Why I don't blog nearly as often as I used to

Some reasons:

1. I don't blog from where I live, so I don't have access to all my books, the books which inspire much of the blogging.

(Even where I live nowadays, I don't have access to all my books. For the last three years, I've been living in apartments with extremely small bedrooms that do not accommodate the 15 trillion volumes I've collected over the years. I just have one modest bookcase's worth of reading material. A cousin of mine has boxes and boxes of my books in storage at his home, in his basement or attic or somewhere.)

2. I don't drink nearly as much coffee or alcohol as I did in 2002-03. Both those substances do conduce to maniacally prolific blogging, if somewhat embarrassing blogging in retrospect.

3. I simply don't have the energy. That's a good thing, really. I had too much energy for a while there.

4. There's some unease about putting myself forward as some kind of expert or exemplar, particularly on matters of faith. (With poetry, it's different: I can evangelize, so to speak, for my favorite artists without hesitancy or qualm of any kind.) And as for politics, I'm becoming less and less convinced of my own wisdom as the years go by.

5. I'm too busy reading other people's blogs to work on my own with any degree of diligence or consistency! So, you can expect maybe three to five posts a week hereabouts.

Heartfelt thanks to everyone who stops by.

True art or fake art?

I scored 83% on this quiz.

Via TSO.

Emily Dickinson

(poem #564)

My period had come for Prayer -—
No other Art -— would do -—
My Tactics missed a rudiment -—
Creator -— Was it you?

God grows above -- so those who pray
Horizons -- must ascend --
And so I stepped upon the North
To see this Curious Friend --

His House was not -- no sign had He --
By Chimney -- nor by Door
Could I infer his Residence --
Vast Prairies of Air

Unbroken by a Settler --
Were all that I could see --
Infinitude -- Had’st Thou no Face
That I might look on Thee?

The Silence condescended --
Creation stopped -- for Me --
But awed beyond my errand --
I worshipped -- did not “pray” --

I like Harvard Book Store

It's a good place to buy books (both new and second-hand), and perhaps a better place to sell books. Today I unloaded a few that I never should have purchased in the first place:

(1) Selected Prose by John Ashbery;

(2) Where Shall I Wander (poetry) by John Ashbery;

(3) The Collected Poems of Frank O'Hara (whatever was I thinking when I bought this one?);

(4) The Dream Songs by John Berryman; and

(5) John L. Allen's 2000 biography of then-Cardinal Ratzinger, reissued and retitled Pope Benedict XVI -- this, largely a prolix complaint that the cardinal and future pontiff was not kind enough to dissident theologians.

I really should be more careful in my reading.

From the sublime to the ephemeral ...

You Scored 80% Correct

You are an 80s expert You never confuse New Order with the Pet Shop Boys You know which classical musician Falco rocked When it comes to 80s music, you Just Can't Get Enough!

How Much Do You Know About 80s Music?

Merton

I sing quietly to the immediate heart
One more wild hope dies of affliction

-- from Cables to the Ace, #56

Hunger
by Countee Cullen (1903-46)

Break me no bread however white it be;
It cannot fill the emptiness I know;
No wine can cool this desert thirst in me
Though it had lain a thousand years in snow;
No swooning lotus flower's languid juice
Drips anodyne unto my restlessness,
And impotent to win me to a truce
Is every artifice of loveliness.
Inevitable is the way I go,
False-faced amid a pageant permeate
With bliss, yet visioning a higher wave
Than this weak ripple washing to and fro;
The fool still keeps his dreams inviolate
Till their virginity espouse the grave.

:: :: ::

Today is the anniversary of the poet's birth.

An Encyclopaedia Britannica article on the poet.

Pentecost

Come, thou Holy Spirit, come,
And from thy celestial home
Shed a ray of light divine!

Come, thou Father of the poor!
Come, thou Source of all our store!
Come, within our bosoms shine!

Thou, of comforters the best;
Thou, the soul's most welcome guest;
Sweet refreshment here below;

In our labor, rest most sweet;
Grateful coolness in the heat;
Solace in the midst of woe.

O most blessèd Light divine,
Shine within these hearts of thine,
And our inmost being fill!

Where thou art not, man hath naught,
Nothing good in deed or thought,
Nothing free from taint of ill.

Heal our wounds, our strength renew;
On our dryness pour thy dew;
Wash the stains of guilt away;

Bend the stubborn heart and will;
Melt the frozen, warm the chill;
Guide the steps that go astray.

On the faithful, who adore
And confess thee, evermore
In thy sevenfold gift descend;

Give them virtue's sure reward;
Give them thy salvation, Lord;
Give them joys that never end.

Okey-dokey

I think Blogger wanted me to "upgrade my template." This I have done. Now I have to restore all the links I had in my other template's sidebar. Easy enough, right? But I've forgotten virtually all the html I used to know. So this will be something of a challenge.

And what in the world are widgets?

Update, 5.35 pm:

I've discovered how to add links to the sidebar: not nearly as difficult as anticipated. But I don't know how to install Haloscan; so, for the time being, I've switched to Blogger's commenting system.

Also, it's still impossible to link to the really old posts, because there's a "nopub" label attached to them.

Bei Dao

Link to a 2001 interview with the noted Chinese poet (exiled, until recently, from his homeland); included in the course of the interview, some of his poems. An excerpt:

Through the lens of language, even the reality of our days is altered. But in Bei Dao’s experience, the massive machinery of government was the sole arbiter of message and meaning.

“This phenomena [sic] really took off in the late stages of the Cultural Revolution when all our word-groups became fixed by the Party—and this was seen in newspapers, broadcasts, and in the language people used to speak with each other. As a simple example, take the word ‘sun’ or the word ‘red.’ ‘Sun’ really means ‘the leader,’ and ‘red’ means ‘the Party.’ I had a friend from middle school who was asked, ‘What color do you like?’ His response was, ‘I like blue.’ And this boy was censured for having the wrong political attitude, for being politically incorrect. In this way, the language has become so fixed and so controlled, there are no outside means of expression.”

Blogger problem

Still dealing with the phenomenon of the double permalink number (e.g., http://darkoctober618.blogspot.com/2007_05_27_
archive.html#7204484625214645014#7204484625214645014).

How to get rid of that extra #7204484625214645014? Someone out there must know the secret. Clue me in, if you can. Many thanks.

And this

via Credo ut intelligam:

You Belong in 1953

You're fun loving, romantic, and more than a little innocent. See you at the drive in!

What Year Do You Belong In?

Well, one thing's for sure

There's no way I'd pick Starbucks over Dunkin' Donuts.

You Are 80% Massachusetts

You're pretty Massachusetts, but you're starting to slip. Go eat a bulky roll and flip off a New Yorker.

How Massachusetts Are You?

Persecuted Christians

Details.

Via Mere Comments.

Tuna

A poem by Pablo Neruda, commie bastard but better-than-able poet.

(The note by the translator fascinates.)

Woo-hoo!

Jordin won!

Things I won't be blogging about
(at great length)

The war. I'll say only that my views have changed somewhat from the hawkish enthusiasms of 2003.

Presidential politics, 2008. At this point, I look at the available candidates, and have absolutely no clue whom to vote for, or indeed whether to vote.

Benedicite

26: But the angel of the Lord came down into the furnace to be with Azariah and his companions, and drove the fiery flame out of the furnace,

27: and made the midst of the furnace like a moist whistling wind, so that the fire did not touch them at all or hurt or trouble them.

28: Then the three, as with one mouth, praised and glorified and blessed God in the furnace, saying:

29: "Blessed art thou, O Lord, God of our fathers, and to be praised and highly exalted for ever;

30: And blessed is thy glorious, holy name and to be highly praised and highly exalted for ever;

31: Blessed art thou in the temple of thy holy glory and to be extolled and highly glorified for ever.

32: Blessed art thou, who sittest upon cherubim and lookest upon the deeps, and to be praised and highly exalted for ever.

33: Blessed art thou upon the throne of thy kingdom and to be extolled and highly exalted for ever.

34: Blessed art thou in the firmament of heaven and to be sung and glorified for ever.

35: "Bless the Lord, all works of the Lord, sing praise to him and highly exalt him for ever.

36: Bless the Lord, you heavens, sing praise to him and highly exalt him for ever.

37: Bless the Lord, you angels of the Lord, sing praise to him and highly exalt him for ever.

38: Bless the Lord, all waters above the heaven, sing praise to him and highly exalt him for ever.

39: Bless the Lord, all powers, sing praise to him and highly exalt him for ever.

40: Bless the Lord, sun and moon, sing praise to him and highly exalt him for ever.

41: Bless the Lord, stars of heaven, sing praise to him and highly exalt him for ever.

42: Bless the Lord, all rain and dew, sing praise to him and highly exalt him for ever.

43: Bless the Lord, all winds, sing praise to him and highly exalt him for ever.

44: Bless the Lord, fire and heat, sing praise to him and highly exalt him for ever.

45: Bless the Lord, winter cold and summer heat, sing praise to him and highly exalt him for ever.

46: Bless the Lord, dews and snows, sing praise to him and highly exalt him for ever.

47: Bless the Lord, nights and days, sing praise to him and highly exalt him for ever.

48: Bless the Lord, light and darkness, sing praise to him and highly exalt him for ever.

49: Bless the Lord, ice and cold, sing praise to him and highly exalt him for ever.

50: Bless the Lord, frosts and snows, sing praise to him and highly exalt him for ever.

51: Bless the Lord, lightnings and clouds, sing praise to him and highly exalt him for ever.

52: Let the earth bless the Lord; let it sing praise to him and highly exalt him for ever.

53: Bless the Lord, mountains and hills, sing praise to him and highly exalt him for ever.

54: Bless the Lord, all things that grow on the earth, sing praise to him and highly exalt him for ever.

55: Bless the Lord, you springs, sing praise to him and highly exalt him for ever.

56: Bless the Lord, seas and rivers, sing praise to him and highly exalt him for ever.

57: Bless the Lord, you whales and all creatures that move in the waters, sing praise to him and highly exalt him for ever.

58: Bless the Lord, all birds of the air, sing praise to him and highly exalt him for ever.

59: Bless the Lord, all beasts and cattle, sing praise to him and highly exalt him for ever.

60: Bless the Lord, you sons of men, sing praise to him and highly exalt him for ever.

61: Bless the Lord, O Israel, sing praise to him and highly exalt him for ever.

62: Bless the Lord, you priests of the Lord, sing praise to him and highly exalt him for ever.

63: Bless the Lord, you servants of the Lord, sing praise to him and highly exalt him for ever.

64: Bless the Lord, spirits and souls of the righteous, sing praise to him and highly exalt him for ever.

65: Bless the Lord, you who are holy and humble in heart, sing praise to him and highly exalt him for ever.

66: Bless the Lord, Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishael, sing praise to him and highly exalt him for ever; for he has rescued us from Hades and saved us from the hand of death, and delivered us from the midst of the burning fiery furnace; from the midst of the fire he has delivered us.

67: Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy endures for ever.

68: Bless him, all who worship the Lord, the God of gods, sing praise to him and give thanks to him, for his mercy endures for ever."

Many interesting things

can be found here.

Interracial violent crime

Some of it goes underreported. For whatever reason.

Article spotted at A conservative blog for peace.

Giuliani

He hates giving to Planned Parenthood. As seen at the Dawn Patrol.

My new parish
and the things that trouble me

As mentioned before, I recently moved, and there is a Catholic church a block away from where I live. I've attended Mass twice there, and have noted some odd things about the liturgy, and about the church itself.

1. There is no corpus on the cross above the altar.

2. There don't appear to be any confessionals in the church.

(There are kneelers! There is holy water. And lovely old stained glass, esp. the window depicting the four Evangelists.)

As for the Mass itself:

3. There is no penitential rite: no Confiteor, no Kyrie. Instead, what the priest would have us do is come forward and bless ourselves with the baptismal water.

4. We do not say the Nicene Creed. Instead, we are to turn to the person nearest us, introduce ourself, and ask the person to pray for one of our intentions. (No harm in having someone pray for one of your intentions, but ... what's wrong with the Creed?)

5. A small thing, this, but perhaps most bothersome to me. At the epiclesis (that part of the Eucharistic Prayer where the priest says words such as, "Let your Spirit come upon these gifts to make them holy, so that they may become for us the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ"), the priest does not make the sign of the Cross over the gifts as he says these words.

6. The chalice used at Mass is made of glass.

Now, none of these things, as far as I know, invalidate the Mass, but they do represent significant departures from the norm. No penitential rite? Do none of us have sins?

I like having a church a block away from where I live. But I think I may begin walking the mile-plus back to my old parish, where none of these problems arise.

Adam of Perseigne
a Cistercian

Turn Your Eyes to the Virgin. Via Vultus Christi.

Haloscan isn't publishing

my comments (yet), so here's a post to respond to recent visitors.

alias clio: you're welcome!

Jeff, thanks for dropping by! Depressing or not, I might have to blog about my new parish, if only to get the opinion of other bloggers as to whether I should keep going there. I've been there twice, and have noted some discouraging phenomena. Nothing that invalidates the Mass, as far as I know, but still, things that make one wonder why.

Another Magnificat meditation
blogged here previously

From the March 2002 issue: Blessed Charles de Foucauld, against discouragement.

To blog or not to blog?

I'm wondering whether I should post about my new parish. I recently moved from one part of Chelsea to another, about a half-mile down the road, and so I have a new geographical parish (one block away) -- that is, if I don't decide to start going back to the old parish (one mile away), where the Mass is said with fewer liturgical irregularities and eccentricities.

It's a depressing topic -- so I don't know if I should blog about it.