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Alas, a political post

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I’ve been trying to keep away from political posts, but I’ll just do a short one tonight. Then never again, because I can quit anytime I want.

Am I the only one who thinks you’ve got to be really, really desperate if you’re doing ads warning the American public of dangerous foreign influences in The U.S. Chamber of Commerce?

I can see the senatorial hearing now. The chairman leans over his table and asks, “Are you now, or have you ever been a member of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce?”

Those capitalists. They’re under people’s beds.

For my second topic, I’d like to offer a brief explanation of one aspect of Minnesota politics, for people who live in more rational parts of the country. For the record, I don’t expect great Republican advances here this year. The rules are different in this state.

Here’s a couple of the rules:

1) If the polls indicate a neck-and-neck race in Minnesota, the Republican is probably actually ahead, because all the polls are run by Democrats.

2) However, that doesn’t mean the Republican will win. Because, in general, the Democrats also get to count the votes.

Authors, Religion

The Grace of Living

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Andrew Peterson is writing about imagination and George MacDonald at The Rabbit Room.

Buechner said, “Listen to your life. See it for the fathomless mystery that it is. In the boredom and the pain of it no less than in the excitement and gladness: touch, taste, smell your way to the holy and hidden heart of it because in the last analysis all moments are key moments, and life itself is grace.”

It isn’t saving grace, as some would have it, but it is divine grace for all who breathe. God is so good to us, which may be why god and good are so close in English.

Peterson has two more parts to his posts on imagination.

  1. The Inner Vision
  2. The Inner Spirit
Religion

Tweeting the Gospel

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Tullian Tchividjian is on Twitter and has been writing sentences about the gospel for a while now. Here’s a list of those statements:

  1. The gospel doesn’t simply ignite the Christian life; it’s the fuel that keeps Christians going and growing every day.
  2. When you understand that your significance and identity is anchored in Christ, you don’t have to win—you’re free to lose.
  3. Christian growth doesn’t happen by working hard to get something you don’t have. It happens by working hard to live in light of what you do have

There are many more. Read on

Non-fiction, Reviews

A Voyage Long and Strange

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I didn’t dislike Tony Horwitz’ rambling book, A Voyage Long and Strange. He’s a likeable writer. One assumes his political preferences are liberal, but he works very hard to give everybody a fair hearing, not just the contemporaries he meets on his journeys across America, but the historical figures whose footsteps he attempts to follow.

The germ of the book was conceived when he made an accidental stopover in Plymouth, Massachusetts, was unimpressed with the sight of Plymouth Rock, and began to wonder why, out of all the pre-colonial and colonial American settlements, we’ve chosen Plymouth Plantation as the birthplace of the American idea. He decided to follow the trail of the chief European explorers and settlers who predated Plymouth, to try to evaluate their relative contributions.

In this goal, I believe, he fails utterly. Still, the story is amusing and informative. Horwitz is good company, and has a charmingly self-deprecating voice. Continue reading A Voyage Long and Strange →

Authors, Fiction

Shop Talk: Crime, Class, and Money

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Thomas Mullen, author of The Many Deaths of the Firefly Brothers, interviews Jess Walter, author of Citizen Vince and The Zero,. Walter says, “Real, organic-seeming characters can illuminate any event—whether it’s timely, the way I’ve worked recently, or steeped in history, like your novels. I like what Emerson said: ‘Fiction reveals the truth that reality obscures.'”

Then Mullen asks about the blend of literary and crime fiction, and then he brings up class descriptions . . . read more.

Music

Mumford & Sons – The Cave

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And now for something completely different. This song from Mumford & Sons is obviously an allusion to Plato’s cave metaphor, otherwise why would it called “The Cave.” I mean, how could they be singing about anything else? (Sorry, I’m being silly, or I’m losing my mind.)

“But I will hold on hope

And I won’t let you choke

On the noose around your neck

And I’ll find strength in pain

And I will change my ways

I’ll know my name as it’s called again.”

Authors

When in Doubt, Talk About Writing

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Bob Thompson says there are three common reports written from interviews with writers, but if you talk to them about writing, you can usually avoid producing what everyone else does. [via Books, Inq.]

Fiction

Interview with Director Randall Wallace

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Randall Wallace, director of Secretariat and writer of Braveheart among other good movies, answers a few questions for World. “If anything feels like it’s a Sunday school lesson, that would drive me away from a theater, let alone someone who isn’t disposed to the same viewpoint. When I go to the movies, I’m not looking to be exposed to somebody else’s dogma. And when I make a movie I’m not looking to explain my intellectual arguments of faith to somebody else.”