Hi everyone, I haven’t done one of these in awhile. This is your periodic reminder that Steel Magnificat is almost entirely reader-supported– meaning that Michael, Rosie and I live off the income from this blog and the vast majority of the income is in gratuities. Tips from satisfied readers keep the electricity on and keep AT&T happy so I can keep writing. Some months we’re quite comfortable, lately. Some months I haven’t known how we’re going to live one... Read more
The day’s heavy rain cleared up while Michael was running errands with Rosie. It was too beautiful to stay inside, writing. It looked like the right conditions for a rainbow, and I wanted to be outside to see one. I went for a walk. I left on a whim, without my cane or my purse where I keep my pepper spray. This turned out to be a mistake. There was no rainbow over the LaBelle neighborhood just then, but... Read more
For awhile, we were in a parish with two rival homeschool groups. One was led by a well-dressed rich lady with mile-high hair and astonishingly unruly children; the other was led by my mother and her friends. I don’t know that my mother and her friends ever thought of themselves as the rich lady’s rivals, but that wasn’t the rich lady’s opinion. There was a long, drawn-out turf war of the most tiresome kind in the parish; the kind of... Read more
I’ve been asked a lot of questions about the human-rights crisis going on at the Southern border in recent weeks. I know a lot of us are facing questions. I’ve decided to try and write out my answers here, in case any of my readers are curious or are being asked the same thing and don’t know how to respond. Q: Aren’t these people lawbreakers? Aren’t they all illegals? Don’t lawbreakers usually get their children taken away by CPS? A:... Read more
I need help from all of my generous friends on this one. As most of my veteran readers know, my friends run a house called The Friendship Room in downtown Steubenville. The Friendship Room keeps its doors open 24 hours whenever possible, to help Steubenville’s poorest. They serve as a warming center in the winter and a place to come in to the air conditioning in the summer. They shelter the homeless, drug addicts and prostitutes; they hand out... Read more
I’m still following the case of the immigrant children being taken from their parents and imprisoned separately at the country’s southern border, as I’m sure most of you are. The last time I wrote about this situation, I begged my readers to remember that many of these children are children of asylum-seekers following legal procedure for entering the country– that is, they are not themselves criminals, nor are their parents illegal aliens. I also reminded you that even if... Read more
I saw a video on Facebook about a young man who “upcycles” clothing for the homeless. It made me smile, and smiles have been a bit rare of late. Seventeen-year-old Dillon Eisman lives in Los Angeles. When he was fourteen, he visited some homeless teenagers and felt terrible about the fact that the teenagers didn’t have anything nice to wear to school or a job interview. So he taught himself to sew, through internet videos. “I’ve never had a... Read more
In the past few days, I’ve seen a lot of chuckling based on Bill Donohue’s scandalous plugging for his ghastly-looking book, of which Amazon only has one copy left. I’ll pass on buying it, myself. Our dismay has led to some fruitful conversation– not about the book itself but about what does await the Faithful. Donohue says it’s “health, happiness and Heaven.” The rest of us aren’t so sure. What does await the Faithful? What can you expect when you... Read more
I am not familiar with Anthony Bourdain. I didn’t know anything about him until I found out he had died today, apparently from suicide. I offer my prayers for him– not because I’m better than he is but because that’s what we ought to do when we hear about a death. I offer my condolences to his family. I do know that no one deserves the drivel that Bill Donohue just wrote about Anthony Bourdain’s death. This short op... Read more
I have a favor to ask my readers. My friend Donna Provencher is suffering a terrible injustice right now, and she’s already been through enough. Donna is a graduate of Christendom College and a freelance writer; she’s currently pregnant with her second child. In addition to being a wonderful mother and holding down three jobs, she is also the Director of Communications for Dinah’s Voice, a non-profit organization that supports sexual assault victims at Catholic colleges. She herself is... Read more
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