GIFT AND GOOD READS: My friend John Zmirak, who earlier this year edited Disorientation; How to Go to College Without Losing Your Mind, to which I happily contributed along with many writers much better than I, writes with some humor about (among other things) the trials and tribulations of getting his latest book out in time for Christmas: My new Bad Catholic’s Guide to the Seven Deadly Sins is finally on sale — delayed as it was for months by... Read more
Snowflake Photos from SnowCrystals.com In this frigid weather, it’s hard, I know. But there is a way to totally change how you feel about snowflakes, particularly in this last week of Advent. Here’s how. Read more
As Pat Gohn’s column so rightly pointed out yesterday, our Advent is like a pregnancy, and we are nearing our culmination. Finally, we come to the last week of Advent, and the gorgeous O Antiphons which precede the Magnificat at Vespers. They lead us into a quieter mindset, so that we can concentrate more fully on what is about to overtake us. As with every birth, everything will change; we will be changed, if we allow ourselves to be, by... Read more
I was grousing below about–among other things–being cold in my house as we try to keep the energy bills down. Then I saw this picture of our First Lady, Michelle Obama, wearing a killer vintage dress she got at a thrift shop for a couple grand: Now, I don’t begrudge anyone who wants to wear one of those classic, elegant, full-skirted, Grace Kellyesque creations from the 1950’s, and it looks wonderful on Mrs. O. But as I sit here wearing... Read more
The recent birth of his son, Cormac got Joseph Susanka musing about fatherhood, but I think his sentiments can be easily understood by all parents: For a father, there are few moments filled with more deeply conflicting emotions than when he holds his newborn child for the first time. To that tiny little infant, mewing and squirming in his arms, he is the ultimate, a godlike power. In the coming years, this child will trust him absolutely, love him unreservedly,... Read more
Winter is promising to be a home-heating oil budget-buster and so my husband and I have taken to turning down the thermostat and wearing bulky sweaters all day. I never feel completely warm, though, and last night, as we tried to watch a movie, he had to listen to the Greek Chorus of the Winter of my Discontent: “Brrr; I’m cold,” I said. He tossed an afghan my way. A little later: “Why is it so cold in here?” Another... Read more
So, Hugo Chavez thinks he should be allowed to run a dictatorship for a year: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Tuesday asked congress to grant him special powers to enact laws by decree for one year, just before a new legislature takes office with a larger contingent of opposition lawmakers. The measure would give the president the ability to bypass the National Assembly for the fourth time since he was first elected almost 12 years ago. How much do you... Read more
Evensong for a cold evening approaching on red and pink clouds…. Read more
Longtime readers know that when I get over-busy and overworked there is a crash and burn, (strangely enough, it’s often an Crash-and-Burn-in-ADVENT) followed by a period of fried-brains-recovery that involves staring at beautiful fabric and period clothing, because despite my Tomboyish ways, somewhere within me there is a pathetically girly girl who is living in the wrong era and occasionally must be served. The past few days, which featured all my regular work, plus a few promised projects and a... Read more
Boston College professor and theologian Tim Muldoon’s column, “Culture at the Crossroads” strikes a daring note this week; in pondering the recent Nobel Prize awarded to Robert Edwards for the development of human in vitro fertilization (IVF) therapy, Muldoon wonders about the morality of it: IVF does not serve the common good — that is, the good of countries and states providing loving homes to all their children. It interrupts the transformative process — the conversion, if you will —... Read more
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