It’s a weird, wonderful time of year again. I’ve returned to a place I only came once before, to find that it is a place I belong, just like I’ve suspected since I left a year ago.I’m back at Hutchmoot. I was trying to find words yesterday evening, over dinner, for what last year’s Hutchmoot meant to me. I fished about, […]
Review of Walking Song Published at Curator
A few weeks ago, WORLD magazine published a review of Ron Block’s new album, Walking Song. While, in essence, the review was positive, it was, quite possibly, one of the most dismissive I’ve ever read. The reviewer seemed to be saying that the promotional material for the album, which talks about the process of creating it, should be ignored and the […]
Jenny Youngman’s The Girl With Good Intentions: A Consideration
A few weeks ago, my friend Julie asked if I’d be willing to listen to Jenny Youngman’s new album, The Girl with Good Intentions (released August 1, 2013 on iTunes and for sale on her site) and write about it somewhere. I agreed, and then ran into some existential angst and general busyness that delayed my doing so. A note […]
Rabbit Room Listening Party – Andy Gullahorn
There’s a listening party going on over at The Rabbit Room today for Andy Gullahorn’s new album, Beyond the Frame. I heard the song that inspired the title almost a year ago – “Grand Canyon,” the first thing I ever heard from Andy – and it has remained with me since. If the rest of the album is half as good […]
Hogwarts and Higher Ed
The other night I hopped on to Twitter and saw this: @ayjay: Surely someone has done the McSweeney’s piece about adjuncting at Hogwarts, yes? It went uphill from there; a whole thread of conversation instigated by Alan Jacobs, Distinguished Professor of Literature at Baylor University. If you like Harry Potter, have worked in higher education, and generally enjoy funny-ness, go check […]
The Cry of the Artist
“Through all the world there goes one long cry from the heart of the artist: Give me leave to do my utmost!” –Babette’s Feast *** I came to Babette’s Feast eagerly. I’d seen it years before – multiple times. I’d studied it in a course and given a presentation on it. I’d read the short story by Isak Dinesen (Karen Blixen), perhaps […]
New Post at Greener Trees
I’ve been taking part in a great book discussion group this summer. We’re reading Jeffrey Overstreet’s book, Through a Screen Darkly. This week I wrote a guest post to host the conversation over at Greener Trees. Here’s a snippet: There is power in great beauty. Beauty heals, it soothes, it allures, it inspires. And when we see it, in a film, in […]
New Guest Post at Story Warren
Have you been introduced to Story Warren yet? It’s a delightful place, full of wonderful people who tell wonderful tales and recommend wonderful things. Y’all should head on over and check out one of those links in the previous sentence. Or all of them. S.D. Smith, who runs the place with his many allies, is a highly enjoyable human being […]
New Guest Post at Everyday Liturgy
I had another guest post go up today at Everyday Liturgy titled, “A Romance It Certainly Is.” Here’s a snippet: We cannot avoid the reality of this world. We see its dark underbelly in everything from the news to human trafficking to the person who pushes past us in a crowd without apologizing. This world, and we people in it, […]
Boy Blue’s Birthday
When you have family living on the far side of the world, and you have a tendency to be forgetful about birthdays, you run into two specific issues: 1. Just sending the requisite “belated” birthday card loses its appeal, because it won’t get there for a few weeks after the date. Belated cards are fun and all when they arrive […]