Once upon a time, the word “like” had a soul. Modern tongues have since beaten the word like the proverbial dead horse, badgering it to the meaningless status of non-verbal filler. “Um” and “like” can be used almost interchangeably.This is an offense into which we all fall, and far too often. People no longer speak or [...]
The other day futurist Dave Zach forwarded me philosopher Roger Scruton’s recent article “Beauty and Desecration”. In this ably penned piece, Scruton does battle with the “modern intoxication with ugliness”. His argument is well constructed, though these issues have been addressed exceptionally well by others in the past [See Pope John Paul II, Benedict XVI (more [...]
The reason for my two-week abrogation of Ink Desk responsibilities is the direct inspiration of this re-inaugural post: the death of my paternal grandmother. In the days leading up to her death—blessed days of farewell—I wondered what sort of moods and thoughts would result from the whole. As always, the reality proved more incredible than I [...]
The gradual compromise of principles. The slow, sneaking stifling of integrity. The earnest desire for dialogue—to get along. To agree to disagree. To keep one’s beliefs to one’s self in the interests of peaceful coexistence.Then the other shoe drops: blood is spilt and men are in chains on trumped up charges. And the ones who betrayed [...]
When I jettisoned Facebook some weeks ago, I considered composing a self-explanatory statement—an anti-Facebook apologia. I later dismissed the idea—mostly because I feared it would prove a silly, self-satisfied, time-wasting, pontificating exercise (which nearly sums up my objections to Facebook itself). Nevertheless, while discussing the subject at length with friends (real friends!), I was asked to [...]
I concluded my studies at the University of Virginia with a firm conviction of the fact that my beliefs—religious, political, and literary-critical—were diametrically opposed from those of most if not all of my professors. This was very helpful to me in the discernment of what it meant to embrace a literary vocation. I could begin with [...]
Sumptuous altar linens cloaking a crowded, battered-up table: a large crucifix, symmetrically flanked by precisely arranged candlesticks and candelabra; a Sacramentary poised on an ornate stand; an array of framed, Latin-imprinted altar cards; candlesnuffers tucked discreetly behind the whole. Windows on either side of the makeshift altar display small statues of Our Lady of Guadalupe and [...]
Dear Friends, It’s funny—eerily funny, some might say—how Lent falls upon you just as you’ve finished reading that last story, savoring that last poem from the Advent/Christmas issue of Dappled Things. What follows? A desert: a literary desert of forty-plus days that you must endure before rejoicing at last in the glory of Easter—and the delights of [...]
