I Have to Sit Down
2. The invisible, celebratory fireworks that explode in your head when the credit card machine says, “APPROVED.” Read the rest at the Register. Image via Wikimedia Commons Read more
2. The invisible, celebratory fireworks that explode in your head when the credit card machine says, “APPROVED.” Read the rest at the Register. Image via Wikimedia Commons Read more
One year, deep in the throes of some emotional complex about femininity, I wore dresses all summer. At the time, I had no car, and walked several miles a day. At the time, I also had (and still have) a rather meaty physique. That, plus heat and humidity, plus all the walking, equaled one of the most foul, painful chronic rashes I have ever seen or suffered. Just horrible. But they are making such nice dresses these days! What to... Read more
The Salon piece is a prime example of the fine art of doing zero research. To craft this kind of essay, you start out knowing nothing about something, and assume that the only explanation is that either (a) there is nothing to know, because religious people are stoopid or (b) there is plenty to know, and it’s SUPER SCANDALOUS, but religious people would rather not talk about it, because religious people are stoopid. Read the rest at the Register. *** Image via... Read more
Maya Angelou has been dead long enough. As someone who still owes money on my student loan for my BA in literature with a concentration in lyrical poetry, I declare it fine to make fun of her now. Here we go: On Tuesday, the USPS unveiled a limited-edition stamp intended to honor the late poet Maya Angelou, featuring her beaming smile and a choice quotation to fill the frame. “A bird doesn’t sing because it has an answer,” reads the... Read more
Every so often, someone asks me for tips on launching a new blog. Here is some general advice for the typical popular blog. I don’t take all this advice myself, but it’s still all good practice. Experienced bloggers, what would you add? To increase your audience: -Always include a picture. People are much more likely to read and share a post that has an illustration of some kind.* -Post everything on Facebook, Twitter, and Google Plus once... Read more
That’s not a naked bottom. That’s a grenade, and you are its next victim unless you take evasive action. I don’t care how many times the baby just pooped, how many gallons she produced, and how finished you reckon she must be by now. I’m telling you, before you take that diaper off, get another diaper ready NOW NOW NOW. Maybe two diapers. Maybe a towel you never cared for. Read the rest at the Register. Read more
I’m not gonna lie to you: ever since I had the baby, if you took all of my thoughts and put them in a bag and shook it hard, nothing would happen. Because the bag would be empty! Nothin’ in my noggin. Which is not to say that I’m going to stop talking. Today, just for de heck of it, Mark Shea is going to humor me and let me ruin an entire hour of his radio show, Connecting the... Read more
The expense of obtaining a decree of nullity makes it difficult for some people to come into full communion with the Church. When annulments are expensive, there is also the risk that outsiders (or even Catholics) perceive that annulment is just “Catholic divorce,” for sale to parishioners with enough ready cash. But here’s the problem: it really does cost money to do it right. Read the rest at the Register. image By Gratianus (culture.gouv.fr) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons Read more
This isn’t about Communion in the hand vs. Communion on the tongue. This is about the casual abuses we allow ourselves to commit — we faithful ones, we educated ones, we who have been told. We who should know better. Somebody told us. The one up there, hanging over the altar with His arms spread out, open to be abused, open to be misunderstood, open to be ignored — what has He done but tell us, over and over again, that He... Read more
Saw it, liked it! I agree with just about everything Steve Greydanus says here. I do think the movie would be judged a bit more critically if it had been made in any other decade. Since it dropped out of the blue into hypercynical 2015, it’s notable mostly for what it refuses to do: it refuses to reimagine, to be sassy, to be in your face, or jarring, or ironic, or myth-busting. It is, in short, a work of mercy offered for... Read more
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