1. A blessed Feast of the Immaculate Conception! 2. This is, of course, the national feast day of the United States, as instituted in 1846 by the US Bishops and confirmed by Pius IX. This seems primarily based, historically, on the fact that Christopher Columbus's flagship was the Santa Maria de la Inmaculada Concepción, and … Continue reading Friday Flotsam: Immaculate Conception, Hapsburgs, and More
History
Friday Flotsam: Complaints, Movies, and Alexander
1. Auto-play videos on web pages are one of the worst ideas of the internet age. Every single time you go to a web page you have to rush to pause the thing before it starts, as likely as not hearing the first second or so over and over and over. Even if I'm going … Continue reading Friday Flotsam: Complaints, Movies, and Alexander
Wednesday Political Thoughts
I've decided to try to restrict my political musings to Wednesday, that being a day well-suited for such a woeful child as this. "We the People...." I happen this morning to have thought of that famous John Adams quote: "Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to … Continue reading Wednesday Political Thoughts
Friday Flotsam: Federalist Papers Again (Sorry)
1. The past few months have felt strangely repetitive and empty. I seem to have fallen onto a psychological cycle wherein little is done, but the same patterns repeat. I haven't written much lately, though constantly intending to. I find myself unable to relax into any kind of work, that is, to let go of … Continue reading Friday Flotsam: Federalist Papers Again (Sorry)
Friday Flotsam: Teaching Stuff and a Couple Federalist Papers
1. I'm generally not very fond of the lesson plans I'm given, or the readings. That is, a lot of the readings are fine in themselves, but odd choices for the subject. In US History and Literature class, for instance, my students are reading a book about the Carmelite martyrs of Compiegne, written by a … Continue reading Friday Flotsam: Teaching Stuff and a Couple Federalist Papers
Friday Flotsam: O’Connor, FNAF, and History
1. This week's personal reading was largely Flannery O'Connor, in all her dense, opaquely-grotesque images of grace. She operates on a high, inaccessible plateau of authorship in which the reader is required to make a firm commitment to not only follow her often intense prose and plots, but also to take the time afterwards to … Continue reading Friday Flotsam: O’Connor, FNAF, and History
Friday Flotsam: Teaching, Grammar, and Historical Tangents
1. Teaching's still going pretty well. I don't like grading papers at all, since it's hard to gauge how much of high school papers I should correct and how much I should let slide since they're high schoolers. But I got a very positive evaluation from a visiting administrator, who was impressed that I actually … Continue reading Friday Flotsam: Teaching, Grammar, and Historical Tangents
Columbus Day Post
Once again, behold the Admiral's response to his critics And some suitable music (I haven't heard anything good about the film itself, but the music is great): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26dlYEzOtog&t=929s
Historical Thought: Rhode Island Contra Mundi
I find it intensely amusing that Rhode Island, of all states, was the most intransigent against the Constitution. There were reasons for that, of course, but I can't help picturing the other States at the Convention: "Oh, no; we've lost Rhode Island!" "Well, I suppose, if we really must, we can find a way to … Continue reading Historical Thought: Rhode Island Contra Mundi
Thought of the Day: ‘Don’t Blame the Constitution’
My history textbook - Christ and the Americas - has many virtues, but it's at its worst when the authoress tries to pontificate. Take the following passage (which comes out of a kind of mini-essay on the subject in the section on the Constitutional Convention): "If our Constitution has failed in any way, it is … Continue reading Thought of the Day: ‘Don’t Blame the Constitution’
Serpent's Den 