1. A blessed Feast of the Sacred Heart, and month of the Sacred Heart! This is one of my favorite devotions, partly on its own merits, partly because of its associations (though of course, these are not unrelated). What is the heart? It is the core of a man, the source of life, the seat … Continue reading Friday Flotsam: Sacred Heart, Fr. Kapaun, More Japan
Books
Saturday Flotsam: Hodge Podge and Northern Lights
1. My first school year is almost done; just one more day of classes, then field day and a few odds and ends. It was certainly a learning experience, and I'm glad to have at last found a job that I feel I could make an actual career out of. The big test, of course, … Continue reading Saturday Flotsam: Hodge Podge and Northern Lights
Friday Flotsam: Various and Sundry
1. The weather is warming up, which means my middle schoolers were extra rowdy this week. I am increasingly convinced that children are, in truth, reptiles. 2. For recreation I started re-reading The Ball and the Cross for the first time in quite a while. Chesterton's way with words is of the sort that is … Continue reading Friday Flotsam: Various and Sundry
Friday Flotsam: World War II, Political Theory, and Tarzan
1. My US History class finished up the Second World War this week. There is really nothing like that event in all of history, certainly not in living memory. The whole world goes to war, and against an incredibly evil ideology on one side of the globe and what might be described as a civilization … Continue reading Friday Flotsam: World War II, Political Theory, and Tarzan
Friday Flotsam: US History, Nintendo Games, and Dialogue
1. My US History classes this week have been entirely consumed by summarizing the course of the Civil War, and we've only gotten to the end of 1863. That's after about two weeks of going over the lead-up to the war. There is just so much to go over, even from my relatively superficial knowledge … Continue reading Friday Flotsam: US History, Nintendo Games, and Dialogue
Commentary: When Good Characters do Bad Things
Another bit of storycraft commentary up at Noble Cobra Magazine. This time discussing some thoughts I had about heroic or righteous characters doing 'mean' or off-color things in fiction: pranks, unwanted jokes, nasty tricks, that sort of thing, and how it can be used for characterization purposes (and yes, more Fruits Basket, since that's on … Continue reading Commentary: When Good Characters do Bad Things
Saturday Flotsam: Recovering from Christmas, John K. King’s, and the New Year
1. Christmas week flew by in a haze of family engagements and with little to no progress. I'm trying not to let that bother me too much, as it is Christmas. 2. Though it occurs to me that learning how to feast properly is as much a skill as learning how to fast, and in … Continue reading Saturday Flotsam: Recovering from Christmas, John K. King’s, and the New Year
Friday Flotsam: A Lot of Variety and a Bollywood Clip
1. Ember Friday of the Third Week of Advent. Enjoy your fast and penance before Christmas! 2. It's been a pretty good week for me; I maintained my intended schedule, for the most part (I tend to fall off toward late afternoon, but I'm likening that to being out-of-shape and will trust that I'll get … Continue reading Friday Flotsam: A Lot of Variety and a Bollywood Clip
Friday Flotsam: Corniness and ‘Shadows on the Rock’
1. Thinking of 50s-era educational shorts this week made me wonder: they're usually described as 'cheesy' or 'corny'. What does this mean? What constitutes corn? The heirs of Webster define it as "mawkishly old-fashioned : tiresomely simple and sentimental". Fair enough, but what is the positive contrary? Up-to-date, sophisticated, and rational, I suppose. Though that … Continue reading Friday Flotsam: Corniness and ‘Shadows on the Rock’
Some Thoughts on ‘Anne of Green Gables’
I sometimes think that English teachers and professional writing gurus don’t read much, given how it seems that most of the great enduring classics eschew much of the advice they give. That is, unless they ever remember to say “make it interesting.” Rule one of martial arts is ‘don’t die’, rule one of writing is … Continue reading Some Thoughts on ‘Anne of Green Gables’
Serpent's Den 