So I took part in this year-end books roundup with AmCon, and once again told everybody to read Kathy Shaidle’s 1998 poetry collection, Lobotomy Magnificat. You can get a longer review from me here but really, it’s a short book, why not throw it in your basket? Shaidle replied; I thought this bit was esp interesting: “A lot of people see ‘compassion’ in my poetry and other early writing that I simply don’t think is there. I think they’re seeing... Read more
Blessed be my branches’ shadows, sunsewn Mosesbaskets: they ‘byed the Infant sleeping on the grass. Blessed be my roots: weaving the Boy a fine cradle, they hovered Him just above Hell. Yes, bring on the beautiful saw— I will it. Dead I will live forever. more Read more
and related issues. They’re not all completely depressing! “Fallout Grows Over Calif. Chief’s Participation in Protest”: But let’s start off with a raincloud for your silver lining. RICHMOND, Calif. — One week after photos of him holding a sign with the hashtag “BlackLivesMatter” at a peaceful local protest went viral on social media, Richmond Police Chief Chris Magnus is still grappling with the fallout — including accusations from his department’s police union that he broke the law — but says he has no... Read more
at AmCon: The most tense scene I saw in any movie this year was Marion Cotillard leaning against a blank wall gulping from a bottle of water. Cotillard is playing Sandra in “Two Days, One Night,” yet another must-see from Belgium’s Dardenne brothers (“The Kid with a Bike,” “Rosetta,” “The Child,” “The Son”). Sandra is waiting for the results of a vote taken by the employees of Solwal, the company where she used to work. When the movie opens she... Read more
ROSE: One thought reassures me: Our stupidity must be part of God’s divine plan. He must have made us stupid for a reason. VIOLET: Because he wants us to have kids? Be fruitful and multiply… ROSE: Yes. Probably. via Read more
A bunch of topics covered briskly here. Mostly gay Catholic whatnot. If you want a short version of my shtik this is not a bad place to look. Read more
Good intro-type piece at the Washington Post, featuring many friends of mine! When Eve Tushnet converted to Catholicism in 1998, she thought she might be the world’s first celibate Catholic lesbian. Having grown up in a liberal, upper Northwest Washington home before moving on to Yale University, the then-19-year-old knew no other gay Catholics who embraced the church’s ban on sex outside heterosexual marriage. Her decision to abstain made her an outlier. “Everyone I knew totally rejected it,” she said... Read more
A round-up of stuff I’ve been reading. “The Protester”: Raven Rakia writes a powerful piece which I think probably functions as a Rorschach test. Do you focus on the rules this guy breaks, or the colossal overreaction he faces when he breaks them? When Frankie was 13, school authorities at his middle school called the police in to deal with him for disrupting class. Two police officers ended up physically restraining him: They hogtied his legs and tied his hands... Read more
Ross Douthat lays out the question: Many optimistic liberals believe not only that such imitation is possible, but that what needs to be imitated most are the most socially progressive elements of the new upper class’s way of life: delayed marriage preceded by romantic experimentation, more-interchangeable roles for men and women in breadwinning and child rearing, a more emotionally open and egalitarian approach to marriage and parenting. The core idea here is that working-class men, in particular, need to let... Read more
Hill: …I write often about the consolations of friendship, hospitality, and Christian community, but sometimes I wonder if I’m too sanguine, writing as if these were easily attainable and capable of straightforward engineering. These three books, in very different ways, puncture my naivety. more! Andrews: …Any culture that bestows fame on fiery young radicals will see some of them punished with remorse in old age, but there are surprisingly few role models for writers who find themselves in this situation.... Read more
Eve Tushnet
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