My mom visited us here in New Orleans recently and something she said made me stop and think. She said nearly everyone she knows expects Donald Trump will win a second term. I retorted that she did indeed know one person who believes Trump won’t be re-elected — ME! — and reminded her that her ...
My October Fun About a month ago, I had back surgery at Tufts Medical Center. I’d been warned repeatedly that this was “major surgery” and that recovery would be long. But I didn’t really need to be warned because my dear sister Gracie underwent similar surgery in June and I’d watched her recovery. So ...
Last week I began reading Disunion!, a book chronicling events over a 70-year period that set the stage for the Civil War. The book, by University of Virginia history professor Elizabeth Varon, has made me wonder about my own education in the public schools of South Carolina and the private school I attended in Virginia. ...
I recently heard from a long-time friend in South Carolina, Mr. Eager Beaver, a high school civics teacher in the hamlet of Van Wyck. I mentioned to him what a mess I thought the country was in, but I must have said some things he found extreme. Mr. Beaver, shocked to the marrow by some ...
When it seems I’ve dropped off the face of the earth for a month, it doesn’t mean there’s nothing to write about, it only means that other things kept me from it. That’s what happened this last month when two events — an initially scary 10-day illness and The Women’s World Cup — sidelined me. ...
This morning I re-read a wonderful little book entitled Falling Upward by Richard Rohr, a Franciscan priest. I first read it on the recommendation of one of my sisters, who isn’t conventionally religious. I suspect it interested her because it doesn’t just speak to Christians, but to anyone who lives life thoughtfully. In a chapter ...
As the Quixotic Deacon travels further into the maw of Lent and his annual struggle to observe the season in a holy fashion, some rather non-Lenten thoughts have bubbled up. Herewith: The Methodists In late February a worldwide convocation of Methodist leaders, both lay and clergy, voted to reaffirm the church’s ban on ...
Mardi Gras Season For the large majority of you who don’t live in New Orleans, you might not realize that Mardi Gras is a season, not merely the eve of Ash Wednesday. We began in earnest on Friday, Feb.22, then parade almost ceaselessly for the next 12 days, until Ash Wednesday. Please don’t picture your ...
One of the things that I love about being an Anglo Catholic is the emphasis we place on following the church year as opposed to the secular year. That’s why I entitled this post as I did. Those of us who pay close attention to the church year know that many parishes celebrate the ...
Note to readers: I have stopped announcing each blog with a Facebook post. I am no longer a Facebook user and have some misgivings about the platform. So…..I am depending on you to forward my posts to others. If you will do that, hopefully, some new people will subscribe. We hear a lot ...
