 |
| Postcard Circa 1922 |
(Postcard collection ~ J. E. Walker)
Thursday, February 14, 2013
More than a thousand years ago, Anglo-Saxon,"Old English,"was the main language of Britain.
Not Shakespeare's language (that's Modern English), not Chaucer's (that's Middle English); Old English. Almost impossible for most of us to read now, its literature must have been rich and sophisticated. But only a few pieces have survived--and one is the thoughtful, stirring, brawling, book-length poem, Beowulf.
Mike Walton will discuss
Beowulf and his translation at
The Neat Little Bookshop
29 Talbot Street West, Cayuga
Thursday, February 21, at 1 p.m.
It's informal. All welcome.
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Thoreau's Walden ~
"When I first paddled boat on Walden,
it was completely surrounded by thick and lofty pine and oak woods, and in some of its coves grape vines had run over the trees next the water and formed bowers under which a boat could pass. The hills which form its shores are so steep, and the woods on them were then so high, that, as you looked down from the west end, it had the appearance of an amphitheatre for some kind of sylvan spectacle. I have spent many an hour, when I was younger, floating over its surface as the zephyr willed, having paddled my boat to the middle, and lying on my back across the seats, in a summer forenoon, dreaming awake, until I was aroused by the boat touching the sand, and I arose to see what shore my fates had impelled me to; days when idleness was the most attractive and productive industry.
"Many a forenoon have I stolen away, preferring to spend thus the most valued part of the day; for I was rich, if not in money, in sunny hours and summer days, and spent them lavishly; nor do I regret that I did not waste more of them in the workshop or the teacher's desk."
~ A Fully Annotated Edition Walden, edted by J.S. Cramer, Yale University, 2004.
(Photo is of our own heritage river ~ the Grand. lbw)
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
"To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment."
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, American essayist, poet (1803 - 1882)
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, American essayist, poet (1803 - 1882)
"Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind."
~ R. W. Emerson
Emerson's essay, "Nature," identified four aspects of man's use of nature: Commodity, Beauty, Language and Discipline ~ an influence on Henry Thoreau's writings, including Walden.
Monday, February 11, 2013
Excerpt from La Popessa * ~
"In the rapidly changing world of the 1960s, Pascalina saw her Church torn between excessive change and excessive resistance to change. A time of social upheaval and public question was at hand, and violent convulsions were occurring throughout Catholicism.
"As she had warned long before, the Holy See was already in deep trouble. Those after Pius, the hierarchy that attempted to bring the Church into the modern world, had destroyed most of the old Catholic culture. In the clerical revolt against authoritarianism, tens of thousands of clergy and nuns throughout the world were defecting. The seminaries were half empty, and one fourth of all priests requested Rome's permission to get married. Catholics by the millions were staying away from the Church. Only 50 percent of those who ordinarily went to Sunday Mass continued to attend. Surveys slowed that nearly 90 percent of Catholic married couples were using Church-banned forms of contraception.
"The Holy See's treasure suffered as severely. Donations to the Church were cut in half, and only 50 percent of those who once gave regularly to the Church continued to give. The papacy was stunned by the extent of Catholic mutiny at the grass roots.
Eight out of every ten Catholics were disregarding Church laws governing birth control, divorce, and sex outside marriage."
p. 307 * The Controversial Biography of Sister Pascalina, the Most Powerful Woman in Vatican History, Paul I. Murphy, 1983. Warner Books, Inc.
"In the rapidly changing world of the 1960s, Pascalina saw her Church torn between excessive change and excessive resistance to change. A time of social upheaval and public question was at hand, and violent convulsions were occurring throughout Catholicism.
"As she had warned long before, the Holy See was already in deep trouble. Those after Pius, the hierarchy that attempted to bring the Church into the modern world, had destroyed most of the old Catholic culture. In the clerical revolt against authoritarianism, tens of thousands of clergy and nuns throughout the world were defecting. The seminaries were half empty, and one fourth of all priests requested Rome's permission to get married. Catholics by the millions were staying away from the Church. Only 50 percent of those who ordinarily went to Sunday Mass continued to attend. Surveys slowed that nearly 90 percent of Catholic married couples were using Church-banned forms of contraception.
"The Holy See's treasure suffered as severely. Donations to the Church were cut in half, and only 50 percent of those who once gave regularly to the Church continued to give. The papacy was stunned by the extent of Catholic mutiny at the grass roots.
Eight out of every ten Catholics were disregarding Church laws governing birth control, divorce, and sex outside marriage."
p. 307 * The Controversial Biography of Sister Pascalina, the Most Powerful Woman in Vatican History, Paul I. Murphy, 1983. Warner Books, Inc.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)