The Wenham Woods

The snow fell lightly, so lightly as if the flakes drifting upon the drafts of cold air were loath to touch the residual warmth of the earth. But those that chose the thin skein of ice on the swamps remained very much alive in their white life, accumulating little cities of light among the gray trees.

The Renaming of "A Christmas Carol"

If Dickens were only a little more pluralistically sensitive he wouldn't have called his story, "A Christmas Carol" but perhaps "A Winter Solstice Story", or better yet, "A Tale of Economic Redistribution", or..."

Undoing Propaganda 101: The Ring Finger Omission

Undoing Propaganda 101. So much is just in the details. Like a furniture truck I saw this morning. A couple pictured on a divan in 'their' house (I think we can assume). Snuggled quite nicely together, her hands plainly visible---was the nakedness of her ring finger an accidental omission? In this age where marriage is put forth as an undeniable right for any coupling, does it not seem a bit odd that the same folks  seem quite loath to promote it for the traditional male/female?

And Saturday Means a Walk in the Woods

It is Saturday, and Saturday means a walk in the woods, and a walk in the woods means the serenity of still water, and the quiet press of snow underfoot, and the twit of a titmouse and the looming silent watch of the owl, and the wordless expression of the trees accepting the cold snow on their loveless limbs.

The Real Torture Going On

I wish the UCCB would spend more time on the real torture going on---the torture going on inside the womb in Planned Parenthoods across the country.When Ignatius of Antioch admonishes his listeners to obey the bishop as you would God the Father I don't think back then they sounded so like the democatic party.

Welcoming Churches

We are so misusing the word 'welcoming' in our churches today. It seems to be used by many in the hierarchy to include the various alternative lifestyles in the world today. Funny though, I don't recall there being any kind of 'lifestyle police' at the front of the church barring the way for anyone. What I suspect is meant by the term, 'welcoming' is that it means (or will come to mean) an acceptance, a condoning, even a celebration of what St Paul and the apostles did not celebrate, but what they most unequivocally condemned

Feminism's Early Fruit

So many announce how pure and right feminism began only recently reverting to its less appealing radical image. Well, here is a quote from Mina Loy's Feminist Manifesto (1914). (Nota bene: this date's closeness to the other infamous ideology of the time which relied on  'class division' as its modus operandi. One can readily see how easy it was to apply this to  'gender'. )

 "Men & women are enemies, with the enmity of the exploited for the parasite, the parasite for the exploited—at present they re at the mercy of the advantage that each can take the others sexual dependence—-. The only point at which the interests of the sexes merge—is the sexual embrace."

(May I add, how romantic!)

"Radical" Feminism

In the Crisis magazine article "Don't Say Gender When You Mean Sex" the author in referring to feminism and its damaging affects on society (which I certainly concur with) without exception uses the modifier 'radical'. I find this the default modifier when even concervative critics speak of this ideology. It seems as if they are almost afraid to voice a veto of such an cultural phenomenon as feminism. Questions arise in my mind: Doesn't the use of 'radical' imply that the regular unradical version is fine and leads to the bliss of the egalitarian family? Otherwise I cannot see why the noun would not be enough. In other words an apple can be a red apple, even a radically red apple and yet it is still an apple, albeit a poisonous one. Do we speak of 'radical communism' or 'radical antisemitism' or 'radical nazism'? So then I must ask why this ideology is so unique as to be critiqued only when married to its modifier?