— 1 — In lieu of a normal Quick Takes, I’m going to glom onto the Immediate Book Meme. It was started by DarwinCatholic, and then Betty Duffy, Simcha Fisher, Happy Catholic Bookshelf, Tom McDonald, and The Wine Dark Sea joined in. So, here’s my lineup: — 2 — What book are you reading now? The Martian by Andy Weir This book was originally published as a serial about the attempts by one Mars astronaut to stay alive when his fleeing... Read more
Over the past week or so, I’ve spent too much time on my phone playing Threes (review by Ars Technica here). The game has you drag around little numbered tiles to combine ones and twos to make threes, and then threes with each other to make sixes, sixes for twelves, etc. (the biggest card I’ve built, before running out of space, is 384). And after some time futzing around with it, I’ll confess to looking up at my friends and... Read more
As required of all D.C. residents, my friends and I blitzed through House of Cards this weekend. (As you can see above, I thought sweet, wholesome chocolate chip cookies would be a nice counterpoint to the bitterly cynical show). Unfortunately, though I like politics, sneaky ploys, and villainous monologues, I’m still not a big fan of the show, and you can read why over at First Things. (I was careful to keep my review thematic, so, I think you’re safe, even if you’re... Read more
Last weekend, while I was in New Haven, I had the pleasure of getting to hear a hymn I particularly liked at Mass and got a bit verklempt while singing it. Somehow, I’d misremembered just enough of the lyrics of Marty Haugen’s “Awake, O Sleeper” that I hadn’t been able to track it down on Google, til I got a refresher. (Humming it brokenly at people had done no good either). Here are the lyrics of the chorus: Awake, O... Read more
In 2014, I’m reading and blogging through Pope Francis/Cardinal Bergoglio’s Open Mind, Faithful Heart: Reflections on Following Jesus. Every Monday, I’ll be writing about the next meditation in the book, so you’re welcome to peruse them all and/or read along. At the beginning of the chapter “Nurtured by the Church” Cardinal Bergoglio draws out parallels between the Church and Mary, the Mother of God. Mary brings us forth and cares for us, and the Church does also. Mary helps us grom, and the... Read more
My March issue of First Things has just arrived in the mail, and, with it, my review of Richard Dawkins’s memoir, An Appetite for Wonder: The Making of a Scientist. Here’s how it begins: Richard Dawkins’ An Appetite for Wonder: The Making of a Scientist invites comparisons with C. S. Lewis’ Surprised by Joy. Both are memoirs by thinkers who seemed a little surprised to end up as apologists, much less as writers whom growing numbers would credit with their conversion or de-conversion. Unfortunately,... Read more
Yesterday, I had the pleasure of being a guest on Relevant Radio for the St. Valentine’s Day taping of A Closer Look with Sheila Liaugminas. I was joined by three other Patheos bloggers: Elizabeth Scalia (The Anchoress), Betty Duffy, and Mark Shea (Catholic and Enjoying It!). We had a pretty wide ranging conversation, and you can listen to the hour-long program here, but I’ll summarized two topics I covered below. We opened by talking about the namesake of the day. Saint... Read more
— 1 — The coffee shop near my office puts up prompts on their blackboard for patrons to respond to. This week, they went with, “Share your thoughts about LOVE” Can you spot which was my contribution? — 2 — But I can only take so much sappiness, so I’ll alternate Valentine’s Day-ish takes with unrelated ones. I grew up on Calvin and Hobbes, so I loved this collection of disturbing snowmen at HuffPo, some of which are clearly homages... Read more
In 2014, I’m reading and blogging through Pope Francis/Cardinal Bergoglio’s Open Mind, Faithful Heart: Reflections on Following Jesus. Every Monday, I’ll be writing about the next meditation in the book, so you’re welcome to peruse them all and/or read along. I got stuck for a while on this chapter. Partially because I was up north for a debate reunion (and suffering the side-effects of keeping undergraduate hours) and partially because Open Mind, Faithful Heart has turned out to be a bit more focused on the... Read more
Due to travel and college debate reunions that kept us on the floor until past 2am, the Pope Francis bookclub post is prorogued until tomorrow. My last two posts at The American Conservative have both been about the limitation of our ability to model the world, mathematically or otherwise, and how to be mindful of the gaps. First off, I have “Stop Hiding Behind the CBO” kvetching about the attempts of politicians on both sides to use descriptive data to avoid... Read more
Unequally Yoked
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In