April 2007
-
For those too young to remember, back in 1976 a headline on one of the New York newspapers that's not the Times (sorry, New Yorkers, I can't keep them straight) was credited with helping Gerald Ford lose the 1976 presidential election. I forget the details, although I'm sure a couple of minutes with Google would…
-
A number of remarks on Vonnegut's passing have made the point that his work is an enthusiasm one outgrows. And I suppose that's true. I thought of him as a one-trick pony, and had no great urge to read more of his work after the three or four that I did read: Slaughterhouse Five, Cat's…
-
I did, as promised, finally manage to read that Russell Kirk essay on neo-conservatism, as well as more from the blogger who signs herself neo-neocon. The Kirk essay is pretty much what what you might expect: he is partly sympathetic to the neo-cons, and partly skeptical: sympathetic insofar as the neocons are simply conservative (in…
-
Discovering Traherne (3): On the Cross Improperly excerpted, Traherne might appear to be a proto-romantic heretic, viewing the soul as naturally good and pure until corrupted by the world, and “saved” by recovery of the primeval innocent vision. (Of course one can be a romantic and a Christian, but not a Romantic, in the sense…
-
I’ve discovered that I can make these posts, which are almost always late, show up in their correct chronological position by changing the posting date. However, that means that they don't show up as the most recent post. So here’s a link to the March 18 entry (a selection of chants from the choir of…
-
Bach: St. Matthew Passion Now that I understand why this is considered one of the landmarks of music, I have no intention of trying to communicate that knowledge in a paragraph or two. Not that I would be able to do it justice at any length: aside from my lack of technical knowledge, there is…
-
by Joseph Bottum. Good Friday meditation starts with the "Midway on life's journey…" paragraph. If you don't already know the Donne poem he quotes, be sure to click over and read the whole thing. Pre-TypePad http://js-kit.com/for/lightondarkwater.com/comments.js
-
I’m going to let further discussion of Traherne wait for a week, or maybe two. A topic more appropriate for Palm Sunday occupies my mind today. Pontius Pilate and the Infinitely Thin Line This sentence, a brief aside in the Passion according to St. Luke which was read today at Mass, strikes me as one…
Light On Dark Water 