Fiction

Footnote Evangelism

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Tony Woodlief writes about Penguin Classics.

It struck me recently, however, that the editors at Penguin assume—most likely with good reason—that their readers have virtually no biblical knowledge. Thus when the Count says, in Bram Stoker’s Dracula, “But a stranger in a strange land, he is no one,” the editor dutifully provides a footnote to explain that this alludes to the book of Exodus. . . . maybe this will prove to be a postmodern form of evangelism. We can’t get most intellectuals within spitting distance of a church any more, but maybe we can reach them through footnotes.

Uncategorized

Prime merrily

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Today is primary day in Minnesota, and I exercised my immense personal political clout by voting. The previous statement contains 35% less irony today, because there weren’t a lot of voters out (the counter on the machine at my voting place said [at about 4:45 p.m.] that they’d gotten 631 voters so far).

In the general election, especially in a year like this, I might be tempted to consider my vote a molecule in a bucket. But today I wielded considerable (relative) influence.

There was a certain amount of agitation, among Republicans, to cross over to the Democrat column and vote for the woman who’s challenging Al Franken in the Senate race. I did not do this. Not only do I object to the tactic on principle (as I’ve said here before), but I’m very happy to have Norm Coleman running against Al Franken. If he can’t beat Al Franken, he might as well resign now and become a blogger. Or a consultant. Or a consultant to bloggers.

I take particular interest in the judicial elections, because the whole judicial election system in Minnesota is a mystery hidden within a scam. I think the law requiring a candidate for a judgeship not to reveal any opinion he may hold has been loosened up a bit, but it’s still pretty hard to figure out how most of the candidates intend to interpret the law, based on their campaign statements.

There are hints, though, if you take time to deconstruct their campaign web sites. One tip, for instance, is if they state very strongly that politics should have no part in the selection of judges.

I’m pretty sure that’s code for “I’m going to make the law up as I go along, and I know you probably won’t vote for me if I tell you that.”

Authors

Everything’s More Political Now

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Nobel Prize Winner Orhan Pamuk on life after Nobel: “It made me more famous, it brought me so many new readers and it made it slightly difficult — it made everything I do more political than I’d expected.” Says something about the prize, doesn’t it?

Publishing

The Big Day

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Susan Wise Bauer talks about the myth of the publican date (I mean, publication date). The publication date used to be the day one could first find a book at his favorite bookstore. She writes, “‘Publication date’ now means: That window of opportunity during which the book is at the front of the store and also featured on as many media outlets as possible.”

Fiction

Dark Horse, A Political Thriller

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In Dark Horse, political strategist and author Ralph Reed included the first African-American presidential nominee in history, a controversial black pastor that stirs up the presidential race, and a GOP nominee with strong national security credentials who has problems with conservatives in his own party. Many commentators and reviewers have noted the eerie similarities to the 2008 campaign. With the selection of Sarah Palin to be John McCain’s running mate, Dark Horse has now correctly predicted the selection of only the second woman as a running mate in American history. In the book, the character is Betsy Hafer, who like Palin had been a governor for less than two years.

The book has been out since June 3, and it appears to be a winner. I heard Reed say that if you want to know what really goes on in the back rooms of a presidential campaign, read Dark Horse.

The Press

Olbermann, Matthews Will No Longer Cover Presidential Campaign

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MSNBC has replaced Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews after what appears to be several instances of unprofessional behavior and liberal invectives. Olbermann was reportedly “very uncomfortable” during the Republican Convention. I gather Matthews got a bit tense lately too (more so than usual). David Gregory will replace the two men, which perhaps means he is twice the liberal as either of the first two.

Goofing

Minorities, gays hit hardest

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I don’t usually write about science, because I’m an Intelligent Design yahoo, but this is really cool:

The multibillion-dollar Large Hadron Collider will explore the tiniest particles and come ever closer to re-enacting the big bang, the theory that a colossal explosion created the universe.

The machine at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, promises scientists a closer look at the makeup of matter, filling in gaps in knowledge or possibly reshaping theories.

OK, I’ll admit that part’s boring. The cool stuff is in this linked article:

Evans’ ambitions, however, have brought widespread concern among scientists who say the experiment could create a shower of unstable black holes inside the Earth, and subsequently bring destruction to the planet.

“Nothing will happen for at least four years,” retired German Otto Rossler told the Mail. “Then someone will spot a light ray coming out of the Indian Ocean during the night and no one will be able to explain it.”

I mean, is this awesome, or what? You’ve got this humongous light ray coming out of the Indian Ocean, like a flare sent up to other planets saying, “How come you didn’t warn us about this?” And that means, I presume, a big hole in the bottom of the sea, cut by this little black hole that’s chewing everything up like Pacman down inside the earth’s core.

What happens then? Obviously, the water has to go down the hole.

So you’ve got all the water in the Indian Ocean, swirling clockwise* down the drain, like a giant toilet bowl.

Tell me you wouldn’t pay to see that.

The other cool thing is that the Europeans are doing it! It’s Swiss guys and Englishmen and people with funny accents (and, no doubt, underground bunkers, evil henchmen and little fluffy lap dogs that they carry everywhere) executing this massive screw-up.

That means that when the world ends, it won’t be America’s fault!

See! I told you so!

*I actually don’t know whether the water swirls clockwise or counterclockwise in that hemisphere. In fact, I don’t even know which way it swirls in this hemisphere.

Uncategorized

The homesick time of year

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So the first week of classes at our school has ended.

I wonder how many of the first year kids are experiencing homesickness.

A lot more of them than I imagine, probably. I should make an effort to be especially gentle in my interactions.

Probably won’t, knowing me.

Even I experienced homesickness, my freshman year at college. That’s amazing, when I think of it. My home was purgatory. College—even a small conservative college with a lot of rules—was the most delicious freedom (both freedom of movement and freedom from fear) that I’d ever experienced.

Nevertheless I’d lived in one house all my life up till then. The longest I’d spent away from home had been a few week-long vacations. The separation was like a genuine wound, and it took a little healing.

How oddly we are made, we human beings.

College was really the best time of my life. I got involved with a musical group, five guys (sometimes more) with whom I could talk about anything, whose loyalty and friendship wasn’t in question. They valued my gifts and accepted me for who I was.

And yet today, I almost never think about those years. I think a lot about my childhood, which was awful, but I don’t think about the good years that followed.

I think I know why, but I won’t bore you with the reasons.

Have a good weekend. If you’re a college freshman, trust me. You’ll get over it.

And if you’re a student at our school, you’ll also get over your cold.

The one I caught.

Authors, Non-fiction

Inspired by ‘Christian Charity’ (p3)

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Here’s part three of our Q&A with Sarah Vowell on her book, The Wordy Shipmates. (Part one – part two)

13. Who was Anne Hutchinson? Why was she so important, and why did she get kicked out of Massachusetts?

Hutchinson was a wife, mother, midwife, and groupie of John Cotton who followed the minister to Massachusetts. She hosted religious meetings in her home questioning the preaching of many of New England’s ministers. Her followers started disrupting church services around the colony and so she was hauled before the magistrates to repent both her beliefs and her influence. She believed she had heard the voice of God, which was heresy. Not backing down, the magistrates expelled her from Massachusetts. She went on to found a settlement in Rhode Island. I think, like Williams, she sticks out as having been born too early. Like him, she practiced freedom of speech before this right existed.

14. How did she die? Why do millions of residents of the New York City metropolitan area encounter her name every day without realizing it?

After her husband died in Rhode Island, she settled with her children in New Netherland in what is now the Bronx. The local Indians were at war with the Dutch, and Hutchinson and her family were attacked in their home. A nearby river was named after her and a highway, the Hutchinson River Parkway, was later named after her as well.

15. How do you see yourself as being like Hutchinson?

Like her, I have a penchant for yakking. It’s just way more legal for me.

16. Why did the Puritans commit a gruesome massacre of the Pequot Indians and set the blueprint for all future Indian wars?

And now, for my next trick, I’d like to explain genocide! I guess the Massachusetts militia commits mass murder for the same old reason everyone does—hate, resentment, anxiety, frustration, xenophobia. It’s also simple military ground-war tactics. The English commander understood that his men were about to get slaughtered in the ground-war mayhem, so he thought setting the enemy on fire en masse was the most logical, streamlined way to save his own troops’ lives. When Hannah Arendt was writing about the Holocaust, she pointed out that once something has happened, it is far more likely to happen again. That’s what happened after Mystic. Slaughter one group of Indian women, children, and old people and it’s probably going to happen again—and it does.

17. How did the Puritan bloodlines flow right down to the 2004 presidential election?

The Republican candidate, President Bush, is a descendant of Anne Hutchinson. The Democratic candidate, Senator Kerry, is a descendant of John Winthrop.

18. Why were the Puritans so fearless? What was the source of their strength?

They weren’t fearless. They were fearful. Like, chockfull of fear. Their big fear being God. God is also their source of strength, of course. But mostly they are terrified of disappointing God and suffering His wrath. They are scared of the sea, Indians, heretics and the King of England. They are afraid of eternal damnation. And yet, despite all this terror, they still get on the boats to Massachusetts. They decide that if King Charles sends a new governor to take over, they will fight him. All that is old-fashioned English stiff-upper-lip stuff. But the Bay Colony’s fears are also the source of their worse impulses. This is true of pretty much every society at any time or place. Their fears cause them to enact unfair laws, to crack down on dissent, to burn alive Indian children. Of course, their faith is also their source of strength, why they kept going, why they didn’t give up. They had a city on a hill to build and they built it.

19. What is the positive side of the Puritan legacy? Why is it so overlooked, and why are we Americans so reluctant to embrace it? What promise does it hold for us today?

I think their most endearing legacy is their obsession with education, especially founding the first university in what would become the United States. The way they privilege learning and words, exhort their children to read and write, is worth admiring. I think we’ve lost that as a culture, to some degree. The most admired, most powerful figures in early New England were the smartest—men like Winthrop, Cotton, and Williams. We certainly inherited New England’s collective self-esteem, their idea of themselves as the most divinely blessed. But I think we’ve lost their sense of collective responsibility, their fear that they would fail each other and their God.