Eve Tushnet’s debut novel, Amends, is a novel of ideas – the ideas she’s been working out in bits and pieces through her essays. It’s an ambitious and risky project but Eve mostly pulls it off. At last raising the bushel from her gift for shtick, she carries off a story that’s almost always engrossing, and often a real hoot. The plot: Six addicts of diverse backgrounds sign on to appear on a reality show. The show, Amends, is the... Read more
As of this writing, Montreal businessman Steve Maman has been instrumental in rescuing 128 women and young girls from sex slavery under the Islamic State. Maman, who has six children of his own, told the Times of Israel that the “defining moment” came for him when ISIS broadcast pictures of caged children in orange prisoner jumpsuits being menaced by a man holding a flamethrower. “I said to myself, ‘Steve, you’re going to act.’” Numbering nearly 3,000, most of them Christians... Read more
Long before Darren Aronofsky dreamed of casting Russell Crowe as Noah, I amused myself wondering how he would fare in the role of Jesus. Crowe is a Method actor whose ego was just then winning infamy for its Himalayan scope, so it seemed a dead cert that being addressed as “Rabbi” or “Master” by the crew and caterers would scramble his brains for life. Either Gawker would end up publishing videos where he demanded of hotel desk clerks, “WHO DO... Read more
A couple of my readers reminded me that yesterday was the feast day of St. Maximilian Kolbe, a Polish Franciscan who earned the martyr’s palm in an Auschwitz starvation bunker. At first I protested that I’m a Max, not a Maximilian, but they said it made no difference. Rather than wait for the Church to canonize any of the millions of papillons or shiba inus who share my exact name, I figured I might as well celebrate. Life, as St.... Read more
I almost always manage to skip Mass on the Feast of the Assumption. Although I would not swear this is the reason, the whole idea of Mary’s being assumed bodily into heaven sticks in my craw. The problem isn’t the thinness of the scriptural evidence for such an event, or the fanciful depictions, like Rubens’ – and, to a lesser extent, Titian’s – that look as though they belong on Forrest Gump’s box of chocolates. If any of that bothered... Read more
Like most of the stylists on the floor, she was young – probably about 22. I patronize the place mainly because, at $16 for a haircut, plus an extra $5 for a shampoo, the price is right. I can’t afford to pay a lot, and rookie hairstylists can’t afford to charge a lot. But the service is mostly good – or good enough, anyway. I don’t expect miracles and try, generally, to be a low-maintenance customer. But this woman and... Read more
The doors of St. Mary’s Church, on the corner of University and College, in Tempe, are locked. Black plastic covers the steeple. Chain-link fences surround it. Behind those fences sit backhoes and earth-movers. The place is under repair, but to the uninformed eye it might almost be under siege. Dating back to 1903, St. Mary’s is the oldest Catholic church in the Valley of the Sun and a National Historical Landmark. Constructed from red brick with arched gothic-revival windows, it... Read more
The average American man stands 5’9 ½ tall. The average non-Hispanic white American man stands 5’10”. I measure five feet eight inches in my stocking feet. Among my own people, I may not be microscopic, or even pocket-sized, but it is beyond dispute that I am a delicately scaled-down version of what a grown man should be. It’s probably no coincidence that, of all the cars I’ve owned, the one I felt most attached to was a Geo Prizm (which,... Read more
When I first read the story of how Waldron Mercy fired Margie Winters, a lesbian married to another woman, from her post as head of religious education, I argued that she’d been treated shabbily, and not in accordance with the best of Catholic teaching. Even so, only half aware of doing so, I formed a mental picture of her as vivid as it was unflattering. In my mind, Winters had eyes that sent all comers straight to the paredón. Her... Read more
Sometimes you run across a real-life event that echoes the Gospel almost too loudly to remark on without feeling as though you’re striking the obvious note, taking the easy way out, writing that the butler did it. Consider, for example, the case of the Turkish bride and groom who transformed their wedding reception into a feast for nearby Syrian refugees. Yes, Fethullah Üzümcüoğlu, the groom, and Esra Polat, the bride, set out to feed the multitudes, like Jesus at Bethsaida.... Read more
Diary of a Wimpy Catholic
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