Saturday Good Reads

A Brit living in New York has some insight into Americans (or at least New Yorkers). What makes a human life worth anything? What is love in a world full of fakes? And a primer on how the church can effectively discourage artists.

One of the best stories I've read this week is linked below -- on why Twitter is dying. The short answer: Twitter did it to itself. Citing free speech, it allowed all kinds of abuse and even death threats -- until Twitter's co-founder received his own death threat amd advetisers had begun to flee. But the change may been too late. 

And we were in London earlier this week when Planned Parenthood announced it would no longer accept payment for harvesting organs from abortions. Which I thought they said they hadn't been doing. Hannah Arendt was right - evil is banal, and it's facilitated by our news media.

Life and Culture

A (very) rough guide to American from an Englishman living in New York – Paul Owen at The Guardian (Hat tip: J of India).

Why Twitter's Dying (and What You Can Learn from It) -- Umar Haque at Bad Words (Hat tip: Kathy Richards).

There’s a Way to Stop Mass Shootings, and You Won’t Like It – Rob Myers.

We Need to Chat: How technology has changed how we relate to each other – Jessica Love at American Scholar.

CGI vs. Car Guy – David Murray for ARC Magazine.

Fruit of Good Labours: Discovering the Earliest Known Draft of the King James Bible – Jeffrey Alan Miller at The Times Literary Supplement.

Shadowlands – Billy Coffey at What I Learned Today.

Faith

The Sky is (not) Falling, or Six Things I’ve Learned about the Seasons of Life – Shawn Smucker.

Pierced with Grace – Matthew van Maastricht at thealrteadynotyet.

For want of wonder (Part 1) – Corey Poff at Torrey Gazette.

What is love in a world full of fakes? – Jen Avellaneda at Rich Faith Rising.

What Makes a Human Life Worth It? – Jefferson Bethke at Storyline.

How to Discourage Artists in the Church – Phil Ryken at The Gospel Coalition (Hat tip: Janet Young).

Kocho – Jeanne Damoff at The View From Here.

I Am Not the Hero of the Story – Damaris Zehner at Internet Monk. 

What Bono’s ‘Aha’ Moment Teaches Us about Ourselves – Kristin Brown at Faith, Work anf Economics.

Writing

Where the Obsession May Lead – Mick Silva.

One Thing Every Writer Needs to Succeed – Ann Kroeker.

Why the copyright page is one of the best in my book – Monica Sharman.

Finding Your Sweet Spot – Doug Spurling at Spurling Silver.

Planned Parenthood 

Planned Parenthood Not Off the Hook – Jonathan Tobin at Commentary.

Art

British broadcaster Jeremy Paxton introduces the new exhibit of Goya: The Portraits at the National Gallery, London.

Photography

Tree, Fog, and the Rising Sun – Tim Good (via Pinterest).

Poetry

Dave Harrity – D.S. Martin at Kingdom Poets.

A Trio of Micro Poems – Maureen Doallas at Writing Without Paper.

The Craft of Christian Wiman – Mark Bauerlein at First Things.

Esso-So-So-So – Elizabeth Dark Wiley at Curator Magazine.

Time Machine by Dave Malone

Top Photograph: One of the 17 houses in London that Dr. Samuel Johnson lived in, and the only one still standing. On the top floor was where he prepared his famous dictionary.

First, descent

It is not the convent or the monastery

that owns the concepts of holiness

and repose, of centeredness

and calm, instead it is the home,

the home where the maid sets aside

the broom, the bucket, shows

kindness to a child, where the mother

stands at the doorway, looks outward

in serenity no matter what anxiety she

experiences, waits for a return

that may not come but she believes

so it will come and she knows descent

must precede ascent because that

is how it was done in three days.

Painting: The Courtyard of a House in Delft, by Pieter de Hooch (1658), National Gallery of Art, London.

Advent: First to Know

Not to kings

not to rulers

not to wealth

not to merchants

not to priests

not to soldiers

not to fame

or celebrity

not to power

but to those

on the edge, those

unclean, those

who were outcast,

those, who knew

the need for

forgiveness.

Painting: Adoration of the Shepherds, by Rembrandt or pupil of Rembrandt (1646). National Gallery of Art, London. For a discussion of who the artist may have been, see the National Gallery’s article on the painting.

Advent: The music stopped the clocks

What was it, music

but not music, horns

and strings unplayed,

unwound, then replayed

in some ethereal sphere,

barely heard the way

music is head, the ways

voices and choirs

are heard, played and sung

for the heavens,

the heavens themselves

simultaneously conducting

and absorbing into the composition,

creation  transforming the formless

and deep, and we heard the music

through the millennia as it transcended

time, as it transformed time, as time

became superfluous, past, present and

future melding into glory.

Painting: A Choir of Angels by Simon Marmion (1459), National Gallery of Art, London.

St. Jerome in his study

All I did was remove a thorn,

and now that lion follows me

everywhere, I’m not sure if

it’s gratitude or the prospect

of the next meal. He watches

as I search the texts and scrolls,

seeking the word, the phrase,

the understanding to transform

the Greek into Latin. The Latin

of Virgil led me to the Greek

of Jesus, Greek and Aramaic,

and so it seemed right to bring

Jesus to the Latin. The word

is still the word, even without

a translator. The lion still

roars, with or without

the thorn.

Painting: Saint Jerome in His Study, oil on canvas by Vincenzo Catena (about 1510); National Gallery, London.