The more things change the more they don't
It is something of a blog tradition with me to post on this anniversary one of the two things we actually have of St. Patrick that aren't accretions, aren't legends merely - the Letter to the soldiers of Coroticus, a British Christian king or warleader of fifteen-hundred-plus years back who didn't let that stuff in the Gospels about living and dying by swords stop him from going a-viking against his neighbors, in which Patrick comes down on him and particularly his followers, combined appeal to consciences and brimstone sledgehammer of Scripture quotes. It's in a somewhat-creative (i.e. initially hard to read) layout style, because I wanted to give the most relevant information in the most compact way possible, but I think it will be clear enough for those of you who haven't seen it before.
--This year, I'm also accompanying it with a link to something I found whilst dowsing for performances of "Fair Maid On The Shore" - videos by a small group Celtic folk musicians from Istanbul peforming a variety of Carolan and other traditional tunes, something that wouldn't have been possible when I started blogging, because YouTube wasn't a household word by any means. If I had not made up my mind not to take things my family says seriously any more (because I can't do anything about them) at Christmas dinner I would have been frustrated beyond measure (admittedly the tumbler of rum I downed before departing helped in this) as my father, who formerly oft lamented the fact that we (we kids, and Americans of this generation generally) were "passive consumers" rather than being creative and making our own entertainment, and forced us all to take music and art lessons (not necessarily good ones) whether we wanted them or not as children (which did wonders for those who didn't, in terms of making them love the arts) because it was better to be doing something poorly than not at all (pace Chesterton) - now proceeded to claim that YouTube (and Google) were signs of the Decline And Fall Of Western Civilization™ because here was a business that made money without doing anything for it, except allow amateurs to show their junk to others, and what good was that to society?
--He had an Authority, after all, a brand new hardcover book from Random House, to validate his argument; I poured myself another glass of something at the time and cheered myself by remembering the music vids both serious and silly I had been watching the night before with my friends, because there is no argument I can make that will convince him, partly because of the "I" part (well, mostly because, really) - but for those who are not Authoritarians, the res ipsi are what matter, the things themselves, out there to be seen and judged, and in this spirit I offer the amazing reality of songs that have bounced back and forth across the world, inspired and interpreted and reinspired and reinterpreted to inspire new interpretations, from beyond Hadrian's Wall back to the old capitol of the Eastern Empire to beyond the Gates of Hercules...
The world isn't falling - it's turning. Same as ever.
--This year, I'm also accompanying it with a link to something I found whilst dowsing for performances of "Fair Maid On The Shore" - videos by a small group Celtic folk musicians from Istanbul peforming a variety of Carolan and other traditional tunes, something that wouldn't have been possible when I started blogging, because YouTube wasn't a household word by any means. If I had not made up my mind not to take things my family says seriously any more (because I can't do anything about them) at Christmas dinner I would have been frustrated beyond measure (admittedly the tumbler of rum I downed before departing helped in this) as my father, who formerly oft lamented the fact that we (we kids, and Americans of this generation generally) were "passive consumers" rather than being creative and making our own entertainment, and forced us all to take music and art lessons (not necessarily good ones) whether we wanted them or not as children (which did wonders for those who didn't, in terms of making them love the arts) because it was better to be doing something poorly than not at all (pace Chesterton) - now proceeded to claim that YouTube (and Google) were signs of the Decline And Fall Of Western Civilization™ because here was a business that made money without doing anything for it, except allow amateurs to show their junk to others, and what good was that to society?
--He had an Authority, after all, a brand new hardcover book from Random House, to validate his argument; I poured myself another glass of something at the time and cheered myself by remembering the music vids both serious and silly I had been watching the night before with my friends, because there is no argument I can make that will convince him, partly because of the "I" part (well, mostly because, really) - but for those who are not Authoritarians, the res ipsi are what matter, the things themselves, out there to be seen and judged, and in this spirit I offer the amazing reality of songs that have bounced back and forth across the world, inspired and interpreted and reinspired and reinterpreted to inspire new interpretations, from beyond Hadrian's Wall back to the old capitol of the Eastern Empire to beyond the Gates of Hercules...
The world isn't falling - it's turning. Same as ever.