Andrea Burke is in her second marriage, her first having ended in pain and betrayal. She and her husband have an argument, and she’s suddenly at loose ends, scared because she doesn’t even remember what the argument is about, but something he did set her on edge. She calls him to apologize, and this is what he tells her.
When I was a kid, one of my favorite shows was The Beverly Hillbillies, the story of the Clampett family of Arkansas whose land turns into an oilfield. Jed, his daughter Elly May, nephew Jethro Bodine, and Granny move to California. Slapstick comedy ensues, much of it centered on Granny. Sarah Kay Bierle found an old TV clip of the show, in which Granny decides to refight the Civil War.
Media coverage of politics and the 2020 election is already reaching new depths. Don Lemon has his deplorables moment on CNN, playing right into the hands of Republican advertising strategists. During coverage of the impeachment proceedings, reporters’ lemming-like misunderstanding of something Alan Dershowitz says is reported coast to coast as gospel truth, even when it makes no sense. David Brooks pats himself on the back for being one of the media elite (“we’re not so bad”), while Joy Behar interviews a body language expert to prove Bernie Sanders is lying. And it’s only Feb. 1. Matt Taibbi at Rolling Stone says media stupidity is uniting right and left.
More Good Reads
Life and Culture
How Most American Kids Are Kept Out of the Best Public Schools – Tim DeRoche at Quillette.
No, There is No Coming Race War – Wilfred Reilly at Commentary Magazine.
Stalin at Yale: Art history for the age of identity politics –James Panero at Spectator US.
Two Revolutions for Freedom – Joseph Loconte at National Affairs.
Faith
Prayer is Poetry – Ed Simon at The Millions.
Young Americans, Entitlement, and the Christian Vision of Work – John Stonestreet at the Institute for Faith, Work, & Economics.
Dads, Your Children Need Both Quality and Quantity Time with You – Randy Alcorn at Eternal Perspective Ministries.
Dear Church—Don’t Overlook and Undervalue the Elderly – Josh Buice at Delivered by Grace.
Poetry
Apiary – Bruce Meyer at The Chained Muse.
Christos – Vito Mussomeli at The Imaginative Conservative.
Robert Hayden’s “Those Winter Sundays:” A Visual Interpretation – Julian Peters at Plough Books.
Beyond the Lines: Shelley's "Ozymandias" – Adam Sedia at The Chained Muse.
Daedalus’ Lament – Kathleen Everett at The Course of Our Seasons.
Robert Frost: The Conversationalist as Poet - Peter Stanlis at The Imaginative Conservative.
British Stuff
St Martin Ludgate and a Hidden Name – at A London Inheritance.
Robert Burns’s international appeal - Prospero at The Economist.
Writing and Literature
The Bono Bio – Travis Thrasher at The Journey is Everything.
The Impossible Task of the Poet: Walker Percy on Language, Despair, and Communion – Anthony Barr at Forma Journal.
On the Hatred of Literature – Jon Baskin at The Point Magazine.
American Stuff
Orchard Knob: Chattanooga's fabulous outdoor art gallery – John Banks’ Civil War Blog.
Flying with the birds
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