AND THE SHADOW BEHIND WALKED WITH HIM: This week’s Horror Roundtable looks at the best horror songs. How awesome. I can’t confine myself to only one; so here are ten. These are off the top of my head, without rifling through the tape/CD collection. And I’ve declared ballads (e.g. “The Twa Corbies,” “Allison Gross”) off-limits, because we’ll never get out of here otherwise. So, in no real order (except for the last, which is my favorite): 1. Delta 5, “Shadow.”... Read more

DISPUTATIONS WRITES: “The idea of each of our sins, however slight, being complicit in every evil experienced by everyone who ever lived is striking to me, too. That’s why it became its own post, instead of just the two-paragraph intro to another post I’d originally planned. “I’m not sure that it’s *true*, though. I came by it through manipulating a principle of apocalyptic literature, and I’m not even sure I understand the principle as it applies directly to literature. Whether... Read more

AWESOME NUN: “…As a former orphan, however, her heart ached in a special way for poor young children in the capital city, especially those whose parents had been jailed. In those days, whole families were thrown into prison together, leaving the children bereft of any education or normal opportunities for socialization, and exposed to all manner of abuse. “‘You almost had to put them back in the womb and let them be born again, in order to make them normal,’... Read more

PRISONER RAPE AND THE WAR ON DRUGS: “Stories from Inside offers first-hand accounts by 24 prisoner rape survivors, all of whom were sexually assaulted while serving time for a non-violent drug-related offense. The report also offers an overview and analysis of the war on drugs, highlighting how it affects the sentences and prison experiences of hundreds of thousands of Americans and making policy recommendations.” The report is here (PDF). Link via Hit & Run. I’ll keep linking to my old... Read more

“STRUGGLING ALONE“—First Things pc about the author’s friend, a same-sex attracted college student seeking to live out his Christian faith in chastity. You can get my thoughts on the psychological stuff discussed in the pc here, here, and here; but the description of the near-total opposition and lack of support this guy faced on campus was really poignant, and is the reason I’m linking to this. Sexual orientation is considered a fundamental fact of one’s identity, whereas religious faith is... Read more

GUILTY PARTY GIRL: Last night I finished Rene Girard’s study The Scapegoat, and then (re-)watched Derek Jarman’s Edward II. It was a pretty awesome juxtaposition–Jarman’s movie (it’s been yonks since I read the play, so I’m confining comments to the movie for now) is all vengeance, no mercy. I’m pretty sure the love… rhombus, at the center, is an example of “mimetic desire,” too, even though I still don’t really know what that is. (I sometimes felt like Girard was... Read more

UNDER THE SPREADING CHESTNUT TREE: If I’m understanding this thing from Disputations correctly (apologies for broken block-quotes)– “Moreover, in each of our earthly sins we create a spiritual sin that is of a piece with Satan’s fall. When I sin, I am in a certain way joining with and endorsing the devil’s fall. Which is to say (if what happens in heaven happens on earth) that I am joining with and endorsing all the evil, moral and natural, that we... Read more

“IF I SEE YOU IN THIS DREAM AGAIN, I’LL KILL YOU.” And more awesome designs from Spike Press. Via Journalista. Read more

Beat on the brat with a blogwatch bat, oh yeah– Not actually a blogwatch, really just two links from Hit & Run: Kultur-Terror vs. Godzilla!… and Jim Webb on incarceration rates. Here’s my 2003 piece on prison reform. Read more

“THE SACRED CARDOON”: I review the current Spanish art show at the Guggenheim. It is excellent, and it is closing March 28, so you should go see it now if you can…. This is another good review, focusing on different elements of the show. Read more