I am not, myself, directly involved with the New Pro-Life Movement at this time, but I’ve yet to read anything from them I didn’t think was good sense. Most of my readers are probably aware that recently, the New Pro-Life Movement was the subject of a stream of consciousness published in Crisis Magazine by none other than the inimitable Austin Ruse. Ruse seems confident that the New Pro-Life Movement is out to poison and destroy the mainstream Pro-life Movement out of malice.... Read more
My mother and her friends were sipping coffee together after their daily Rosary. They were in the comfortable, sunny kitchen of a mom I’ll call Gertrude, who lived in a wealthy part of town. The conversation turned to Gertrude’s sons’ boy scout activities. “Last year, we took a Thanksgiving dinner to a poor family. We brought the turkey, we brought the bag of stuffing, yams, marshmallows, can of pumpkin, sack of potatoes, everything. I thought the children would be so happy, you... Read more
I used to be one of those children who wrote poetry. Horrible poetry. I was one of those swoony little girls who pretended to be a fairy or a dryad in the trees at the end of the schoolyard instead of playing kickball like the Good Lord intended at recess, and I wrote poetry. I would scribble it out in notebooks or on the backs of used printer paper and hide it, and my mother would find it. My mother... Read more
Don’t you just hate it when a non-Christian gives a better Christian witness than someone professing to be a Christian? And when said Christian gives a brilliant what-not-to-do when speaking to someone in a different faith? Puts me to shame. Here’s a facebook post from the author and human rights attorney Quasim Rashid, an Ahmadiyya Muslim. You can follow his writing online here. Here’s his status update in its entirety, with my squealing commentary added in. Conversation with a Christian and Trump supporter. This just... Read more
I just turned on the computer to find out that there’s been a mass attack on the Ohio State University campus. One suspect killed, nine victims taken to the hospital, students hiding on the floor in classrooms last I read; I’m sure there’ll be much more news later today. I’ve been trying to think what I can write. I’m not a reporter, and when I try to be I’m bad at it. I’m a poet who likes to write about trees. But... Read more
I don’t think anyone is really offended by coffee cups. I think that any Christmas cup controversy last year or resolutions this year is manufactured drama started by a few hoax tweets, and that even that pastor who thinks eye-rolling is persecution would be embarrassed to fuss over a waxed cardboard drinking vessel in a heat-proof paper sleeve. At least, I hope that’s the case. My faith in humanity’s ability to spot a con has been sorely tried lately. Mind you, I don’t... Read more
It seems there’s no end to the calamity 2016 can inflict. I’ve just found out that Ron Glass, who played Shepherd Derrial Book on the acclaimed 2002 science fiction television series Firefly, has passed away at age 71. The cause of death has yet to be released. Of all the celebrity deaths we’ve witnessed this year, this one is hitting me the hardest. I’m struggling to find words. I make no secret of the fact that I am a geek who... Read more
There is one thing and one thing only that makes me sad, about my family’s transferring to the Byzantine Catholic church: I really like my Advent wreath. I have a nice stately faux stone Advent wreath with Celtic knots all over it; it’s my pride and joy, one of the only religious items I’ve ever bought new from a catalog instead of scrounging from the thrift store or painting myself. Every year I’ve gone out to get candles for it.... Read more
We were spending Thanksgiving, as we often did, with family– not my bad cousins, who might have been fun, but my father’s side of the family: my eccentric uncle and aunt, a well-to-do attorney and his outspoken liberal feminist college professor wife from New England. My mother disliked my aunt, who was guilty of using inclusive language, not wearing makeup, voting democrat and having only two children. Besides, she wore sneakers with pantsuits. I was and am a dreadful introvert with no... Read more
It was bedtime, but five-year-old Rose wasn’t at all sleepy. “Let’s talk about the first Star Wars movie!” she said, meaning A New Hope. ‘Okay,” I said, propping my eyes open. “Let’s talk about the first Star Wars movie. It starts with a battle–” “No! It starts–” she made spittle-laced drumroll noises with her mouth, in imitation of the 20th Century Fox fanfare. “And then there’s music and lots and lots of letters.” “Ah,” I said. “The Opening Expository... Read more
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