“Christmas was the only time I could be myself…with all the fun colors and the robes,” laments Damon (Ryan Jamal Swain), in the third episode of FX’s hit show Pose. “I played Melchior in the church nativity play and my mom took me to buy this big gold fabric that I would wear in the show. My dad, when I came out of my bedroom to show him [he strikes a pose], he laughed. I mean…any other day, and he... Read more
The Church of Saint Francis of Assisi in midtown Manhattan will hold a “Pre-Pride Mass” on Saturday, the eve on New York City’s pride parade. This year’s celebrant will be Fr. James Martin, S.J. The parish website advertises the Mass as part of their “United In Love” celebration of “inclusion and prayer.” Even though “identifying as Catholic and gay or lesbian and can sometimes be a challenge,” the website continues, “we accept you #AsYouAre….Decorations will festoon our beautiful church and... Read more
Whenever I broach the topic of death with my mother, she never fails to remind me that my funeral will take place in a Greek Orthodox Church. She never fully came around to accepting my conversion to Catholicism. My friend John’s funeral made me look at the tension between ecclesial bodies in a new light. John also found himself caught between the divide of the Christian East and West. Though he, like myself, chose to enter into full communion with... Read more
“Why is it that women are more suited to the con than men?” “Because no man can believe that a woman is smarter than he is.” A poorly written rom-com was the last place I would think to find an apology for difference feminism. With poststructural feminism rapidly pervading pop culture, I usually expect these types of movies to portray strong female leads who, liberated from socially constructed norms, embody a supposedly gender neutral image of the happy, liberated woman.... Read more
Several of my students came into my classroom last Friday to ask me if I saw the livestream of the massacres in New Zealand. My immediate reaction was that of shock, “are you crazy? Why would I ever want to watch that?” I took it for granted that anyone who watched that would be repulsed and horrified. The many students who watched it (before most major social media sites took it down) described is “crazy” and “insane,” while others described... Read more
The news that 49 people were shot and killed at two different mosques in New Zealand this morning left me baffled, to say the least. Almost as baffling was the statement given by NZ’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern in response to the shooting: We are a proud nation of more than 200 ethnicities, 160 languages, and amongst said diversity, we share common values and the one we place the currency on right now and tonight is our compassion and the... Read more
This week marks the anniversary of “Roe v. Wade,” the historic supreme court case that made abortion legal in the US. Many people observe the anniversary by attending the March for Life in DC or engaging in other forms of “pro-life” activism. As much as all those gestures have value, I instead am spending this time reflecting on my relationship with one of my closest friends. A few months ago, my friend was impregnated by a man with whom she... Read more
by guest contributor Patrick Tomassi At the beginning of Terrence Malick’s epic World War II film The Thin Red Line, Private Witt, played by Jim Caviezel, is AWOL on an island in the south Pacific, living with a Melanesian tribe. In those people, he encounters something that he cannot necessarily name – a beauty, peace, love – that overtakes him. He is happy with them – playing with the children, helping to build, swimming in the ocean. And he’s struck... Read more
This is the fourth article in a series entitled “My Mediterranean Adventures” As I sip the last drops of my tinto de verano, the automatic mister sprays my face with room temperature water…a brief moment of relief in the afternoon heat of Andalucia. My knee starts bouncing up and down, and I look left and right for the waiter. “Where the hell is he?” I think to myself. My friend and I finished our tapas 5 minutes ago. I’m still waiting... Read more
This is the third article in a series entitled “My Mediterranean Adventures” I spent my first morning in Milan walking around the Cimitero Monumentale. Known for its elaborate headstones and mausolea, the Monumentale is the resting place of several well-known Milanesi and is frequented by locals and tourists. The juxtaposition of the morbid-yet-artistic ethos of the cemetery against the quickly modernizing city opened my eyes to some new postmodern *cracks*. Among the most ornate of the headstones are dramatic sculptures... Read more
Cracks in Postmodernity
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