Honestly, I cannot believe the drivel that gets published sometimes, even in The New York Times. I understand that fashion is a business, and that it changes, and that there are therefore inevitably significant business interests tied up and investing in driving those changes forward. But it seems kind of horrible to me - a tragedy, even - if ( Read more... )

Somehow, in a day (and night) devoted almost entirely to finishing my re-write of my "Odes of Solomon as Apocalyptic Literature" article, I managed to discover the following:

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In high school, I developed a real fondness for listening to Dr. Demento late Sunday nights and in particular his young superstar of comic music, "Weird Al" Yankovic. While ( Read more... )

The thing that can really drive me nuts about dreams is the fact that you can't continue them when you want to. I woke up this morning from some dream that had morphed from something else into a very fast, crowed multiple-level interstate highway scene (like the Marquette Interchange in Milwaukee or, more closely, the I-88/I-355 interchange in ( Read more... )

Yesterday was one of those brilliant days where just about nothing went according to plan, and that the whole day was far more fabulous as a result. I went in to the University to pick up a book that a student had borrowed overnight and to let a student take a make-up exam. I was only expecting to be there for An hour before heading back to my ( Read more... )

I met with Gregory Aymond, the Archbishop of New Orleans, this afternoon, and I couldn't have even tried to imagine a better conversation: what a first-rate guy! I had contacted the Archbishop's office in order to inquire about obtaining a mandatum, a sort of official recognition by the Church that I am a teacher of Catholic theology, like my ( Read more... )

Feeling better this morning. I had thought that by Friday, I had shaken off the slightly sore throat and the general achy feeling I had had in the middle of last week. We gathered at Dan and Amy's for a Kopp's dinner, and talk that lasted so long, bouncing from one topic to another (its randomness made complete by a thorough examination of the ( Read more... )

Heh. I woke up in an absolute snit from a dream where I was back in high school, in the days when my sister and I used to fight like the proverbial cats and dogs. For the very vivid duration of the dream, I was back in high school, where Leslie had dismissively informed me that she had taken my favourite sweater (a rich crimson knit sweater, ( Read more... )

Friday marked an anniversary. Actually, it marked two. I didn't really observe either in an explicit way, as my day was mostly directed toward gathering with the gang over at Dan and Amy's, and all that food and talk and play really took over my attention. Then I came home to, among other things, a surprise late-night online conversation with ( Read more... )

Usually, I find that I'm a bit suspicious of pieces of writing that speak a little too easily or universally about cultural symbols of a generation. I tend to favour complexity over simplicity in any kind of analysis, just as a matter of course, and of trying to be realistic about anything in a given moment in history. If I'm being quick in that ( Read more... )

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