Stefan Kanfer has a fascinating article over at City Journal about a man who has always been (in an ambivalent sort of way) one of my personal heroes—the cartoonist Al Capp, creator of Li’l Abner (thanks to Daniel Crandall of The American Culture for the tip).

Back in its heyday, during the Great Depression, World War II, and the Fifties, Li’l Abner occupied a place in the American consciousness for which it’s hard to find an analog in today’s world. Back then everybody—except members of the most extreme religious communities—read the daily comics. Comic strips were what network TV used to be (but also is no more). If there were a page on the internet that everybody in the country visited every day, that would be something like what Li’l Abner was back then. When Abner finally gave up his fight to remain a bachelor and married Daisy Mae, the nation rejoiced (or grieved, depending on their point of view). Continue reading No feather in his Capp →

A few thoughts on how can Christians appreciate non-Christian art

It was a quiet weekend at home for me, the first in some time. The rain delayed, giving me a chance to do some of the yard work I haven’t been able to get to before. And I made at least a token effort to clean the house (I might mention that I love the Swiffer Wet Jet. This is the mop I’ve waited for all my life. I’m sure it’s environmentally evil, what with chemicals and throw-away pads and all, but I’ll just keep it as my personal iniquity, until the EPA pries it from my cold, dead hands).

Sunday evening I drove down to Rochester (Minnesota, not New York. The place where the original Mayo Clinic is) to meet some distant relatives. Two shirttail cousins and their wives. One of them comments on this blog, but I’d never met him personally before. He’s here on vacation. We shared family stories, and I slipped into Lecturer Mode, explaining at length about Norwegian history, naming customs, and immigration patterns, among other things. In spite of that, they paid for my dinner.

I got from them yet another version of how our family acquired the British name, Walker. This one says the change was made at the urging of a local banker in Iowa, a relation by marriage. He is said to have told my great-grandfather’s brother he ought to change his name to “get ahead” in America. He then picked out Walker himself, because it sounded vaguely like “Kvalevaag,” the name of the farm this ancestor had come from.

So now I have three different versions. I’m not sure what conclusions to draw from all the disinformation. Maybe the Walker brothers were spies, and this was all deep cover.

We wondered about another odd circumstance, that although the two brothers weren’t many years apart in age (my great-grandfather was the younger), and although these two fellows I had dinner with are roughly in my age range, we have a full generation difference in our genealogies. In other words, while my ancestor is my great-grandfather, their ancestor (his brother) was their grandfather. In fact, their father is still alive. I guess a couple young marriages in my family tree account for the differences.

Anyway, I had a jolly time, and if they read this, here’s my thanks.

Bob Etheridge (D-NC) is giving the nuclear test to the idea that no publicity is bad publicity. Having seen the video on “several blogs,” the congressman has released an apology. I know congressmen get away with far worse than this (hiding money in their freezers, prostitution coordination in their houses), but I think Etheridge must be rejected for his district in favor of someone more level-headed. I mean, two congressmen smacking each other around one thing, but grabbing the neck of a college student who asked him a question on the street?