Ikkyū regards young Sōgi’s calligraphy as golden hour yields to white. “Your hand is inelegant, as always. It’s … bold, though.” Magpies screech disapproval from a nearby pine. A horn echoes through the courtyard. Sōgi looks in the direction of the disturbance. Ikkyū bows his head and sighs. “Forgive me for speaking out of turn, Master Ikkyū, but it would
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This might be a good moment to break out your New Testament, review the parts in red, and consider the unsettling possibility that Jesus meant what he said.
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Happy Beltane, everyone.
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The Mr. C case has me wondering if widespread familiarity with sexual themes and content makes today’s youth more or less susceptible to pedophiles.
Read moreIt’s about tribalism. You cannot work with Trumpists. Period. You must defeat them and then fix the problems that handed them control. It is useless to attempt to reason a man out of a thing he was never reasoned into. – Jonathan Swift Since the moment of Campaign 2016 when it became clear that Donald Trump actually had a chance,
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The AP says the “bathroom bill” cost North Carolina $3.76 billion. The real damage is likely much, much higher. The AP yesterday released an analysis indicating that reaction to North Carolina’s discriminatory HB2 – the “bathroom bill” – cost the state a staggering $3.76 billion in lost business, projected over 12 years. That’s a remarkable hit to economy, but as I
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The only thing worse than the willfully ignorant is the legion of apologists enabling them. Since the election – before, really – we’ve heard a lot of talk about how all those urban liberal elites need to stop being so arrogant and start listening to very real concerns of real Americans in rural flyover values America. We have more recently begun
Read moreRemembering the blackest moment of the entire nativity cycle is an odd way to celebrate. For a couple weeks now I have been assembling my “Dark Christmas Melancholy” playlist, a process I described in a post a few days ago. While I have listened to (and sung) a lot of holiday music through the years, my little project introduced me to a
Read moreYesterday I added Greg Lake’s “I Believe in Father Christmas” to my Dark Christmas Melancholy playlist. This morning I wake to learn he’s gone. Another light snuffed by this hellish, hateful year, and the holiday season just got a little darker… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPm6CheT6rs
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There is beauty in the darkness. This is all I have ever known. Beauty doesn’t work the same for me as it does for most people. I first started realizing this in Mr. Booth’s (excuse me, Dr. Booth’s) English V class at Ledford High School in 1978 and 1979. I remember two moments distinctly. First, we read “The Eve of St.
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At some point the North Carolina legislature is going to capitulate on its “bathroom” law. Will the NCAA’s latest move be the tipping point? Much has been written and said about NC’s discriminatory “bathroom” law. And now even more is going to be written and said, thanks to the NCAA’s decision to yank seven college sports championship events from the
Read moreI attended the 120th annual Cheyenne Frontier Days this afternoon and it was awesome. A few things, first on the competition front: 1: The guy who won the bull riding was a rookie. A 20 year-old rookie. He rode three bulls in three rounds. These are serious bulls, and the idea that anybody rode one of them is ridiculous enough. Three in three days?
Read moreHappy Beltane – or May Day, if you prefer – from Scholars & Rogues.
Read moreHappy Vernal Equinox from S&R.
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lullaby pit 