes including cardiovascular deaths appear to be increased in this group, compensating for the beneficial effect of the vaccines on Covid. Stabell-Benn is keen to stress that the sample is relatively small and is calling for further investigation, and also that the study took place during very low levels of Covid, so the relative advantage of protection against Covid would have been smaller at that time compared to at other points in the pandemic.
Bear in mind, I’m just a former medical editor. I am medically literate. I’ve also had three lab courses in science. And my first success as a writer came when I was 15 and won a prize from Philadelphia’s Academy of Natural Sciences for a paper I submitted recounting my study of the microscopic inhabitants of a stagnant pond complete with photomicrographs that I took. Whether that justifies my skepticism of what the government and media tell us regarding Covid is an open question.
Something to think on …
Evil tongues never want a whet.
— Alain-René Lesage, born on this date in 1668
The case of “Finnegans Wake” …
… Anecdotal Evidence: 'A Man of Acknowledged Genius'. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Thursday, May 05, 2022
Appreciation …
… I Am Iris’s Pupil. Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
If one determines love of a book by how many times one reads it, then A Word Child (1975) is my favorite Murdoch book: I may have read it four times, once per decade. The narrator cannot make good decisions. His compulsion to repeat his biggest personal tragedy is riveting and quite funny. It is time for a fifth and more careful reading.
RIP …
… Marcus Leatherdale, Who Photographed New York’s Downtown Art Marcus Leatherdale, Who Photographed New York’s Downtown Art Scene, Dies at 69 Scene, Dies at 69. (Hat tip, Rus Bowden.)
The photo of the dominatrix reminded me of my favorite line from John Osborne’s LookBack in Anger. In the film version, when Claire Bloom (as Jimmy Porter’s wife’s best friend) raises her hand to slap Richard Burton (as Jimmy Porter), he says to her, “Go ahead, hit me. But don’t think I harbor any chivalric notions. You hit me, I’ll knock you across the room.”
Just to keep everybody happy …
… Origin of global hepatitis cases in children still uncertain | Popular Science.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released on Friday a clinical analysis of nine acute hepatitis cases in immunocompetent and otherwise healthy children in Alabama. None of the children’s cases were linked to each other. Out of the nine young patients, all tested positive for adenovirus. Five of them tested positive for the same strain of virus: adenovirus 41. However, when doctors performed liver biopsies, no sample showed traces of adenovirus.
I suspected this from the start …
… Confirmed: Deadly Child Hepatitis Outbreak is Directly Vaccine Related - American Liberty Report.
The UK government once again has sheepishly provided the answer this week, as reported by Investment Watch. In 100% of the cases of young children developing this new life-threatening strain of hepatitis, the kids were breastfed by fully vaccinated mothers. The lies would be almost comical at this point if we didn’t have children dying because of these so-called “vaccines.”
Then there’s this:
As doctors try to track down the source of the outbreak, they have absolutely insisted that it’s not the vaccine. Many of the kids contracting the illness haven’t been vaccinated at all, they claimed. But then when the UK began investigating, doctors discovered something worrisome. All the 11- to 16-year-olds who developed this strain of the virus had in fact had at least one COVID shot. Whoops.
Well, since I can no longer reply to comments, I’ll respond to Rus’s objection here. Basically, I think it’s good journalism to listen to as many sources as possible. The governmental sources have not proved terribly reliable. So let’s wait and see. If this proceeds in the usual manner, we’ll learn more soon enough. But I am not a knee-jerk believer in whatever the government tells me. I save faith for God.
Also there’s this: Madrid’s Deputy Minister for Public Health Claims Cases of Hepatitis on Young Kids are “Related to Covid-19 Vaccine.” So the story linked is accurate in reporting that.
Something to think on …
I found I had less and less to say, until finally, I became silent, and began to listen. I discovered in the silence, the voice of God.
— Søren Kierkegaard, born on this date in 1813
Hmm
… Life During Wartime - The American Conservative. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Patriotism has nothing to do with whooping for war or pointing fingers at dissenters and crying “Treason!” It is love of one’s country—the smaller the better—and its people: their accents, their food, their pastimes, their literature and music and history and eccentricities.
I quite agree, and I certainly don’t like our overseas adventurism. But I also don’t see what alternative Franklin Roosevelt had when Japan bombed Pearl Harbor and Germany and Italy declared war on the U.S. Oh, and Edgar Lee Masters may have started life in Illinois, but he ended his days in Elkins Park, right outside of Philadelphia.
Wednesday, May 04, 2022
An ode to these days …
… Triumph of the New by Morri Creech | The New Criterion. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Tracking the decline …
… Nigeness: The Narrowing Ground.
With the publishing industry monolithically 'woke' and a vast range of subject matter, language and attitudes effectively outlawed, what are the chances of literary fiction good enough to become classic ever getting published? Time and again, reading classic (or at least excellent) novels from the twentieth century, the worrying thought crosses my mind: 'Would this get published today?' The answer is very often No: too 'difficult', too unusual, no obvious commercial appeal, too problematic and liable to offend against contemporary pieties – in other words, quite unsafe in every way.
Blogging note …
I’m going out for my morning walk early today. When I return, I’ll do some blogging.
Something to think on …
Where there is no free agency, there can be no morality. Where there is no temptation, there can be little claim to virtue. Where the routine is rigorously proscribed by law, the law, and not the man, must have the credit of the conduct.
— William H. Prescott, born on this date in 1796
Tuesday, May 03, 2022
Faith and the Vikings …
… The Northman and the Truth - The American Spectator | USA News and Politics. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Shockingly, for those with eyes to see, airy fantasies of magic and dragons and knights (and, yes, Vikings), when pondered deeply, lead to a truer, not a more fanciful view of the world. And that Romantic worldview coruscates with reflections of the doctrine of the Trinity, the doctrine of the Incarnation, the doctrine of the Atonement, and so on.
Another Catholic college gets woke …
What’s different from Tocqueville’s day is that the Left’s suppression of speech isn’t majoritarian but authoritarian. It doesn’t represent tyranny of the majority but rather tyranny of the minority. It actually defies the majority in two ways: by insisting that people shouldn’t be allowed to say what they think, even if they hold views shared by a majority of their fellow citizens; and by rejecting the majority’s view that free speech is not only valuable but essential.
Tracking the decline …
… Nigeness: 'For pleasure and edification, not for points credit'. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
When academic analysis comes adrift from its subject and when increasing numbers of students have no deep roots in or knowledge of a wider culture, criticism lies open to any ideology that cares to ride a coach and horses through it.
Oops …
… Rare ‘Wicked’ bible that encourages adultery discovered in New Zealand.
Upon discovery of the mistake, the printers Robert Barker and Martin Lucas were summoned by King Charles I and hauled before the court, where they were admonished for the scandalous typo and sloppy workmanship. They were stripped of their printing licence, had a £300 fine held over their heads for years (though it was eventually quashed) and most of the texts were destroyed. Only about 20 remain in circulation.
Hmm …
… New study: Face mask usage correlates with higher death rates | Israel National News - Arutz Sheva.
"Positive correlation between mask usage and cases was not statistically significant," the study also found, "while the correlation between mask usage and deaths was positive and significant (rho = 0.351, p = 0.039)." That is to say, more mask usage correlated with a higher death rate.
This is hardly surprising. It isn’t good to build up CO2 in your system, which is what masks tend to cause. True believers in what the government tells us will disagree, I suppose.
Something to think on …
Religion is a way of walking, not a way of talking.
— William Inge, born on this date in 1913
Monday, May 02, 2022
Latter-day piety …
… Catholic university speaker urges students to “crucify whiteness.”
“Those of us who are colored, some of us can also be white," he said. "But the good news is there is salvation."He looks pretty white to me.
De La Torre noted that he is not a theologian, and is more concerned about focusing on "dealing with what's going on than trying to figure out theology."
As an ordained Southern Baptist Minister, maybe he should brush up on theology. He might learn something. As for Carlow University, it looks to be another Catholic school best written off.
An ancient mystery …
… Cain and Abel in the Bible - Biblical Archaeology Society. (Hat tip, Tim Davis.)
Appreciation …
… The short happy life of Robert Louis Stevenson by Joseph Epstein | The New Criterion. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
… the picture I seem to be limning of a sickly child with a febrile imagination set aflame by religious fantasies, a boy so crushable that he therefore must easily be crushed, is a distortion. He may have been ill but he wasn’t unhappy; his illness merely forced him to live more in his mind than other children, devising games to be played upon the counterpane, inventing stories to pass the secluded days. The future author of Treasure Island and Kidnapped was already working at his apprenticeship. He had powerful inner resources—and powerful outer ones, too. Boy and man, Robert Louis Stevenson was one tough and willful hombre. So far as one can make out, he never finally did anything in life that he really didn’t want to do.
For those of us who started reading Stevenson as children, he is more than a writer. He is a friend.
Something to think on …
Poetry heals the wounds inflicted by reason.
— Novalis, born on this date in 1772
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