THANK YOU FOR BEING A FRIEND: What kind of Cat’lick dyke would I be if I didn’t ask for your prayers for our beloved Bea Arthur? Deadpool and I are mourning this sweet lady; Sean Collins provides the best summary of her unique charm. Her ability to acknowledge her flaws but power past them made her the perfect foil for Rose’s naivete, Blanche’s narcissism, and Sofia’s provincialism, all of which she parried with her own trademark characteristic: bullshit-deflating sarcasm. As... Read more

IF YOU’RE STILL LOOKING FOR MOTHER’S DAY GIFTS, you could look here. Read more

She was gazing slantwise towards the floor in some kind of coldly patient irony, he felt sick to death of himself.–James Agee, A Death in the Family. I wouldn’t do that with the comma, and this sentence probably doesn’t work out of context, but given that I had this exact experience recently (from the man’s position), well… here’s the quotation. Read more

I’M IN NEW HAVEN. You will continue to be blessed by my absence until, say, Wednesdayish. Read more

SERIOUSLY! Read more

I’M IN DALLAS, and just visited the Meadows Museum, which you really should not miss if you’re ever in this area. It’s on the SMU campus, and features a terrific selection of Spanish art, from the end of the Middle Ages through the 20th c.–El Greco, Goya, Ribera, Zurbaran, Miro… you get the picture. (Sorry for no accent marks! I’m in the business center of a Best Western and don’t have time to do them.) There’s also one Giacometti. I... Read more

“AND ANY MAGAZINE FEATURING THE SMITHS.” I can’t even tell you how much of this is one of the many master keys to the mystery that is me. I did a book review of QUEER in high school. I helped put up posters saying, “YES I’M A DYKE AND I’M A BIG MEAN DYKE AND THAT’S MS. HOMOSEXUAL TO YOU.” This is life as I know it. Read more

LADY POVERTY: My review of Catholic and Feminist is available to everyone now, not just First Things subscribers. All of these questions are just side effects of two main questions: If there really is a conflict between one’s Catholicism and one’s feminism, should Catholicism ever win? And, perhaps most central of all, can there be a feminist theology of submission–or does the feminist focus on equality and power relations necessarily crowd out any hope of understanding why a woman might... Read more

DIES IRAE: This was supposed to be a blogwatch, but then I kept talking. College Jay on the Day of Silence against bullying of students perceived to be lgbt. I think silence is basically the exact opposite of what you should do to combat this stuff, but… that might be because I spent my high school days getting yelled at for being an idiot by the left-wing administration of my private HS (who thought gay kids were fine as long... Read more

DAY JOB: One! more! time!!… or, recent stuff on MarriageDebate. From the bottom of the page to the top, we’ve got: thoughts for white parents of interracial children; a review of the looks-fascinating new book Marriage-Go-Round; the new kept woman; “Friday Night Lights” and the teenage virgin; and (from an interview with the author of Marriage-Go-Round): Q: You were already well versed in the subject of marriage in America, as you have been studying families and public policy for much... Read more