TWO OF THE COOLEST THINGS THE CHURCH DOES IN LOS ANGELES Reel Spirituality, a creative encounter between the church and Hollywood sponsored by Fuller Theological Seminary invites you to participate in its 2004 conference Friday, October 22 at the Director’s Guild of America in Los Angeles! Music to our Eyes: Music, Film, and Theology in Dialogue, will bring together film professionals, thinkers, and the clergy to focus on the role that music plays in both the creation and experience of... Read more

UPDATED LIST OF BARB’S TRAVELS So many people contacted me for additional talks after I posted the shorter list below, that I thought to post the full list as of this moment of upcoming speeches. Email me if you want to come to any of these, or if you’d like to try and set up another when I am near your place. October 14 – Legatus Chapter meeting, Naples, Fl November 6 – University of Dallas – BOMA Nat’l Convention,... Read more

EMILY MONDAY 607 Of nearness to her sundered Things The Soul has special times — When Dimness — looks the Oddity — Distinctness — easy — seems — The Shapes we buried, dwell about, Familiar, in the Rooms — Untarnished by the Sepulchre, The Mouldering Playmate comes — In just the Jacket that he wore — Long buttoned in the Mold Since we — old mornings, Children — played — Divided — by a world — The Grave yields back... Read more

THIS LAND IS MAO’S LAND Undeniably lush and beautiful, the 2002 Chinese film/Miramax release Xing Xong/Hero is also the most stylish piece of insidious propaganda since Triumph of the Will. Like, Leni Reifenstahl’s masterpiece, which was intended primarily to whip up the German people, I think Hero is much more aimed at propagandizing Chinese people than us Westerners. Chilling, that. The overt message of Hero is that, sometimes, a leader has to kill millions of people to mold a nation... Read more

SPEAKING OF SPEAKING A reader forwarded me the following post which details probably the most egregious assaults on the art of oratory, namely, those coming from the world of sports commentary. I’m old enough to remember Howard Cosell, who certainly approached his job with a sense of theatrical expression. He was annoying, but always articulate. I have a theory that the sports casters who move over from the world of radio tend to be the best. They have made it... Read more

PICTURES FROM SPAIN…BECAUSE I CAN Here’s Holy Family Church on a mountain overlooking Barcelona. This church was totally funded by the local people. It’s lovely inside. Modern good. And here’s my buddy Laura looking shady in front of the Palace de Real in Madrid. Amazing art all through out. Really drove home the awesome power of Spain in its heyday. The best part of the palace was the 1000 square feet Oriental carpets…I guess if you can’t have hard-wood, it’s... Read more

SO COOL! I just learned how to add pictures to my blog! I will now officially consecrate this new potential, by putting my favorite Jesus image as my first photo. This image comes from the Basilica of the Immaculate COnception in Washington, DC. Read more

OH, ALL RIGHT… Dear God, here’s a prayer for Bill Cinton. Please fix his heart. Fix it for the better. Change his heart to be a better heart, God. Read more

CONSIDERED AS ORATORY… …I was actually fairly impressed with W’s speech last night. Judging from the lack of focus that the major networks are giving to the speech on this, the morning after, I have to conclude that my impression is correct. I’ve been sitting here flipping between Katie, Matt, Al and Anne, Charlie and Diane and the Ted Turner team, through three different news updates, and I haven’t seen one mention of the speech yet. That absolutely qualifies as... Read more

BEAUTY AS ‘A TRAP’ IN THE EYE OF THE BELIEVER David “Nihil Obstat” Impastato, sent me the following message as answer to my question about Europeans Christians surrounded by artistic beauty, but losing their faith. I love love love the Simone Weil quote. Thanks, David! I agree with your ongoing contention, that beauty must return to the Church. It’s an uphill battle, of course, since contemporary ecclesiology, as taught in our seminaries, explicitly sees aesthetic beauty as an obstacle to... Read more