BLOGGING LIGHT…BLEGGING HEAVY I am traveling a lot in these days. Blogging will depend on a combination of how late I get to hotel rooms and whether my brain is still functioning at those times. The summer Act One programs are coming along very well. We have booked just about all the faculty and are now busy about scheduling, hotels and airfare for them all. The classes have been chosen, and now, we spend several months working out payment schemes... Read more

EMILY MONDAY 611 I see thee better — in the Dark — I do not need a Light — The Love of Thee — a Prism be — Excelling Violet — I see thee better for the Years That hunch themselves between — The Miner’s Lamp — sufficient be — To nullify the Mine — And in the Grave — I see Thee best — Its little Panels be Aglow — All ruddy — with the Light I held so... Read more

CROSSING THE CYBER It’s done. This post constitutes my first public profession as a Macatholic. After several discouraging starts, I persevered in eRCIbay and finally found salvation in a G4 15″ Titanium Powerbook with 256MB of RAM and a 20 GB harddrive. I am still in the first flush of my conversion, so maybe take it with a grain of salt when I say I love my Mac already, and “O technology ever functional ever cool, where was I when... Read more

WHAT DOES YOUR FAITH GENERATE? Conor Dugan kindly references some of my ranting over at his blog TriCoastal Commission. It is an honor to even be mentioned in the same breath as Gregory Wolfe of Image. Conor drives home the great point that a faith that is real will absolutely tend toward creating culture. Check it out here. So, Christianity is the kind of religion that when it is internalized, leads its adherents to do things like build cathedrals, and... Read more

“IF I LIVE, I SHALL GO TO AMHERST. IF I DIE, I SURELY WILL.” Sooooooooooooo exciting! CNN reports here that the house next to Emily Dickinson’s in Amherst – called The Evergreens – is now open for tours. This was Austin’s house – Emily’s brother – and his wife Susan, who was Emily’s closest confidant – and, as people argue in some screenplays (ahem…), the source of her greatest suffering. It was to Sue that Emily wrote with grim irony,... Read more

THE DRUMBEAT…PEOPLE NOT PROJECTS Here is my latest article for National Catholic Register. Thank God people send me emails when the columns come out or I would never know. Gotta remember to subscribe one of these days…. So, this is my most prototypical schtick. I think even my cat Tibby can summarize the salient points. A snip… Eventually, the industry will need overt preachers and evangelists to support the troops by teaching and ministering here. But as the first wave,... Read more

LEAVENING THE MTV LUMP Here’s a piece I was interviewed for by MTV On-line on the impact of The Passion. I have to admit, getting interviewed by MTV News was not something I ever saw coming ten years ago when I was trying to imagine what life after the convent would be like… I am still learning how to do this press interview thing. For example, for the one and a half quotes that are in this article, I talked... Read more

FORGET THE ALAMO! I tend to have a bias in favor of historical war epics. My father is a naval historian. I grew up on hi-stories, and I never get tired of seeing them played out on screen. Unfortunately, almost every war epic has the same Waterloo. Because a battle is the story of so many players, most war movies end up getting blitzed by too many actors, not enough characters. The new $100 million dollar Alamo gets flanked early... Read more

EMILY EASTER MONDAY 318 I’ll tell you how the Sun rose — A Ribbon at a time — The Steeples swam in Amethyst — The news, like Squirrels, ran — The Hills untied their Bonnets — The Bobolinks — begun — Then I said softly to myself — “That must have been the Sun”! But how he set — I know not — There seemed a purple stile That little Yellow boys and girls Were climbing all the while —... Read more

ACT ONE BLOGGER I’m adding another new blogger to the blog roll. Kris Rasmussen (Act One, ’99) is blogging over at The Alpine Path. She is meeting my Emily Mondays and raising with Madeleine (L’Engle) Mondays. Welcome, Kris! Read more