I attended Franciscan University of Steubenville from 2001 to 2005; I used to play music most Thursday nights in the back room of the The Spot Bar, to a group of students. The “townies” stayed at the front end of the bar, segregated by class, custom, and self-importance. We shared the gross bathrooms. A stinky solidarity. I played two benefit concerts for The Harmonium Project this past October and, in the process, I got to know the core group of... Read more
2013 has been my first full year with Patheos. I think I posted between ten and twelve times per month, so conservative simple addition estimates puts that at more than a hundred entries. I polled Twitter and Facebook for what people thought my best and worst posts were. Robbie Dixon, who rarely writes at his excellent blog, Simple GIFs, had the best and most comprehensive reply: Best: I liked “The Educational Significance of Advent,” which successfully accomplished the difficult task... Read more
NOTE: One thing I’ve always admired about First Things is its longstanding commitment to publishing the give-and-take between its writers and its readership (and many times these categories are mutually inclusive). It was shocking, then, to find out that Stephen Webb’s recent review of David Bentley Hart’s most recent book was edited, post-publication, to satisfy Hart’s sensitive constitution. Factual corrections are one thing, but sentimental corrections are quite different. This is unfortunate for many reasons, the most serious one being the missed intellectual... Read more
A Very Merry and Blessed Christmas to All! Read more
(The late David Foster Wallace’s 2005 “This Is Water” Kenyon College commencement speech drones in my headphones and Rebel Without a Cause plays on mute in the corner; it is chilling to listen to DFW speak descriptively about suicide and I am arrogant to enough to find it all quite underwhelming, in a very comforting, soothing, and self-assuring way.) A young professor from Fordham showed up late to my talk in New York a month ago. He asked me a... Read more
Your flaky weekly apocalypse, in ten points. 1. The War on Christmas is in full swing again and sales are going well. It is expected to end on Christmas, if not a few days earlier. 2. Happy New Years! 3. Francis is declared to be the first gay, atheist, and only the third communist pope, by dozens of Catholics on Facebook. 4. Bill Clinton is reported to have auditioned for the role of Nelson Mandela in the forthcoming film, citing... Read more
I like to watch TV, which is why I don’t own one. Plus, I watch plenty of television shows online, so having a television would at this point interfere with my television watching. Needless to say, I’ve never watched a full Duck Dynasty episode, although some snippets here and there, a quick Google search, and not living under a rock give me a decent general impression. I started watching Survivor this past year and really like it. I also like... Read more
There can be good clean fun in the political give and take. The sport of politics can be as enjoyable as any other hobby, snack, or professional wrestling. Debate is fun for some of us, and the pleasure we take is in the debate itself, not the issues. I’d rather be interesting than right, sometimes. So I have a hard time taking an absolute position against politics in toto. Politics can be okay. It depends. But these days things are... Read more
The Harmonium Project is the name given to a group of students at Franciscan University of Steubenville (FUS) who have made a radical choice. They’ve decided to live in Steubenville, OH, not by chance, force, or unfortunate accident, they have decided live in a run-down, smoggy, depressed and dirty town that they could just as easily ignore from their privileged perch on a hill that preserves the University from the streets and the people of town. Frannies vs. Townies. These... Read more
(My first book of essays — Things and Stuff — was published in 2011 as something of an experiment. The result was, in many ways, premature. This past weekend, at a talk I gave at St. William Catholic Church in Round Rock, Texas, I looked at it again and was surprised by its appeal. I think it outsold my Primer. Here is an essay from the collection that, in many ways, paved the way for the the Primer that I... Read more
Sam Rocha
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In