7 Quick Takes on Friday, Friday, January 4, 2013

 

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First, I’d like to say I hope our host for 7 Quick Takes, Jennifer Fulwiler, has a very speedy recovery from suffering several pulmonary embolism and to ask everyone to keep her in their prayers.  I had just one of those things when I broke my shoulder a few years ago and, believe me, it’s no fun at all.  I can’t imagine having several of them.

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 In spite of the circumstances, I also wish you all a Happy New Year.  I can’t believe how fast 2012 seemed to come and go.  The New Year is starting that way too, it seems Lent is just around the corner, coming much earlier this year. 

It was an eventful year for both of us here in Colorado, and 2013 promises to be just as eventful in its own way.  Many changes ahead for us, most of which I’m eagerly anticipating.  As I’ve grown older, I’ve found it all too easy to fear change, or to regret it many years after it happened.  It’s too easy to regret that which no longer is and neglect the real good all around me, it’s a danger of ingratitude and I hope to avoid it like the plague in the coming year.  It’s time, as Paul said, to leave the past behind and run the race, whatever remains to me, that lies ahead.

 

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Speaking of the New Year, I’ve made a few resolutions for 2013, not many, but they’re ones I hope to follow through on.  I’ve got to spend much more time getting some exercise; that’s still a little difficult because of the shoulder replacement last June, but still a necessity.  And if there’s such a thing as improving physical fitness, there must also be such a thing as improving spiritual fitness.  Therefore, I resolve to spend more time in prayer this year, and at least one monastic retreat to be made.  That last bit needs to be quantified a bit and I’m working on that.

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I got one this week.  You know the Starbuck’s cup with the “Come Together” slogan written on it.  One wonders, does everything have to be about politics?  What about principles rather than ideologies?  What about the permanent things?  I’m no longer sure they can be addressed in our soured political process.  Thankfully, at the last minute the Congress was able to get something through that no one seems happy with.  Maybe that’s a good thing.

 

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Fr. Don, the pastor of our parish has been ill the last few months and I’d like to ask anyone who reads this to say a few prayers for his speedy recovery as we start the New Year.

 

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There was some excitement this week, early New Year’s morning as a matter of fact.  We woke up and one of our cats, Sarah, was sort of coughing and pawing at her mouth.  We thought she’d swallowed something and was choking, so we packed her up and headed off to the animal emergency clinic to get her fixed.  Needless to say, there was no one there, so we rang the bell and were promptly admitted.  The vet checked her and noticed a tooth was loose.  She gave us some anti-biotics and, of all things, methadone, for the pain and told us to get her into our regular vet the next day.  Well, the long and the short of it is that she’d already lost one tooth and had to have 5 others that were loose removed.  She’s been a sick kitty for most of the week, but is feeling better now, I think.  Not the way I’d planned to start the year.

 

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I’ve said enough.

Related articles

• Prayers for Jennifer Fulwiler!

7 Quick Takes on Friday, Friday, December 21, 2012

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It's hard not to start off this week's "Quick Takes" without thinking about the Newtown shooting incident.  It seems there are so many instances now of disturbed young men who seem to think they have no way to express themselves except by shooting up a school or movie theater.  The one solution that so few in the media seem to have thought of is prayer.  We simply need more people praying every day for a change in the culture we're living in. 

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What a difference a year makes -- for the Denver Broncos that is.  Last year, Tim Tebow was the starting QB, the team was destined to end 8/8 and, even so, win the AFC West division.  No one expected the team to beat the mighty Steelers of Pittsburgh, much less go to the Super Bowl.  This year, Peyton Manning is the starter, the team should end with 13 wins and could earn a first round bye in the play-offs.  Is there a point?  No, just gloating a little. 

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One thing I've been wondering about is that I don't seem to be seeing the level of traffic around town that one would expect at this time of year.  Also, stores don't seem to be as busy as normal.  I'm wondering if this is a sign of a souring economy or the impact of more people ordering Christmas gifts on line.  What do you think?

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We've had an interesting weather week here in Colorado.  It's been in the 50's and beautifully sunny but on Wednesday, we had near white-out conditions.  There is, for the first time possibly since I've been here, snow in the forecast for Christmas Day. Of course, that's 3 days out and much can change here between now and then.  I guess we'll see.  This is one place where it is certainly true, if you don't like the weather, wait a couple of hours and it'll change.

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Sometimes I wonder about reviewers on Amazon, especially book reviewers.  I know of one such specimen that automatically slams any book by a Catholic author writing on Catholic subjects.  It doesn't matter who the writer is or what the topic is, if it's Catholic it's going to get slammed.  The thing that's so frustrating is that, if you've read the book in question, or know anything about the topic, it's abundantly clear that this reviewer has only a passing knowledge of said book.  It makes me question the overall quality of reviews on Amazon.

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In unison with the author of the Catholic Bibles blog, I do wish there was a really nice edition of a Catholic Bible, it could be the RSV-CE or NABRE versions, but it would be nice to have it in a package similar to, say, the ESV Clarion edition in real leather.  That's what I really want for Christmas.

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Finally, I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

7 Quick Takes on Friday, Friday, December 14, 2012

 

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Approaching year end and already planning goals and scheduling appointments for the new year.  More importantly, I'm getting even more serious about planning impending retirement.  One thing I've decided to try is to get the long delayed and fretted over mystery novel written.  I have characters, and now have a story and theme idea in place, all that's left to do is write the damn thing.  That seems much easier said than done.

 

One difficulty I know I'll face is my own lack of self discipline.  I've never been very good at working in a fairly unstructured environment, hey, I'm an accountant for gosh sakes, and I tend to think that writing a novel is about as unstructured as it gets.  I must develop the habit, dare I say the virtue, of working two to three hours a day and setting goals to mark my progress.  As I said, easier said than done.  Also, I think there's some virtue is working and not worrying too much about the end result, at least until it's complete.  I know this thing won't go according to my timetable, there is much to learn about writing along the way, and I need to learn to allow myself to let the project go as it goes.  If I'm faithful to the project, it'll get done in the right time.

 

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This story was reported in LifeSite News, on their web page:

 

WASHINGTON, D.C., December 6, 2012, (LifeSiteNews.com) - Citing “unprecedented challenges” to life, marriage and religious liberty, the bishops of the United States have called on all the faithful to fast, pray a daily Rosary, have regular Holy Hours and Masses, and attend rallies, “for the sake of renewing a culture of life, marriage, and religious liberty in our country.”

 

In explaining the reasons for the campaign, the bishops specifically singled out the HHS mandate. That mandate coerces employers, including heads of religious agencies, to pay for sterilizations, abortion-inducing drugs, and contraceptives. The bishops also called on Catholics to resist increased efforts to redefine marriage.

 

I'm almost tempted to say, finally!  There are so many challenges to our faith, I think our only option is ever increasing time spent in prayer.  We can get active in all sorts of political activities, and those are good, but nothing will really change the course of things except to have a Church at prayer, I don't know why it's taken so long for the bishops to make this call.  Advent is a great time to start.

 

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These are supposed to be quick takes, aren't they?  See what I mean about self-discipline?

 

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Following up on my post from last August, "A New Way to Post," I've given up on the blogging apps, Blogsy and Blog Press.  I've started using the Pages app on the iPad almost exclusively for blog posts.  There's an extra step in transferring the post from the app to Blogger, but the format on the blog is pretty much exactly what it was in the app document.  It's a great tool.

 

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Speaking of great apps, Magnificat has done a major update to the iPad version of their app.  The text is now larger and clearer, no longer an iPhone size view of the daily pages.  We use the Magnificat version of Morning and Evening prayer, and now that the days are so much shorter, and with the rather poor lighting set up in our living room, having the book on the iPad is a great solution to being able to see the text.  I also purchased, for all of $ 0.99 the Magnificat Advent companion which is also very nicely done.  Great job, Magnificat!

 

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"I have a particular reason for mentioning this matter in conclusion-a reason that is directly related to this curious effect of scepticism in weakening the normal functions of the human being. In one of the most brilliant and amusing of Mr. Sinclair Lewis's recent books there is a passage which I quote from memory, but I think more or less correctly. He said that the Catholic Faith differs from current Puritanism in that it does not ask a man to give up his sense of beauty, or his sense of humour, or his pleasant vices (by which he probably meant smoking and drinking, which are not vices at all), but that it does ask a man to give up his life and soul, his mind, body, reason, and all the rest. I ask the reader to consider, as quietly and impartially as possible, the statement thus made; and put it side by side with all those other facts about the gradual fossilizing of human function by the fundamental doubts of our day."

 

G.K. Chesterton, The Thing

 

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Once again, I owe a debt of thanks to Jennifer for providing the opportunity to do 7 Quick Takes every week, along with all the others who do the same.  I've discovered some great blogs that I had never heard of here and I hope you're able to do the same.

 

7 Quick Takes on Friday

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Finally, it’s been a quiet week.  I think our biggest challenge of the week will be attending the Vigil Mass tonight for the Immaculate Conception.  My understanding is that this is one of two Holy Days of obligation that is never abrogated.  I ain’t a night person, but tomorrow, with things that must be done taking up the weekend, there’s nothing for it, we must attend the Vigil Mass this evening.  One thing that concerns me is that it means driving in the dark, on the I-25 corridor both to church and back; as I get a little older, driving at night is more of a challenge.  Wish us luck.

 

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All the news this week is about the Holy Father getting a Twitter account.  I have mixed feelings about that, but if he thinks it’s a wise thing to do, who am I to argue?

 

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I began my Advent reading with the introduction Volume 1 of Guerric of Igny’s Liturgical Sermon.  Normally, I question the value of scholarly introductions to the works of ancient works; too often, more insight is to be gained by just reading what the original author wrote without being prejudiced to some professor’s point of view which may really miss the point entirely.  Yet, there was a point made that was, so to speak, a real eye opener.  It seems, and this is borne out by reading him, that Guerric wrote from the tradition of God as light, and Advent as the season of the coming of the Light.  I think I’ve been too much influenced by John of the Cross and others who view our growth in God as a kind of darkness.  I realized I need to shake that off and am much more comfortable with Guerric’s (and John’s Gospel) idea that to seek God is, in truth, to seek enlightenment, not darkness.

 

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Toying with the idea again, of trying to write a mystery series of books based on a group of characters I dreamed up over the last several years.  I’ll keep you updated on the progress of that.

 

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Pet Peeve Alert!  I notice more and more often that things published on the internet, even news stories and columns from major professional writers, contain spelling errors and/or typos.  I have long been of the opinion that such things should happen, at worst, infrequently, at best, never.  I know for many of us who grew up writing drafts of papers longhand, and typing (on a typewriter!) the finished product, it’s a great temptation to write something quickly on a computer and get it out the door, and very difficult to try to proof read the thing on the screen.  But I wish more people, especially those who get paid to do such things, would try a little harder.  I worry what damage is being done to an already suffering language.

 

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A post on the American Conservative blog, titled “Why Catholics Can’t Speak English,” covers the question of the lack of availability of a really nice Catholic Bible translation, and, for that matter, edition.  The author likes the Knox transition, newly released by Baronius Press, because it was done in the context of making the language more accessible to the English reader.  Msgr Knox used the vernacular as a prominent feature of his translation.  The AC author is arguing for a new edition that makes the Bible more understandable to the Catholic in the pew.

 

I’ve always taken a different tack toward Holy Scripture.  I believe any translation, and edition, of the Bible should be beautiful; the language should be somewhat elevated and majestice.  I don’t think we read the Bible only for understanding, I think we read it to open ourselves to God’s self-revelation and allow His Word, which is His, wholly Other, to enlighten us; it’s not a teaching tool but something much more.  I tend to think that making the language of the Bible more pedestrian is very often an effort to bring God down to our level, which is, of course, an impossible task.

 

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It’s Friday!  Thanks again to Jennifer for hosting 7 Quick Takes.

7 Quick Takes on Friday, Friday, November 30, 2012

 

 

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Here it is, Thursday, and I haven't written one word on my Friday post.  Whoever happens to stop here to read this may be just as happy if I don't.  Oh well, the blog life goes on.

 

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l'll have to say, it's been a quiet week.  It seems like a lull between Thanksgiving now over and Advent yet to come.  I don't remember, since I've been in the Church, that Advent came the week after Thanksgiving, rather than the Sunday after.  Seems to have thrown the entire holiday schedule off a bit.

 

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This year, I decided to pick a book to read for Advent, as I've done every year for the last 5 or 6 years for Lent.  The Lenten reading is called for in the Rule of St. Benedict, and I think it's a wonderful habit to get into.  It encourages you to spend time with one author, and one work, and really get some meaning from the text.

 

This year's Advent reading is the first volume of the liturgical sermons of Guerric of Igny.  I realize it may have slipped your mind who old Guerric is, so I'll remind you.  Guerric is one of the founding fathers of the Cistercian order, roughly a contemporary of St Bernard of Clairvaux, who was encourage to the monastic life by St Bernard himself.  After about 10 years or so in the monastery, I think at Clairvaux, he became the second abbot of the Cistercian house at Igny, in the diocese of Rheims.  This monastery or the land therefore, anyway, was given to St Bernard by the bishop of Rheims for Bernard's efforts in settling a dispute between the bishop and the lay people in the diocese.  All of this happened nearly 900 years ago; my how time flies.

 

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I just learned I didn't win the $560 mil Powerball drawing.  I don't understand, the clerk who sold me the ticket absolutely assured me that it was the winner.  Just can't trust anyone these days.

 

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There was some excitement this week, involving my neighbor's driveway.  This being Colorado, everything is uphill, especially that driveway, it looks like a ski slope.  The neighbor has a Jeep which he usually drives, however, on Tuesday; his wife decided she should take the Jeep.  So, she backed it out of the garage, forgot to set the parking brake, and got out to fetch something she had forgotten.  Guess what happened?  Of course, the Jeep decided to roll down the driveway, coming dangerously close to rolling off and landing in my dining room.  It eventually turned the other way and ended in another neighbor's front yard.  In the process of making that turn, it knocked a rock off the retaining wall that supports the driveway, which ended up against the foundation of my house, about a foot from my gas meter.  I count myself very thankful that it didn't hit the gas meter and, therefore, blow my house to smithereens.  I would have been a crispy critter, which really would have ticked me off after going through the great wood floor project and seeing said project to completion.

 

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I think bloggers often like to write more about their blog, and themselves writing the blog, than about useful topics that should properly be covered in their chosen area of interest.  I see this all the time and am hardly immune from the temptation.  For instance, I realize I must return the focus of this blog to Benedictine and Camaldolese topics.  I'm thinking of choosing an overall theme for next year of two or three Benedictine topics, most likely silence, stability, and obedience.  All of these practices are ones that I hope to enjoy more of once retirement begins.  Still haven't decided about that, and, since I have the attention span and memory of a gnat, may forget the idea by the time New Year's rolls around anyway.

 

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I see Jennifer, our very kind hostess, is hoping to live in a way that allows more monastic influence in her life.  That, in the end, is what the life of a Benedictine oblate is all about.    It is, sadly, much more difficult for the oblate than for a professed monk living in a monastery.  Still, I think it would greatly benefit the world we live in if more people followed her example; it would be much more peaceful and serene.

 

7 Quick Takes on Friday, Friday, November 23, 2012

 

 

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Much of what I post consists of quotations from the saints, the Church Fathers, or some Catholic writers such as Chesterton, or Merton, or Newman, and almost always I do so without comment.  It may seem an easy way to come up with material for blog posts, a cop out, but it isn't.  The reason I do this is that the Tradition of the Church is so rich, and so in danger of being forgotten (it will never be lost), that I think it worthwhile to call attention to what is there and let those who helped build that Tradition speak for themselves; there's little of value I can add to that by way of improvement.

 

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One thing I notice about reading a book by Chesterton is that I have a hard time getting into it and, once into it, have an even harder time putting it down.

 

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The wood floor project, I should say, the great wood floor project is done and things begin to return to normal.  As stressful and the upset way, I think the end result worth it.  It's a huge improvement in terms of appearance, and should be an improvement in ease of upkeep.  On top of that, our cat Ariel, one who suffers greatly from allergies with stuffy nose and runny eyes, as I do, seems to be having some measure of relief.

 

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I have to admit that when I started doing these 7 Quick Takes on Friday posts it was mostly to promote the blog through Jennifer Fulwiler’s kind gesture to very obscure writers like me.  However, I’ve come to see this exercise in a different light, one of promoting a little greater discipline and even attentiveness in my life.  It takes some effort in these directions to come up with seven short topics to include in one post.  I think this is a good thing, better even, than getting publicized on Jennifer’s blog, nice as that is.

 

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We’re having warm temps, clear skies all week this week.  It’s really nice and I wish that I could get out much more than I do.  I think I desire to get out more due to the short days we have at this time of year.  Don’t worry, though, the cycle turns around again on December 21^st when we have the first day of (officially) winter.  With the warm, clear weather

 

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Sonny Eliot died this week, he was 91.  For those of you not from Detroit, he was a legendary TV weatherman, beginning in the '50s, and all round broadcaster who could make even the most routine weather forecast a joy to watch.  He was famous, at least with me, for his abbreviations describing the next day’s expected weather which he wrote in chalk on a green “blackboard” during his show, see below.  For example, on a clear cool day, the word was “clool.”  It was camp, but everybody loved it.  He had a serious side, though.  He served on a B-24 in WWII and was shot down and captured.  He provided entertainment for his fellow prisoners until they were finally liberated.  RIP, Sonny.

 

 

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It’s a short week and I’m flat out of ideas, I hope you all enjoyed a very Blessed Thanksgiving.

 

Quick Takes, Friday, November 16, 2012

 

 

Many thanks to Jennifer at Conversion Diary for hosting the original 7 Quick Takes on Friday!

 

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I’ve been thinking about the experience of coming home, being in a familiar place either on a routine basis or after a time of separation.  We’ve all had the experience.  Any more, I feel it most often when I enter a Catholic Church, especially a parish church that I don’t often attend.  I’ve felt that way almost since the time we crossed the Tiber, probably because of the extensive travelling, both in the US and abroad, that I’ve done since then.

 

I felt this again the other day at noon Mass at the Cathedral here.  I saw the baptismal font and candle, the ambo, the presider’s chair, the crucifix, the statues, the Tabernacle, things you’d see in any parish, and I felt at home, at peace, on familiar ground.  Then it hit me that the things weren’t the reason I felt as I did, it wasn’t the what, it was the Who.  I realized that the real reason for my feeling of being where I belonged was that Jesus was there in the Real Presence in the Tabernacle.  I don’t know why that never occurred to be before because it’s so obviously true. 

 

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The Papal Nuncio to the U.S., Archbishop Vigano, spoke at Notre Dame last week and said this:

 

The apostolic nuncio, who serves as the Pope’s diplomatic representative to the U.S., said this is a “tragedy” for both the believer and for democratic society.

Archbishop Vigano’s Nov. 4 speech keynoted the University of Notre Dame’s Institute for Church Life conference. He discussed martyrdom, persecution, and religious freedom, with a particular focus on the United States.

He cited Catholics’ duties to be disciples of Christ, not elements of a political or secular ideology. He lamented the fact that many Catholics are publicly supporting “a major political party” that has “intrinsic evils among its basic principles.”

“There is a divisive strategy at work here, an intentional dividing of the Church; through this strategy, the body of the Church is weakened, and thus the Church can be more easily persecuted,” the nuncio said.

Archbishop Vigano observed that some influential Catholic public officials and university professors are allied with forces opposed to the Church’s fundamental moral teachings on “critical issues” like abortion, population control, the redefinition of marriage, embryonic stem cell research and “problematic adoptions.”

He said it is a “grave and major problem” when self-professed Catholic faculty at Catholic institutions are the sources of teachings that conflict with Church teaching on important policy issues rather than defend it.

I’ve long felt this was a real possibility, and like many Catholics, I can’t understand why this conduct by elected officials and university professors has been tolerated by the bishops in this country.  I hope they are waking up to what’s been happening and may begin to become more aggressive in opposing it, as we all must.

 

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I’ve been trying more and more to simplify and quiet my life.  As I get a bit older, I feel the need ever more urgently to find silence in life.  I think we both feel this way and have taken a few positive steps toward the goal; after the wood flooring project, the Direct TV boxes were disconnected and will be returned to the satellite provider.  I found this from Abbot Phillip of the Benedict Abbey of Christ in the Desert on monastic silence:

 

Here we touch on the theme of silence once again. There is no doubt that in the Rule of Benedict, silence is one of the most important aspects of a monk. Learning to be silent is more than just keeping the external silence. On the other hand, if one cannot keep external silence, then probably the internal silence is not very profound either. It really is a challenge for the monk to be still and silent in the face of God and with his brothers.

 

Two points caught my eye.  First, silence must be internal, not just an external, physical lack of noise and speech.  I find that too much TV greatly disrupts the possibility for internal silence.  The second, even more important, is that our silence is undertaken in the face of God and also our brothers.  How much easier, and maybe more holy, would our lives be if we had less to say, especially to those who might, on occasion, rub us the wrong way.  How many times to we inject a comment in a situation where keeping silent would have been the wiser way?  I lost count many moons ago.

 

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Despite my best efforts, I caught a bit of Rush Limbaugh while toodling around town in the SUV.  This comment concerning the Petraeus, et al, scandal was worth noting: “It’s obvious, the generals are being led around by their privates.” 

Just sayin’

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"The key to interior growth is based on the fact that voluntary acts leave traces. We all know people who are very skillful at a variety of performances: craftsmen, athletes, musicians, etc. All have in common the ability to do easily and well what for others would be impossible or, at least, very difficult. They have mastered those techniques by repeating the same actions over and over again. The same rule applies in the education of the spirit: repetition. More than just training the body, this is formation of the spirit."  From The Virtues of Holiness, by Fr Lorda

 

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We're enjoying beautiful weather for November here in Colorado.  Wonder how long it will last?

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BTW, Happy Thanksgiving!

7 Quick Takes on Friday, Friday, November 2, 2012

 

 

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Once again, I sit here, staring at a blank sheet of (electronic) paper and can't think of one "quick take," much less seven.  Where is that bottle of Bushmill's Black Label when you need it most?

 

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I wonder if sometime soon pens are going to become obsolete.  On Sunday, I put my favorite Cross pen, a Contour model with the broad, blue, refill before heading out to do some shopping.  I expected to use it to sign charge slips.  By the time I got home, it had never seen the light of day; it remained unused after stops at three stores.  No store we visited used paper charge card slips, all are now using electronic machines of varying quality to record purchases on credit cards. 

 

My wonder is that any trace of true human interaction, minus some machine of some sort in the middle.  It's as if the machine, and supposedly directly related efficiencies gained, had become more important than direct human involvement.  Sometimes, technology is nice, but there are indeed times I wonder if we wouldn't be better off without it.

 

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Speaking of technology, Hurricane Sandy, as tragic as it was, had gone a long way to show just what happens when we are overly reliant on technology.  New York City has come to a stop it seems, with no one able to move about very well, and thousands upon thousands without power.  The question arises how those people, whose situation probably won't improve for many days, will be able to do such simple things as cook food?  I remember a time when some of my relatives didn't have electricity and used, literally, wood-burning stoves for all their cooking and baking needs.  They were pretty good cooks too.  Now, that option is gone and people suffer for it.  The general assumption that the lights will always go on is hardly one that can be relied upon.

 

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I also notice that victims of Hurricane Sandy are furious that their city and state governments aren't doing more to feed them.  I read of one man who said he had taken it for granted that after the storm, the government would be there to distribute food for him and his family.  At the risk of seeming mean spirited, didn't that man know the storm was coming?  Could he not have taken steps on his own, in advance, to ensure he had several days worth of food and water on hand so that he wouldn't need to rely on someone else who might not be there?  Couldn't he have banded together with his neighbors to stockpile some emergency supplies, and maybe back up generators, in order to be even more assured of getting through a week or more of difficult conditions?

I worry that no one seems able to even consider the possibility of not relying on someone else in times of emergency.  I worry that this tendency to assume that, if we are in some sort of trouble, or experience a time of personal hardship, it's up to someone else to sort it all out, will not serve us well in the coming years.  Not well at all.

 

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I note that this past week Jacques Barzun passed away.  It occurred to me that there are very few, if any, people who stand ready to take his place as a serious intellectual critic of society.  Those who are credited with being the thought leaders of our time really aren't, they are mostly ideologues promoting one or the other set of political  opinions.  I quote from a column on the Crisis Magazine website discussing Fr. Bernard Lonergan:

 

While I’m generally skeptical in the face of apocalyptic fears, there can be no doubt that we find ourselves grappling with the loss of a pre-modern world where we oriented our institutions and selves in keeping with objective cosmological, ontological, and communal orders. Lacking thick accounts of who we are, what we’re for, what we should do, and for what we hope, we are unmoored and adrift, all the while celebrating this very absence of structure as evidence of our freedom and autonomy. Further, the correlation between the unmoored or disencumbered self of contemporary life and some of the current crises seems fairly strong—the rejection of traditional notions of marriage, for example. This cultural malaise results from the absence of robust understandings of human nature, personhood, normative relations, and integral human flourishing. And the same could be said for many of the other issues under deliberation as we enter the voting booths in a few days.

 

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Five down, two to go.

 

I guess I should say something about the just passed Halloween.  This is a much bigger day than when I was growing up and I have a hard time understanding why the change.  When I was trick or treat age, which, by the way, was generally regarded as something for kids from the ages of 4 or 5 to about 10, we dressed up in costumes, went around the neighborhood on the night, and that was it.  Adults didn't participate, as they were not, and did not want to be, kids. 

 

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I'm really, really tempted to push the envelope some day, and only do six quick takes.  Alas, courage fails me once again.  Jennifer would be upset.