tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5554498168264477884.post1046342000268041304..comments2023-09-26T03:53:17.142-04:00Comments on Pentimento: "Why I Avoid Both the Catholic Left and the Catholic Right"Pentimentohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17161146891505294679noreply@blogger.comBlogger17125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5554498168264477884.post-89066729500302227242011-03-05T07:56:22.055-05:002011-03-05T07:56:22.055-05:00No one peaks in their youth, E, except gymnasts an...No one peaks in their youth, E, except gymnasts and tennis players. I am so resonating with the cigarette butts, though.Pentimentohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17161146891505294679noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5554498168264477884.post-84968991401910682172011-03-05T03:37:16.460-05:002011-03-05T03:37:16.460-05:00+JMJ+
And if my faith were art . . .
You might...+JMJ+ <br /><br />And if <i>my</i> faith were art . . . <br /><br />You might have heard of the exhibit made of crumpled paper, cigarette butts and other junk that an artist put together at some museum event and that the cleaning staff "accidentally" threw out at the end of the night. I believe the curator went through the garbage and reconstructed the whole thing from photographs. <br /><br />Well, okay, I'm not <i>that</i> bad. =P But I have been unusually awful lately, and I wonder whether like many artists, I "peaked" in my youth. <br /><br />And yet . . . this is the only way I know how to live it. So there is nothing else for me.Enbrethilielhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03414765854670926854noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5554498168264477884.post-30874277016873825612011-03-04T08:56:13.445-05:002011-03-04T08:56:13.445-05:00E, I'm flattered by your words. If only you k...E, I'm flattered by your words. If only you knew how sloppy and miserable I am at living my faith. If my faith were a work of art, you can be sure that it would be one that no one would ever want to hang on their wall.Pentimentohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17161146891505294679noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5554498168264477884.post-52559012254140912902011-03-04T07:41:23.518-05:002011-03-04T07:41:23.518-05:00Mike, McG, thank you for your kind words. They me...Mike, McG, thank you for your kind words. They mean a lot to me.Pentimentohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17161146891505294679noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5554498168264477884.post-14383919107966067862011-03-03T20:44:26.862-05:002011-03-03T20:44:26.862-05:00Pentimento:
I'm happy to report that I found ...Pentimento:<br /><br />I'm happy to report that I found my way to your remarkable blog through your Vox Nova posting. I suspect that your post there as well as the Heather King citation resonated with many readers...just not with the readers most accustomed to posting replies. <br /><br />As with so much of blogdom, what passes for conversation at VN too often devolves into contentious, comtemptuous harrangues. The net effect is that the most shrill voices get all the play and the more centrist and/or nuanced voices get drowned out. <br /><br />Why? Lots of reasons but male dominance of blogdom is certainly chief among them. Too much testosterone! That, and the privileging of content over process. It is deemed more important to set others straight than to understand the world from their perspectives.<br /><br />It has become almost impossible to discuss abortion at VN so wounded are participants in the conversation. Not wounded like the women grieving abortion but wounded in the sense of having one's opinion on the topic derided. <br /><br />You and Heather were assailed at VN by *both* the most aggrieved and dogmatic of the anti-abortion correspondents *and* the most aggrieved and dogmatic of the anti-anti-abortion correspondents at this site. Your authentically and comprehensively prolife voice irks both of them. Obviously you and Heather are doing something right!<br /><br />Here's hoping that your irenic voice continues to be heard at VN.Mike McG...https://www.blogger.com/profile/17686308714890816432noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5554498168264477884.post-58530761551060789622011-03-02T14:37:32.635-05:002011-03-02T14:37:32.635-05:00+JMJ+
Another post script--because I don't t...+JMJ+ <br /><br />Another post script--because I don't think things out as I should before hitting "Publish": <br /><br />I sent the link to King's post to an artist friend, saying of King, "She reminds me of Anne Rice, except that she isn't crazy. ;-) She has a very deep sense of living one's faith as a work of art--which is, I think, also what I like about you." <br /><br />And it's what I like about <i>you</i> as well, Pentimento. <br /><br />This is what I think the commenters at Vox Nova don't get. And so even when they're right, they're not right.Enbrethilielhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03414765854670926854noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5554498168264477884.post-19448101847791981052011-03-02T14:35:55.213-05:002011-03-02T14:35:55.213-05:00I hate to say it, but I'm laughing just thinki...I hate to say it, but I'm laughing just thinking about that screaming match you witnessed, E.Pentimentohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17161146891505294679noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5554498168264477884.post-68942078578872374742011-03-02T14:33:14.220-05:002011-03-02T14:33:14.220-05:00+JMJ+
Okay, I went over to read the Vox Nova com...+JMJ+ <br /><br />Okay, I went over to read the Vox Nova combox as well. <br /><br />Wow. It's as if they're speaking a completely different language, isn't it? <br /><br />I'm reminded of the time I witnessed a screaming fight between two people for whom English was a second language. (One was from Sweden and darn near fluent; the other from China and barely getting by.) The way they misunderstood each other without meaning to was both hilarious and kind of sad.Enbrethilielhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03414765854670926854noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5554498168264477884.post-3412272686207681602011-03-02T14:17:55.031-05:002011-03-02T14:17:55.031-05:00I think I'm really out of my depth there. I&#...I think I'm really out of my depth there. I'm sure they asked me to blog there because they SO DESPERATELY NEED more female voices. RCM is wonderful, but because of the difficulties she's been dealing with in real life lately, she's been writing much less there.<br /><br />That so many people could make Heather King wrong and turn it into a dispute about who's more of a pharisee, though -- I wasn't expecting it.Pentimentohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17161146891505294679noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5554498168264477884.post-34638899119259530162011-03-02T14:13:32.597-05:002011-03-02T14:13:32.597-05:00Read down the comment thread at Vox Nova. I don...Read down the comment thread at Vox Nova. I don't know how you put up with it! You have a great store of patience.MrsDarwinhttp://Darwincatholic.bloodspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5554498168264477884.post-82589383088324077532011-03-01T14:17:08.703-05:002011-03-01T14:17:08.703-05:00I agree. My intention there was not to throw meat...I agree. My intention there was not to throw meat to the lions, but everything there seems to end up that way. It's a little demoralizing.Pentimentohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17161146891505294679noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5554498168264477884.post-5902707227760463852011-03-01T13:45:42.155-05:002011-03-01T13:45:42.155-05:00+JMJ+
PS--And what I meant by that is that I don...+JMJ+ <br /><br />PS--And what I meant by that is that I don't think that Heather King is trying to be "above the fray" (as some of the Vox Nova commenters are saying), but that she has recognised that the Catholic Church is supposed to save us from being merely children of our own times and countries--not give us an excuse to be even more embarrasing shibboleths.Enbrethilielhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03414765854670926854noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5554498168264477884.post-887925223746177212011-03-01T13:44:41.643-05:002011-03-01T13:44:41.643-05:00I don't know, E. I imagine there is some vers...I don't know, E. I imagine there is some version of this in Europe, too.Pentimentohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17161146891505294679noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5554498168264477884.post-86289911519506222162011-03-01T13:43:30.486-05:002011-03-01T13:43:30.486-05:00+JMJ+
I've been starting to wonder whether t...+JMJ+ <br /><br />I've been starting to wonder whether the "Catholic Right" and the "Catholic Left" exist anywhere other than America and at any time other than our own age.Enbrethilielhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03414765854670926854noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5554498168264477884.post-78518897638617026682011-03-01T11:21:20.809-05:002011-03-01T11:21:20.809-05:00I posted an excerpt at Vox Nova and commenters are...I posted an excerpt at Vox Nova and commenters are trashing it. Sigh. I should have expected that, I suppose.Pentimentohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17161146891505294679noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5554498168264477884.post-21142800331412334722011-02-28T20:31:09.200-05:002011-02-28T20:31:09.200-05:00I'll second "it's a failure of love&q...I'll second "it's a failure of love", and go on to add it's a disregard of dignity, certainly for the mother and father and child who endure it, even of the doctor who performs it. It's a robber. <br /><br />I see the use of graphic images as counter-productive, as if showing a nude photo to a pornographer would change him, as if it would automatically cause him to see his subject as more than a sum of parts. In fact, I think those images further rob innocence, rather than restore goodness. And it defiles the dignity of it's victim, as it requires desensitization to not look away.<br /><br />I have few original thoughts, I feel, in my late late late late 30's, but you (and Betty Duffy, who mentioned the same article today) make me feel smarter for reading you. So good.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5554498168264477884.post-40324438571370911182011-02-28T20:22:57.686-05:002011-02-28T20:22:57.686-05:00I second. Incredible writing.I second. Incredible writing.BettyDuffyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17130418609022759086noreply@blogger.com