Month: November 2005

Yes, It All Makes Sense Now

A reader writes:

Dear Jimmy:
      

As I read the email exchanges at the link you posted between Katelyn
Sills’ mother and Sister Helen Timothy, I was appalled at how this nun
abused her authority.  I did a Google image search for her–and this IS
her–and found this picture.  I think it explains everything.

Sr_helen_timothy_1

Yes, you’re right. This IS her (PROOF HERE) and it does explain a good bit.

I’ve never understood those orders in the habit of habitually having habits whose style is best described as "office frumpy."

Go Tofurky!

Tofurky

What’s a vegan to do when the whole country eats Thanksgiving turkey and all he believes he can gnaw on is a lump of tofu? The creative vegan might respond that when life gives you tofu, make tofurky!

A company specializing in making food for vegans, ironically called Turtle Island Foods because it makes one wonder about just what is ground into the tofu, has created tofu turkeys for vegans who long for a meatless turkey around holiday time:

"Turtle Island Foods has been providing premium quality soy products at affordable prices since 1980.

"From our home on the banks of the Columbia River we manufacture Tofurky, Tempeh and other innovative soy products.

"Our goal is to produce alternatives to meat products of uncompromising taste and texture that are made from traditional soy foods like Tofu and Tempeh, not solvent extracted soy powders, isolates and concentrates. We are certified organic processors (by Oregon Tilth) and certified vegan (by the Vegan Society)."

Oh, and if your sense of gratitude at having spared the life of a turkey by slaughtering a tofurky spilleth over this holiday season, you can enter an essay contest devoted to honoring the best story about "featuring Tofurky in a peacemaking situation." No, first prize isn’t a turkey (or a tofurky), but an iPod.

SEE CONTEST FLYER. (Warning: Evil .pdf format.)

JIMMY ADDS: Although I personally have no problem with offing turkeys for Thanksgiving or any other occasion, I had to chime in on this one because I’ve actually eaten the Italian sausage tofurky franks pictured above, and (despite the fact it tastes nothing like turkey or Italian sausage) I actually kind of like it in a weird sort of way. (Though de gustibus non disputandum est.) They’re also low-carb.

Strange Powers?

A reader writes:

Have you read Tim Powers?  He was recently featured on the ignatius press website http://www.ignatiusinsight.com/features2005/tpowers_intvw_sept05.asp as as a Catholic writer getting alot of attention in the sci-fi genre. So I went out and purchased the only Powers book I could find at my local Barnes & Noble titled "Last Call."

It was just sick stuff, very weird and occultish.  I cannot find any reason for recommending this freaky writing to Catholics.   I know that lately he’s written a decidedly Catholic book called "Declare" but I’m just wondering if you have read, or have any thoughts on his work.

P.S. btw…where are you from in East Texas?

Okay, second question first. I was actually born in South Texas (down in the point), but I’ve spent more time in East Texas–specifically Houston (where I still have three aunts and three uncles and a bunch of cousins) and Deep East Texas (near Nacogdoches and San Augustine and Lufkin), where the family ranch is located and where my hurricane-withstanding grandmother still lives (as well as bunches of great aunts and uncles and cousins who I reckon by the dozens).

(Okay, now I’ve got the lyrics of the HMS Pinafore going through my head.)

As to the first question, I haven’t yet read either of the two books you mention, though I plan to. This puts me in a position from where I cannot comment directly on the works, but I have some thoughts that may be worth passing on.

I think that the problem may be one of expectations. You express concern about Last Call being sick, weird, and occultish. Those are things that definitely can be problematic with literature but the situation also can be more complex than that.

Lemme splain:

Suppose I recommended that you read a particular book–let’s call it Book X–that has all kinds of sick stuff in it. It’s got murder and rape and homosexuality and prostitution and adultery and the dismemberment of corpses and decapitation and driving spikes through people’s heads and stabbing people in the gut so that the contents of their intestines comes out. It also has a lot of weird stuff in it, like trees that talk and animals that talk and dragons and monsters composed of mixed-up body parts of other animals. It’s also got occult stuff in it: witches and mediums and demonic possessions and people who read books of magic.

You might very well ask why I would recommend this book to you given all the sick and weird and occult stuff in it.

"Why on earth should Book X ever be recommended to Catholics?" you might want to know.

Well, because it’s the Bible.

Every one of the things I mentioned above is found in the Bible. (Have fun in the combox citing the relevant stories and passages if y’all want!)

The fact that the Bible can include all this stuff and yet remain on every good Catholic’s "Must Read!" list tells us something about literature: It CAN (not the same thing as MUST) contain sick and weird and occult stuff.

If that’s not what you’re expecting from a piece of literature then it’s quite understandable that you’ll be put off by it, but in principle literature can contain all that stuff.

It also may be that a particular piece of literature contains so much of that stuff that it’s offputting–and this is often a matter of taste. Different people (or even the same people in different moods) have different tolerances for such content. And that can play a role.

There also can be moral problems with the WAY in which the material is presented. Some works GLORIFY sick and weird and occult stuff, and that’s just wrong.

I haven’t read Last Call, so I don’t know if that’s the case there, but I think that some light is shed on Tim Powers’s approach in the interview that you link.

For example, in commenting on the fact that he used Tarot cards in that book, he states:


      I don’t think I created a moral framework for Tarot cards – I think I used the framework that was already clustered around them. I mean, everybody’s scared of Ouija boards, right? Tarot cards are very similar. It might be an idiosyncrasy of mine, or something I’ve picked up from being a Christian and a C. S. Lewis fan, but I’ve always taken it as a given that magic is bad for you, and that if you mess with it a lot it will damage and diminish you.
      
      I think a book that presented Tarot cards a benign or neutral – as opposed to dangerous – would have to get over the average reader’s accumulated impression that Tarot cards are dangerous. I had to buy a deck of the Ryder-Waite Tarot cards, to look at the pictures on them, but I’d never shuffle them. After all, if some fortune-telling device works, you’re getting something: information. Is this free? If it’s not free, what is the cost?

So Powers indicates that he views Tarot cards as something that are dangerous and that (if one behaves morally) one should not use. That doesn’t preclude using Tarot cards in fiction, though, as long as one doesn’t glorify their use. You can show someone being attracted to Tarot cards (just like one can show someone in a story being attracted to any other evil) as long as the story retains a fundamental moral framework, which I gather his does with respect to Tarot cards since he seems to show the cost (danger/evil) associated with using Tarot cards.

This doesn’t mean he’s writing a story that’s just an anti-Tarot card apologetic. That kind of heavyhanded preaching in stories often ruins the art of the story–a fact on which Powers also comments:

Trying to make fiction that will illustrate a pre-determined message is (it seems to me) like trying to make wine by adding grape-juice to ethanol. Joan Didion said once that art is hostile to ideology, which I take to mean that if you force the ideology in, the art goes away.
      
      Of course any work of fiction will have a theme – maybe even a message! But I think these are more effective, and more truly represent the writer’s actual convictions, when they manifest themselves without the writer’s conscious assistance. I generally see a theme manifesting itself in whatever I’m writing, but I’d never presume to summarize it or attach a conclusion to it. I concern myself with my plots, but I let my subconscious worry about my themes.

I love that quote about making wine by trying to mix grape juice and ethanol, because that is what too many heavyhanded "message" stories are like. Michael Crichton’s STATE OF FEAR being a great example. Even though I’m quite sympathetic to his message in this book, the book itself is utter <EXPLETIVE DELETED> as a piece of literature.

So it sounds to me like Powers is doing what is generally considered sound practice in literary circles: Providing a moral framework for his story (Tarot cards = attractive + dangerous; like all sin) without turning this into a sermon cloaked in the guise of fiction.

That being said, I can’t say if this novel would be to my taste or not. Upon reading it I might like it or hate it. I’ll have to wait and see.

I did really like the interview with Powers at the Ignatius Insight website, though. One thing he said I laughed out loud at because he was expressing a literary opinion that I DEFINITELY agree with.

Y’see: Often times people want to read all kinds of covert messages in stories and say that they are really "about" something other than what they appear to be about. Except in the case of deliberate allegories, I resist this impulse and like to stay close to the text in my interpretation of the text. I therefore loved it when Powers said:


      I was on a panel once in which a woman said, "Dracula is actually about the plight of 19th-century women," to which I replied, "No, it’s about a guy who lives forever by drinking other people’s blood – don’t take my word for it, check it out."

Love it!

GET THE STORY.

Timothy Jones’ Fine Art website

Well, I have been so spotty about contributing here lately at JA.O that I was hoping to do a couple of posts on topics of general interest before I came out with a shameless plug for my website, timothyjonesfineart.net.
I had planned to do one about our cat, Ozzie, for instance, but for some weird reason, I am not able to process images right now the way I have been, due to a mysterious software glitch. He is a Cat of Unusual Size. I photographed him next to a yardstick to give some sense of proportion.  Anyway, I want to assure everyone that it was going to be a pretty hilarious post, wherein I would make no mention of my new website, timothyjonesfineart.net.
I also had a post about Electric Light Orchestra on the back burner (somewhere behind my cerebellum), but this fell prey to my thumb-wrestling contest with Fortune City’s "Easy Site Builder" program, which is supposed to be kind of a sanitarium for the Technologically Challenged.
I have been working on the thing for several days, and I still have some bugs to work out. F’rinstance, I don’t have the e-mail feature of the site working yet, so visitors have to copy and paste my address into their e-mail program. R-r-r-r-r-…
See, I am on what you would call a rather spartan budget, so I had a choice: I could keep putting off the web page, or I could put it together myself. So I plunged in. The site does everything I wanted, so I can’t complain.
I published just a couple of days ago, but was still tweaking. Then I saw a post from Barbara Nicolosi in the combox, and I blurted out the address (timothyjonesfineart.net) in hopes she would drop by the site. I really admire Barbara’s work and enjoy her website, and I would respect her opinion as another member of the Catholic creative community.
So the chat is out of the carnassiére, so to speak. So, should you visit my site, thanks for dropping by. I hope you enjoy the art.
Wow! it occurs to me that I haven’t said anything in this post that people could really comment on (or work up a decent argument about), so reproduced below is the Mission Statement published on my website. There have been so many neat comments here lately about Art and Truth  and stuff (Michelle’s last about film, for example) that I was itching to jump in.

MISSION STATEMENT – Life, Truth, Beauty, Unity
“Painting is a language that can not be replaced by any other language.” – Michelangelo
LIFE – Philosophically,
I come from the perspective of historical, orthodox Christianity (I am
a Catholic), which means that I accept as given that the universe has a
point, a purpose that comes from beyond nature. Nature is, in
this way, a sort of continually unfolding metaphor. Creation points to
the Creator in all its details. In my art I hope to call attention to
the hand of God in nature, and so the purpose of my art is to point to
nature, which in turn points to God. In the words of Somerset Maugham –
“Art for art’s sake makes no more sense than gin for gin’s sake.”. Art
should represent, not an escape from life – or an attempt to set up
some independent or alternate reality – but a deeper understanding of
life.
TRUTH – Artistically,
I am a “classical realist”, though the definition of “realism” can be
somewhat flexible. Without getting into a long discussion (I’ll save
that for the blog) I can describe it as art that is faithful to nature.
That does not necessarily mean “photographic” or highly detailed. It
does not mean expressionless copying. The great impressionists (like
Monet) played down details and defined edges in favor of emphasizing
light and color, but they were describing a natural light and natural
colors, not mere invented color harmonies or abstraction. They were
still in love with their subject. This type of art is (consciously or
not) an act of worship. Art should tell the truth while appealing to
the higher aspirations of the human spirit, not pandering to the baser
instincts or following the latest fads.
BEAUTY – All
who admire nature glorify God, whether or not they mean to. My job is
to help people to admire nature. I hope that my artwork will encourage
those who view it to slow down, to observe carefully, and to appreciate
the infinite, exuberant complexity and beauty of the world. I am
fascinated with every piece of fruit, and I hope this comes through in
my paintings.
UNITY – All
things find their meaning and purpose in their Creator. Life, truth and
beauty together constitute a unity or harmony of purpose that reflects
the significance of a fully human existence. An attack on one of these
principals is an attack on all. Art that celebrates ugliness,
destruction or meaninglessness could therefore be described as
sub-human or even anti-human.

The above described approach to
art and nature is independent of any use of overt symbolism or
religious imagery. It is a kind of visual philosophy.

Blog Day Lite

Just a note to let folks know that today will be lighter than usual on the blog.

I’m afraid that my neck was out last night. I’d went to my chiropractor after work, but my muscles had gotten too sore during the day and I had a really bad headache which interfered with blogging time.

I scheduled Michelle’s posts for the first ones in the day, but my own blogging will have to wait ’till tomorrow.

Sorry for the delay!

The Heathen And The Christian Film

Professor and screenwriter Thom Parham has written a great analysis of why heathens make the best Christian films and why Christians themselves often fall down on that job.

"Secular filmmakers tend to observe life more objectively than Christians. They see the world the way it really is, warts and all. Christian filmmakers, on the other hand, tend to see the world the way they want it to be. Ignoring life’s complexities, they paint a simplistic, unrealistic portrait of the world."

I wouldn’t quite say that Christians do not see the warts or ignore the complexities.  Many Christians are also quite objective in their analysis of the world.  Rather, I’d say that many Christians in various artistic disciplines sometimes fear showing the warts or delving too deeply into the complexities, perhaps out of a misplaced scrupulosity that doing so is somehow "un-Christian."

"’If you want to send a message, try Western Union,’ said Frank Capra, a Christian who made hugely popular mainstream films."

This I do think is a huge problem for Christian artists. I can’t tell you how many defenses of The Message I’ve seen by Christian artists, whatever their medium. They tend to think of their art as a ministry and nurture romantic dreams of converting the world through a well-crafted apologetic. While I wouldn’t say that art and apologetics are mutually exclusive, I would say that the artist must be an artist first. The reason The Passion of the Christ worked so well as art and evangelization was because Mel Gibson is a Christian artist who has spent thirty years in the industry working as an artist on secular films. He knows how to make a great film and knows how to incorporate theme without sacrificing art. Until you’re as successful as an artist as is Mel Gibson, don’t try to do what he did.

"The idea that Christians will go see films targeted at them has not been borne out by the marketplace. Christians, it turns out, see the same films as everyone else."

And are as discerning about what constitutes a great movie as secular theater-goers. Christian artists must learn that they are not going to win a Christian audience by pandering to them. And Christian artists also are not going to win a secular audience by preaching to them.

GET THE STORY.

(Nod to Relapsed Catholic for the link.)

BTW, the book from which this essay was taken, Behind the Screen: Hollywood Insiders on Faith, Film, And Culture, edited by Spencer Lewerenz and St. Blog parishioner Barbara Nicolosi, sounds great.

GET THE BOOK.

One Woman’s Choice [To Commit Murder]

Over at her weblog, Open Book, Amy Welborn and her commenters are discussing an article written by a woman who chose to abort her child when prenatal tests indicated that the child had Downs Syndrome. The conversation there is well worth reading. But what struck me most forcefully about this article was how it opens.

"’So when do you go for the abortion?’ my friend asked, her voice sympathetic.

"’Wednesday,’ I replied, and then hurriedly got off the phone. I called Mike, my boyfriend, in tears, complaining about how inconsiderate people are, how no one thinks before they speak. The truth was, until I heard the word ‘abortion,’ it hadn’t occurred to me that I was actually having one.

"I was, of course. But we’d been using euphemisms for days, ever since my doctor called to say my amniocentesis results ‘weren’t good.’ We’d say ‘when we go to the hospital’ or ‘the appointment’ or ‘after the procedure, we can try again.’"

GET THE STORY.

And this one of the ways in which abortion has gotten so embedded into our society. A woman doesn’t choose to kill her child, she simply "chooses," as if all choices were created equal and a choice for abortion were no more consequential than a choice to have her hair trimmed. An abortion isn’t an abortion, except to "inconsiderate" people who don’t think before speaking. No, an abortion is an "appointment" or a "procedure." Just get through this nasty little "procedure" and you’re free to "try again" for a "perfect" child.

The first step toward an abortion-free society may be educating people what an abortion is and stubbornly refusing to let it be redefined to mean anything that allows its practitioners to keep a clear conscience.

Plucky Anti-Murder Student Update!

Last night I was e-mailed a press release from the family of Katelyn Sills, the plucky anti-murdrer student who was expelled from Loretto High School after her involvement in exposing a teacher who was assisting others in the act of committing murder. Here’s the text of the press release:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

November 15th, 2005

Submitted by Katelyn, Wynette, and Ed Sills

RE: Request for Public Retraction and Apology from Loretto Administration
for their defamatory statements about our family

Loretto High School is an outstanding college preparatory school for young women that we long desired our daughters to attend and from which our family has three alumnae.  We have generously and loyally supported Loretto High School both financially and through dedicated volunteer efforts, since our daughter’s enrollment in 2004.  We have also encouraged many other families to enroll.  Katelyn has enthusiastically dedicated her time in numerous school activities, including Student Council, Choir, and most recently the Recruitment Team, which visits area 8th graders to invite them to join the LHS community.  Sister Helen Timothy, President of LHS, is a very well respected administrator within whom we entrusted our daughter’s academic future.

However, with regards to this recent situation, Loretto High School administration has misrepresented the facts of this case, defaming our family’s reputation, culminating in punitively and vindictively expelling our daughter, with absolutely no prior warning.  This has been a very sad and distressing experience for EVERY member of the Loretto community.  We acknowledge the negative impact this situation has had, but we are not to blame.  For over eight weeks, we have simply desired that an incompatible hiring be handled in a discreet, compassionate manner, so that the integrity and reputation of LHS would be unblemished.  In contrast, LHS administration has provided false and defamatory information to staff, students, parents, and media, against our family. This in itself has brought unnecessary negative attention to the school.

On Friday, November 4th, our attorney, Eric Grant, represented us by respectfully asking the Loretto High School administration to publicly retract their statements and apologize for their vindictive actions.  Unfortunately, Loretto administration refused to do so.  It is now time to let the truth be known.  We have disclosed all information so that everyone can see exactly what we did and why we did it, along with all correspondence from President Sr. Helen Timothy. The documents are available to the public via Katelyn’s blog www.standupandspeakout.blogspot.com so that each of you can read for yourself and decide whether we have acted with utmost discretion and integrity.

Despite our polite and respectful requests for a meeting, phone calls were not returned for the last eight weeks.  Throughout our daughter’s enrollment at Loretto High School, our family has NEVER been able to meet with President Sister Helen Timothy, nor talk with her on the phone.  Instead, our entire communication with Sister Helen was done via email, and is now available to the public.  Other than one disappointing phone conversation with Principal Sister Barbara Nelson (contents of which will also be published), Mrs. Sills has not had any contact with any LHS staff member regarding this matter.  Even on the blog, our family has expressed nothing derogatory towards the staff of LHS, but in contrast, you will see several hundred comments from Loretto students, parents, and alumnae towards us, which are unkind and undeserved.

We do not seek re-admission to LHS, for clearly it is an unsuitable environment for this Catholic family who practices our faith and values the sanctity of human life.  Also, at this time we do not plan to sue for damages, though it would be appropriate to do so and highly likely to succeed due to the administration’s vindictive and untruthful statements.  Instead, we simply desire for the truth to be told, for Loretto administration to retract their defamatory statements and for them to offer us a public apology.  We have asked Loretto administration to join us in mediation and arbitration so that litigation can be avoided, but unfortunately, they have not agreed.

We continue to ask for prayers for the entire Loretto High School community and for our family during this difficult time.   Once the truth is told, followed by a retraction and apology by the Loretto administration, reconciliation can then take place, healing occur, and both parties can then move on.

Note in case it moves: THE POST ON KATELYN’S BLOG DEALING WITH THESE MATTERS IS HERE.
 

Confessions Of A Different Girl

Madonna

You might think that a commitment to home and hearth and the comforts of spirituality might make the one-time Material Girl (aka Madonna, aka Esther) more retiring about her personal life. Au contraire, but now it seems that home, hearth, and spirituality are just part of the pop-idol schtick.

"’I’m a totally different person now,’ says Madonna. ‘It’s the natural progression — most people just grow up (after) having children, being in a grown-up relationship, having so many years of life in the spotlight … having fame and fortune (and) realizing it’s not what everyone thinks it is, and what it’s all cracked up to be.’"

Mind passing me some Kleenex so that I might finish the article with dry eyes? Thanks.

"She says her children get much of the credit for the kindler, gentler Madonna that’s emerged in recent years (the former Sex author has even penned children’s books).

"But her devotion to Kabbalah, the Jewish mysticism that has gained popularity in recent years, also has been a factor.

"Her ties to it have drawn skepticism, and some people have even labeled it a cult — which makes Madonna bristle.

"’I think that people are bothered by it because it’s unfamilar to them,’ she says. ‘If you’re someone that people look up to, and you’re doing something that doesn’t fit into the expected behavior of a pop star, some people are going to be suspicious about that. But, you know, it’s not like I’ve joined the Nazi party!’"

GET THE STORY.

Such trivialization of one of the worst evils of the twentieth century is one reason why we don’t turn to Reformed, Really!-popstars for social analysis, much less for spiritual guidance.

(Nod to My Urban Kvetch for the link.)

Dermatology Questions

I went to a dermatologist yesterday because I wanted to ask him about a strange itching that developed on my lower legs on a couple of occasions recently.

It first happened when I went on my roadtrip ot Arizona and New Mexico. After a few days, my ankles and calves started itching like fire, and when I scratched them it raised a red rash that drove me nuts. The problem went away entirely after a day or so back in San Diego.

Funny thing was, same exact thing happened when I went to Mexico last week, and I wanted to find out what the cause of the phenomena was and how to prevent it.

I hadn’t experienced this phenomena before, but it turns out, according to the dermatologist, that it’s a pretty normal thing.

According to him, men in particular often have problems with their lower legs itching when they are in very arid, low-humidity environments (like Arizona, New Mexico, and Mexico, f’rinstance).

The way to prevent it from happening, according to him, is simply to put lotion on your lower legs when in such areas so that the skin doesn’t dry out and start itching.

Being a guy, that’s something I’m not used to doing. Lotion and I aren’t really on speaking terms. (I wonder if that’s part of why this happens more to men than women?) But if it’ll avoid the horrible itching, I’ll give it a try.

So . . . tip to the men in the readership: Put lotion on your lower legs when going into climates more arid than you’re used to. It’s not an overly macho thing to do, but it beats acute low-humidity lower leg itching by a longshot!

This took care of the concern that brought me to his office, but since I don’t get a chance to talk to a dermatologist every day, I couldn’t resist asking him some additional skin-related questions out of curiosity.

F’rinstance: Sometimes you hear (e.g., in movies) that if you paint over your body completely and don’t leave any skin exposed that you’ll die. Is that true?

Yes!–according to my dermatologist. If you were to paint over all your skin then your body couldn’t dissipate core body temperature. You’d get a runaway fever and die.

My dermatologist mentioned something like this happening in the movie Goldfinger, though I haven’t seen that one. I have seen other movies where something like it happens (and with gold paint, too).

He also mentioned that there is a condition in which people are born with no pores or very few pores and can’t sweat. They can survive if they don’t get too hot, but if they exercise then they build up internal body heat that they can’t release and they die.

Ouch!

Unfortunately, this is a genetic condition and until we have a form of in-utero gene therapy that could detect and treat this, I don’t know if there’ll be much to do for it.