Well, the first thing to say is Thank You. In a very few hours the generosity of all you and so many was completely astonishing—not that I should be astonished, I mean, I am, gosh, there’s no way out of this. And sorry about the passive voice—gifts were given, I don’t know how to say it, it feels like being hit by a wave, a much nicer one than the other kind I was talking about yesterday. Not to go... Read more
This is the house where I spent my late childhood and teen years in Mali, West Africa. It is built of mud, plastered with a thin layer of cement, and then whitewashed. It is thatched with straw over the four houses–bathhouse, kitchen house, two bedroom houses–all which lead out into the living room with a tin roof in the middle as if it were a courtyard. I didn’t get to spend as much time in this house as I want.... Read more
It’s another birthday extravaganze so today’s podcast is a brief guide to getting through the next two months till Christmas–Halloween, Reformation Day, Daylight Savings, Election Day, Thanksgiving, and St. Nicholas. We complain a lot and give our best advice, like, wash your windows, don’t have children in October, and, think about cursing the darkness. Also, I am angry on behalf of Postal Workers. It’s all the light fluff you need to avoid the reality of it being another Monday in... Read more
This is a talk I gave on Friday night to a group of students. Enjoy! Almighty God, whose most dear Son went not up to joy but first he suffered pain and went not into glory before he was crucified; mercifully grant that we, walking in the way of the cross, may find it none other than the way of life and peace, Amen. At the beginning of this last week, I saw on Twitter that Amazon, who has managed... Read more
It’s Friday, and everyone is still asleep, so I guess I’ll try to put something here, while I wait for them to wake up and start banging around. I blame the debate, which Matt insisted on watching over my strenuous objections. One I read this while it was going on—Rod Dreher’s brief look at some statistics that came out recently, like this one: In 2009, for the first time in history, there were more unmarried women in the United States... Read more
Sorry, couldn’t resist a little joke. Of course he’s Catholic. Still trying out the youtube thing–this time with too low volume and a grainy church background. And don’t worry, I’m not mean at all. Enjoy! Read more
I was going to do another edition to my fantastic youtube channel with this article, but then I just didn’t, did I? I can’t do everything, even by trying really hard. It’s too good to pass up, though, so I’ll just pull out some pretty funny quotes, in the spirit of chuckling over this ridiculous time in the sweeping mess of human history: And now, by way of a new must-read Daily Beast piece by Aurora Snow, adult film stars are... Read more
I recorded another practice video last night before I got on Twitter and saw that someone by the name of Jeffrey Toobin was doing something appalling during a zoom meeting. I don’t even feel like linking it, actually, because it’s so shocking and embarrasing–or at least it should be. So anyway, my video is just me reading and laughing at an Economist article about someone who thinks men should not be allowed to live in the minds of women, followed... Read more
It’s another gray Monday and the hand of the Almighty feels heavy upon me. Even so, we’ve climbed onto the internet to do a podcast about the Christian life and coping with disappointment, and covid, and pain, and Job, and empathy in contrast to compassion, and all that kind of thing. I manage not to cry–too much. So that’s great. Here is the article we talk about. Here is the thing about loneliness. This is funny. Here is something stupid.... Read more
I’m over at Stand Firm this morning. Early Friday morning my parents packed up their meager breakfast, their computers, their small bag of clothes, and checked out of the Candlewood Suites where they had slept that night, and went out to the big horrible overflow parking lot to climb into their Uhaul truck to continue driving across the US with all their stuff—thirty years and longer worth of things stored by my aunt in her attic for them as they... Read more
Preventing Grace
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