Today I’m thinking about people standing at the edge of a void, weeping in terror, a raging fire at their backs.
I’m thinking of those lonely, lonely falls.
I’m thinking of passengers on planes, calming their children, and calling loved ones on their cell phones to say goodbye.
I’m thinking of “Let’s roll.”
Never forget. Never forget.
Have I talked about dancing on this blog yet? I probably have. But if so, it was long enough ago that I’ve forgotten about it.*
My earlier post about that appalling video from Jared at Thinklings got me thinking about the old dancing taboo. I suspect a number of us grew up with it, and those who didn’t wonder how such an odd rule came to be.
My own childhood church was in no doubt about the sinfulness of dancing. (This is kind of unusual for Lutherans, by the way. Lutherans in general tend to be party animals, a lot like Italians, only less outgoing. Just substitute beer for wine. The dancing is different, but the spirit is the same.)
But I come from the Scandinavian Lutheran pietists, who objected to dancing on two grounds: Continue reading I won’t dance; don’t ask me
I made the mistake of watching a few seconds of this video post over at The Thinklings.
Now I have to go gouge my eyes out.
The Italians, according to this Daily Telegraph article, and growing upset about the number of “ugly” English words worming their way into their language.
You know what? I’m OK with that. My view is that pretty much anything that perpetuates traditional cultural divisions is probably a good thing in our strange times.
With exceptions, of course.
Hat tip: Mirabilis
Anthony Esolen over at Touchstone Magazine Blog offers what seems to me a splendid meditation on the loss of “B” movies (and a lot of other very decent “B” art) in today’s culture.
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.
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.”
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?
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.”
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.