Saturday Good Reads

We’ve been watching via Netflix the mini-series Band of Brothers, which originally aired on HBO in 2001. The quality is what you’d expect from the executive  production of Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg and the late historian Stephen Ambrose. Watching a series like this raises a contemporary question: Did you notice all of the U.S. observances for the 70^th anniversary of the end of the end of World War II? Except for the recreation of the famous kiss in Times Square, I didn’t either, although I did see a number of stories about the atomic bomb and Hiroshima.

Britain, however, was another matter, and even St. Paul’s Cathedral honored an American who died in the Battle of Britain (see below). Queen Elizabeth led the observance at St. Martin-in-the-Fields Church in London.

Why do we turn a blind eye to a war that, like the Civil War did in the 19^th century, defined America in its own century?

Speaking of turning a blind eye, welcome to 21^st century America. The seventh Planned Parenthood video was released by the Center for Medical Progress. While the expected chorus of “deceptive video,” “agenda-driven extremists,” and “we have broken no laws” continues, and as the outraged business that buys fetal parts from Planned Parenthood (“pays for transportation costs”) sues to stop the videos' release, we have this new horror, so awful I can’t even find words to describe it. The Gospel Coalition continues to post each video as it’s released.

Yet even with this atrocity, there is still great beauty happening all around us. And I have to keep reminding myself of that.

For map lovers: A curator of maps at the Los Angeles County Library was called to home one day, and asked if the library would be interested in a collection of maps. Expecting to find a box or two, the curator found an entire house filled with maps. And the Los Angeles Review of Books filmed the result (Hat tip: American Digest; the full video is below).

Lots of good poetry this week. And articles on writing (as Marilyn Gardner says in the link noted below, it’s not just the story you tell – but how you tell it.)

Poetry

Broken – Loren Paulsson at World Narratives.

Poetry as Enchantment – Dana Gioia at The Dark Horse (Hat tip: Ann Kroeker).

Haiku (after Hiroshima) – Maureen Doallas at Writing Without Paper.

Beggar – Chris Yokel.

Izaak Walton – D.S. Martin at Kingdom Poets.

What I Would Do Again – Troy Cady at T(r)oy Marbles.

A Grief Conserved – John Blase at The Beautiful Due.

The Man Behind London’s Only Poetry Book Shop – Kyra Hanson at Londonist (Hat tip: Maureen Doallas).

Handful of Cockle Shells – Heather Eure at The Consolation of Mirth.

Art and Photography

Top of the Mornin' to Y'all – Tim Good at Photography by Tiwago.

Women of Bellefontaine Cemetery – Chris Naffziger at St. Louis Patina.

The Italian Girl: An Old Tale – Trevor Logan at Curator Magazine.

Faith and Culture

The Coddling of the American Mind – Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt at The Atlantic.

Ben Carson is a messenger the GOP needs to hear – editorial in the New York Post.

An American soldier who died that England might live – St. Paul’s Cathedral.

7 Signs You Were Raised as an Evangelical in the Last 25 Years – Joshua Rogers at Boundless (Hat tip: Tim Challies)

Planned Parenthood

PlannedParenthood’s Custom Abortions for Superior Product – The Gospel Coalition. The post include four fact sheets.

Writing

Writers’ Apps – Maureen Doallas at Writing Without Paper.

Good Old Words – Winn Collier.

Does Christian Fiction Have a Race Problem? – Mike Duran at deCompose.

7 Questions to Ask Before You Post on Social Media – Ron Edmondson.

The Stories of Others – Marilyn Gardner at Communicating Across Boundaries.

Are Curators the New Experts? – Heidi Oran at @ThinDifference.

Maps

Photograph: A veteran of the Battle of the Bulge by William Morris, via Public Domain Pictures. Used with permission.