Made at least eight mint juleps yesterday during my daughter's first birthday celebration. Lord, you'd think it was Derby day.
Monday, June 25, 2012
Thursday, June 21, 2012
Opinion 181: Holy Things: Rome, saints, trash, drinking
I've been trying to get a post together about Rome, not least the relics of St. Cyril, St. Paul's tomb, and the various Christian holy sites which were visited, however briefly. Yet my words are not fitting together in any coherent or compelling way. It's not that I had mystical experiences which cannot be expressed. Rather the opposite in fact. I can hardly remember a time in my life as a Christian that piety, prayer and devotion have been so muted in the day to day. My experience of Rome's holy places were by and large revelations of alienation - visions of a life I am far from, reminders of how hard it can be to pray. I did pray, though, mostly through a sense of appropriateness. This is just what one does here, I thought. How can a man of any Christian pretensions stand at the tomb of St. Paul, surrounded by a group of 30-40 German pilgrims, all quietly yet firmly saying the Creed and the Lord's Prayer together in a comforting Teutonic cadence, without himself mumbling something or another about God and needing help? Can you touch the rock of St. Cyril's burial place without at least saying "I'm sorry..I'll get better"?
Rome was filthy, by the way. Trash blows about the streets, cigarettes form mountain ranges along the sidewalks. Many things are broken. I saw a mother let her small daughter stop in on a street corner to relieve herself. Everybody is on a damn moped. Everybody who isn't on a damn moped is in some damn small car.
It was nice, however, to see so many young monks and nuns. Most weren't European. The church's youth come from Asia and Africa now.
St. Peter's Basilica was actually a profound experience. I do not think I've been inside a more magnificent building.
I attempted to drink a bottle of wine each evening we stayed in Rome. I managed to go four for five.
Rome was filthy, by the way. Trash blows about the streets, cigarettes form mountain ranges along the sidewalks. Many things are broken. I saw a mother let her small daughter stop in on a street corner to relieve herself. Everybody is on a damn moped. Everybody who isn't on a damn moped is in some damn small car.
It was nice, however, to see so many young monks and nuns. Most weren't European. The church's youth come from Asia and Africa now.
St. Peter's Basilica was actually a profound experience. I do not think I've been inside a more magnificent building.
I attempted to drink a bottle of wine each evening we stayed in Rome. I managed to go four for five.
Monday, June 18, 2012
Opinion 180: The German Economy
Well, that august title gives the impression of a more thorough treatment than you are going to find here. Allow me a few observations though:
-Whatever one may hear about the stultifying powers of European socialism, what impresses me most about the state of the German economy is the omnipresence of small businesses. On every street block there is a small bakery, a small cafe, a small butchery, etc. (in a decent sized city, at least).
-This next statement is excessively anecdotal, so forgive me in advance, but to me, by and the large, the people working in these places, especially those who appear to be the owners, seem happy.
-True, much of this observation is the residual effect of the overwhelming transcendent effects of travel, which blur the world and make it seem newer and brighter than it actually is (cf. Lost in the Cosmos).
-The prevalence of cheap, local, and high quality dairy is also extremely appealing.
Admittedly, much of these two features of German economic life are propped up, supported by subsidies, with committees and paperwork, etc. Yet the German economy, for some reason or another (and believe me, I do not know a thing about how economies actually work) is undoubtedly the most robust in Europe right now - much to the chagrin of its neighbors.
An additional small defense for these otherwise unjustified observations of a tourist: I've visited Germany five times in the last seven years. If there is one foreign land which has given me the opportunity to grab anecdotal evidence, it is Germany. A fine land!
The Italian economy, on the other hand, seems to be driven entirely by the purchase of of espresso and parking permits.
-Whatever one may hear about the stultifying powers of European socialism, what impresses me most about the state of the German economy is the omnipresence of small businesses. On every street block there is a small bakery, a small cafe, a small butchery, etc. (in a decent sized city, at least).
-This next statement is excessively anecdotal, so forgive me in advance, but to me, by and the large, the people working in these places, especially those who appear to be the owners, seem happy.
-True, much of this observation is the residual effect of the overwhelming transcendent effects of travel, which blur the world and make it seem newer and brighter than it actually is (cf. Lost in the Cosmos).
-The prevalence of cheap, local, and high quality dairy is also extremely appealing.
Admittedly, much of these two features of German economic life are propped up, supported by subsidies, with committees and paperwork, etc. Yet the German economy, for some reason or another (and believe me, I do not know a thing about how economies actually work) is undoubtedly the most robust in Europe right now - much to the chagrin of its neighbors.
An additional small defense for these otherwise unjustified observations of a tourist: I've visited Germany five times in the last seven years. If there is one foreign land which has given me the opportunity to grab anecdotal evidence, it is Germany. A fine land!
The Italian economy, on the other hand, seems to be driven entirely by the purchase of of espresso and parking permits.
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
Opinion 179: Returned, by the way
I hope to get some opinions up on Europe soon. Words of great importance, no doubt.
As for opinion 177, our bishop has posted his own defense.
As for evolution, ethics and Christian life, Sarah Coakley's extremely interesting and learned Gifford Lectures, titled Sacrifice Regained: Evolution, Cooperation, and God, merit an attentive ear. Go here.
As for opinion 177, our bishop has posted his own defense.
As for evolution, ethics and Christian life, Sarah Coakley's extremely interesting and learned Gifford Lectures, titled Sacrifice Regained: Evolution, Cooperation, and God, merit an attentive ear. Go here.
Opinion 178: Creepy
The motto on the bell tower of the Minneapolis Family Church: Building world peace through ideal families
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