Wednesday, May 4, 2016

An Historian Looks at the Current Political Scene

To get a clearer idea of the feelings of Trump supporters, read the comments section following any mainstream news story that deals with race, class, and gender in politically correct fashion. A stream-of-consciousness litany of his supporters’ peeves, for good or ill, would run like this: The wrong people are in the news. Instead of generals, and small-business owners, and muscular workers, we instead see smarmy smart-asses, the pajama boys and mattress girls of the world of TV, who roll their eyes, wink about a joke only the anointed get, and smirk that what they say could have three different meanings — the Jon Stewarts, David Lettermans, and Stephen Colberts of Smug, Inc.
[Episcopal Outrage Alert:  Yes, the linked article appears in...National Review.  For some of my colleagues and parishioners, this will mean that they will mutter that I'm a Republican, or "Repug" as an acquaintance writes on her Facebook page.  Such gossip about my political perspective has even resulted in my being dis-invited to a cocktail party, so it's not entirely a bad thing.  However, I also read, and link to from time to time, articles from New Republic, Huffington Post, Salon, Reason, The New York Times, The Washington Post and Slate.  Does this mean I'm also a Democrat, Libertarian, or Lunatic?

By the way, if you want to see the damage that can be done when an institution decides to be informed of, accept, and promote only one political ideology, check out the national membership records of The Episcopal Church for the last twenty years.  Or the last five.

I appreciate that, especially in the homogenized sanctity of northwestern Connecticut, one is to have only one perspective on the issues of the day, whether from the left or the right, but I've always found that a sign of gross ignorance.  It is good to read of a variety of opinions and the best way in which to inform one's own.  Those who are quick to label and dismiss would seem to have a rather weak grasp of the Gospel.

For those who would label me a "Repug", I'll simply point out that my father was the treasurer of our county Democratic Party for twenty years or so and my mother a Democratic candidate for political office.  That was the household in which I grew up.  While I do not belong to one particular party, I'm rankled when it's assumed that I must be "the enemy" because I think for myself.]

So, How's It Going? A Book Update.


People have been asking me how goes the progress with what was originally supposed to be a slim volume of popularized theology.  Well, "pop theology", perhaps.  As noted before, the original outline began, in writing, to morph into another rich vein of spirituality, so much so that, after 60,000 words, I realized that I was writing another work entirely.  This could not stand, of course, as I have a contract that determines the nature of the product.

So, I returned to the original outline, cannibalized the useful information from the deviance, and am now over 50,000 words into the promised work.  For those of you unfamiliar with such things, hardcover books tend to run, depending on print format, to around 350-400 words a page; paperbacks around 300.  50,000 words is approximately 150+ pages of what is to be a 200 page volume.

Here's the thing:  I'm only halfway to fulfilling my outline.  I'm a loquacious git, aren't I?  This means that the original work will be around 400 pages in length, which is way too long for contemporary readers.

Also, I still have about 20,000 words of good copy from the deviance.  So, what was once to be a slim volume is now projected to be...a three volume work of some 200,000 words.  Unfortunately, I still get paid at the original rate.

What is of terrific curiosity to me is that, while my first book, written sixteen years ago and now long out-of-print, sold only three copies in the United States [all to libraries], it is still read in the U.K. and Australia.  Mainstream Christians overseas are more theologically literate than their American cousins, as they prefer to read quite a bit about spirituality.

Anyway, the work continues, as brutally interior and painstaking as any kind of writing can be.

News from Home

Alternate Header:  The Blobs of the Father Will Visit the Sons

Toxic blob from 1970s may be nearing Cleveland water plant on Lake Erie

I used to play bass for Toxic Blob Nearing Cleveland.

Now, If It Had Been Stroh's, That Would Have Been Something

Wisconsin Fishing Buds Reel in 60-Year-Old 6-Pack of Beer

Are You Kidding? In a Minute. Have You Seen the Presidential Candidates?

Elon Musk May Go to Mars, but Would You?

The Holy Island of Lindisfarne


Recycling is hardly new as the folks of Lindisfarne have been doing so with old boat hulls for a very long time.

For more information about one of the places I would wish to retire, please follow this link.  There is a connecting path to the mainland that is flooded twice a day when the tides are high, a natural cycle that inspired Sir Walter Scott to compose the following verses:
For with the flow and ebb, its style
Varies from continent to isle;
Dry shod o'er sands, twice every day,
The pilgrims to the shrine find way;
Twice every day the waves efface
Of staves and sandalled feet the trace.

J'ai eu des professeurs d'anglais qui ne parlent pas l'anglais

A high school French teacher has been accused of not being able to speak the language he's been teaching his students.

I Dig His Threads


Turns out Camels were good for him.  He lived to the age of 84.  Maybe playing golf helped.  I never really associated cigarettes with digestive health, but, then, I'm not a doctor of medicine.

Unless You Have a Cat Who is Determined to Be Up and Out at 4AM

Sunday, May 1, 2016

More About St. Sava's





From before the fire:

On the Sunday of Orthodox Easter, The Beautiful Serbian Orthodox Cathedral on W. 24th St. and Broadway in Manhattan is on Fire


 It's a glorious building that looks to be a total loss.  We pray that no one has been injured.


Update:  It used to be one of ours.  The Serbian Orthodox Cathedral of St. Sava, formerly known as Trinity Chapel, was purchased from the Episcopal Diocese in New York in 1943 and consecrated in 1944.  It was originally built to serve the what was then the "rural" Episcopal community and designed in 1850 by architect Richard M. Upjohn in the Gothic Revival style. Upjohn also designed, among many other Episcopal parishes, Christ Church in Canaan, Connecticut [now closed] and St. Thomas in Amenia, New York.

Nightmare Fuel

Temptations Made a Collar That Finally Gives Your Cat a Human Voice, So It Can Talk to You