Perhaps you’ve seen Anne Lamott’s Facebook post that went viral over the weekend, in which she lists “every single thing she knows” on the eve of her 61st birthday (which turns out to be fifteen things)? If not, do yourself a favor. Filled with characteristic wit and wisdom, not to mention memorable turns of phrase, […]
Another Week Ends: Critical Minds, Ironic Irony, Doing What You Love, Bad Moms, Superhero Funerals, Busy Status, and Episco-Pools
1. With a fresh flock of college graduates entering the fray this week, a number of articles have appeared taking their pulse, and the pulse of higher education in general. Writing for The NY Times, Michael Roth, president of Wesleyan University, aka Joss Whedon’s alma mater, issued some warnings about the over-development of our students’ […]
Another Week Ends: Miracle Baskets, Doubtful Essays, Optimism vs Quitting, Paternalism, Secret Menus, Netflix Puppetry, Bowie and Mats Return, and Hathaway Haters
1. In need of a little (heart)warming on a cold winter’s day? Look no further than the spontaneous act of mercy that occurred on a high school basketball court in Texas last month, ht JD: 2. Phillip Lopate ponders the declining place of Doubt in an essay for The NY Times, evidence perhaps of deeper […]
Have It All, Ladies (and Gents)... Or Else!
A lot has already been said about Anne Marie Slaughter’s controversial cover story for The Atlantic, “Why Women Still Can’t Have It All”. Naturally, I hesitated to comment at first–do we really need another male point of view?–but as the debate raging around the article has shifted to somewhat more universal questions, e.g. what constitutes […]
Hallelujah! A Self-Justifying Car Post
As you may (or may not) have noticed, we have a few car nuts ’round these parts. Witness here, here and here. Ok, ok, so I wrote all of those posts, but that’s beside the point. Mockingbird has always held, as one of the corollaries to its obsession with the Gospel, that the imputed righteousness […]
Another Week Ends: John Carter, Obesity FAILs, Mary Karr on Suffering, Winning!, Friends with Kids, Springsteen's Wrecking Ball and Community Returns
1. “I am not Jesus, but I have the same initials.” Thus sang Jarvis Cocker on the classic Pulp track “Dishes” (at bottom), and it now looks like he has a new contender to the throne, Tim Riggins himself, Mr. John Carter of Mars. That’s right: Finding Nemo director Andrew Stanton’s first live-action feature is […]
Another Week Ends: Christian Neurotics, Shrieking Children, Grunge-Love, Steve Jobs, and Idiot Brothers
At week’s end, despite the continued reverberations, ironic photo blogs, and miraculous happenings, all is still in post-quake Central Virginia! The Mockingbird offices remain in functional tact… 1) Over at First Things, and similarly confronting the stigmas of mental health as discussed in an earlier post this week, “The Christian Neurotic” ponders “neurosis” and its […]
Another Week Ends: Of Gods and Men, Unitarian Boundaries, pi Haters, Pinksy on Cowper, Jayhawks, Wilco, Morrissey, FNL, Falling Skies and Brad Bird
1. No doubt you’re familiar with the martyrdom of the monks of Tibhirine in Algeria, who were assassinated in 1996 by Jihadists. It is, without question, one of the most inspirational true stories of the past twenty years – regardless of where you’re coming from on the religious spectrum. You may have even heard that […]
Another Week Ends: Impoverished Wills, more Filter Bubbles, Tree of Life, Super 8, True Selves, Bobby Fischer
1. Fascinating article in The New Republic by Jamie Holmes entitled “Why Can’t More Poor People Escape Poverty?,” looking at the world through the lens of ego depletion, that is, the theory that we have a finite amount of willpower/self-control, and the more we use it, the less we have. “Willpower can be understood as […]
Ayn Rand Killed My Father
Fascinating little testimonial on Salon entitled “How Ayn Rand Ruined My Childhood”, which doubles as a startling treatise on the cruelty of the Law. Say what you will about the political commitments of objectivism (ironically, most libertarians I’ve met are actually coming from a place of faith rather than reason), the relational ramifications appear to […]
Oprah and the Real American Idol
I ran across an fascinating interview on Salon.com with Kathryn Lofton–Assistant professor of American studies and religious studies at Yale– who is the author of Oprah: The Gospel of an Icon. The interview is entitled “Worshiping at the church of Oprah Winfrey.” The interview begins, “In the past quarter-century Oprah has become shorthand for self-help: a […]
Another Week Ends: Pandoran Pantheism, Tissot's NT, Stanley Fish, Closeted Christians, Films of The Decade
1. Ross Douthat in the NY Times echoed what many have been saying about the “message” of Avatar. For the record, it doesn’t make me want to see it any less (ht JS): It’s fitting that James Cameron’s “Avatar” arrived in theaters at Christmastime. Like the holiday season itself, the science fiction epic is a […]
