Happy Patrick's Day

There are two holy days which are named after saints that have become holidays.  As far as I know, all the other saints' days- except for All Saints Day, haven't made that transition.

Valentine's Day can be called Saint Valentine's Day.
Patrick's Day is almost always called Saint Patrick's Day.
I can't understand the difference in terminology.

Today is the 17th so I looked at Proverbs 17.

Proverbs 17 

 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

Contrast the Upright and the Wicked

17:1

 Better is a dry morsel and quietness with it
Than a house full of ^[a]feasting with strife.

This is so true.  It makes me think of Downton Abbey which I'm watching right now, and my job.  It may be untrue but it feels like I'm the only staff member that actually goes out of the way to say hi to everyone.  Isn't it so much better to work with people you talk to?

 
² A servant who acts wisely will rule over a son who acts shamefully,
And will share in the inheritance among brothers.

As a part-timer in a company created for and only valuing full-timers, I know I've had great influence when I've been wise; and if I'd actually shut my mouth more I would like it better instead of pointing out flaws.

 
³ The refining pot is for silver and the furnace for gold,
But the Lord tests hearts.

Today J. Vernon McGee at TTB.org spoke about gold, silver and precious jewels lasting through the fire.  I contrast the bridal linen of the Bride of Christ (the Church) with the scarlet and purple attire of the Great Harlot; Mystery Babylon the great with her golden chalice of fornication.  I wonder if that's where the encrusted gold chalices of some "singers" came from; although I know that they aren't worse than anyone else.  We're all attracted to the wrong things.

 
⁴ An evildoer listens to wicked lips;
A ^[b]liar pays attention to a destructive tongue.

I've actually stopped gossip in its tracks a few times by stating "I don't want to talk about anyone who isn't here."  But it's so ingrained and accepted and habitual that the gossip started again almost immediately.  I'm so sick of being one of the people who wallow in those unfun sins.

 
⁵ He who mocks the poor taunts his Maker;
He who rejoices at calamity will not go unpunished.

Amen.

 
⁶ Grandchildren are the crown of old men,
And the glory of sons is their fathers.

It's time to get started.  I wonder if I'm "fertile."  I bet this is something women think about all the time but I just assume it will be ready when I am.

 
^7 [c]Excellent speech is not fitting for a fool,
Much less are lying lips to a prince.

I think of all princes as liars.  This is sad.  I know I hear very helpful things from fools too.

 
⁸ A bribe is a ^[d]charm in the sight of its owner;
Wherever he turns, he prospers.

This reminds me that a boss thinks his company is great to work for.

 
⁹ He who conceals a transgression seeks love,
But he who repeats a matter separates intimate friends.

Love is kind.

 
¹⁰ A rebuke goes deeper into one who has understanding
Than a hundred blows into a fool.

I've been reading that depressed people are nice.  Also, maybe we're smart.  We notice the bad that many don't see but it would be just as easy to notice the good when we try.  I'm trying.  Thank you to David Burns for Feeling Good and When Panic Attacks.

 
¹¹ A rebellious man seeks only evil,
So a cruel messenger will be sent against him.

Okay.

 
¹² Let a man meet a bear robbed of her cubs,
Rather than a fool in his folly.

I feel surrounded by fools.  And of course I hate it when I realize that I'm one.  I'm surrounded by mother rabid bears so I stay home..... aw, so sad.  Not quite true.  Not for awhile now.

 
¹³ He who returns evil for good,
Evil will not depart from his house.

Evil K'neival.  Reap what you sow I suppose.  Reep what you sew probably means as much to people younger than me who don't know English.  Not that there was something so great about it compared to other languages, but we're being cut off from our literary heritage.

Done for now.  See ya!
¹⁴ The beginning of strife is like letting out water,
So abandon the quarrel before it breaks out.
¹⁵ He who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the righteous,
Both of them alike are an abomination to the Lord.
¹⁶ Why is there a price in the hand of a fool to buy wisdom,
When ^[e]he has no sense?
¹⁷ A friend loves at all times,
And a brother is born for adversity.
¹⁸ A man lacking in ^[f]sense ^[g]pledges
And becomes guarantor in the presence of his neighbor.
¹⁹ He who loves transgression loves strife;
He who raises his door seeks destruction.
²⁰ He who has a crooked ^[h]mind finds no good,
And he who is perverted in his language falls into evil.
²¹ He who sires a fool does so to his sorrow,
And the father of a fool has no joy.
²² A joyful heart ^[i]is good medicine,
But a broken spirit dries up the bones.
²³ A wicked man receives a bribe from the bosom
To pervert the ways of justice.
²⁴ Wisdom is in the presence of the one who has understanding,
But the eyes of a fool are on the ends of the earth.
²⁵ A foolish son is a grief to his father
And bitterness to her who bore him.
²⁶ It is also not good to fine the righteous,
Nor to strike the noble for their uprightness.
²⁷ He who restrains his words ^[j]has knowledge,
And he who has a cool spirit is a man of understanding.
²⁸ Even a fool, when he keeps silent, is considered wise;
When he closes his lips, he is considered prudent.

I've heard several times that it's a great idea to read a proverb a day (or is it Proverb) because they're so useful and there's a month's worth in the book.  I haven't done that but it sounds like a great idea.  I have been listening to J. Vernon McGee most every day- and listen to the ones I miss before I catch up- so I've listened completely in order through today from Amos to today- Revelation.  It's a five-year journey which I think I'll complete but who knows.

Joint Heirs - Beleevuh ft. Andale (@jointheirs @iamandale @rapzilla)

Notes on The Man Without A Shadow

Well, we did it again Joyce.  You wrote a novel and I loved it.

I love the list of novels before this novel begins.  In the time it takes me to type it, you will probably have published another.

With Suddering Fall (1964)
A Garden of Earthly Delights (1967)
Expensive People (1968)
them (1969)
Wonderland (1971)
Do with Me What You Will (1973)
The Assassins (1975)
Childwold (1976)
Son of the Morning (1978)
Unholy Loves (1979)
Bellefleur (1980)
Angel of Light (1981)
A Bloodsmoor Romance (1982)
Mysteries of Winterthurn (1984)
Solstice (1985)
Marya: A Life (1986)
You Must Remember This (1987)
American Appetites (1989)
Because It Is Bitter, and Because It Is My Heart (1990)
Black Water (1992)
Foxfire: Confessions of a Girl Gang (1993)
What I Lived For (1994)
Zombie (1995)
We Were the Mulvaneys (1996)
Man Crazy (1997)
My Heart Laid Bare (1998)
Broke Heart Blues (1999)
Blonde (2000)
Middle Age: A Romance (2001)
I'll Take You There (2002)
The Tattooed Girl (2003)
The Falls (2004)
Missing Mom (2005)
Black Girl / White Girl (2006)
The Gravedigger's Daughter (2007)
My Sister, My Love (2008)
Little Bird of Heaven (2009)
Mudwoman (2012)
The Accursed (2013)
Carthage (2014)
The Sacrifice (2015)


I'm glad I didn't find a list with everything she's written because I don't want to do that much typing.  There are novels under other names and there are other books that aren't novels.  There are littler books, and books of poetry and articles including literary criticism and books of short stories. 

I like the picture of the author and the shiny cover paper it's printed on.

How does she do it? 

I can't say I love every book.  I don't even know for sure which ones I have read.  But I can say that there is a really good chance I'll like the book, and if I don't like it- like The Accursed; I still find things to recommend it.

For one thing, I don't like italics.  The use of them in The Accursed was just too much for me.  I wonder if this is something that bothers many people or if it's rare.  But it's true.  If I see a page of italics, I cringe.  Here there weren't as many.  And there weren't pages of all caps either.  But this is such a minor point- or should be, I think.

The book has so much to say that resonates with me and isn't that what defines a masterpiece?  It's something that resonates? 

There is the couple, no longer young yet looking for love- it seems.  There is the academic success story, outstanding in her field who has won everything except a Pulitzer... oops, I mean a Nobel Prize.  There is a phrase new to me that I love "undergraduate speech" to describe the steps one takes to stay in the line around authority and not overstep.  There's a new word to me, pros·o·pag·no·sia- which is the fascinating failure to recognize faces.

And then there is humor.  I don't know if many people find humor in her writing but I think anything well told has humor in it.  It makes me say "No!" as if I'm watching something actually happening, not sitting in Chipotle reading in the corner.  The only outright joke I caught was the mention that the amnesiac has memorized all the dialogue to a silent film- but of course it does have dialogue, it's just not spoken.  

I noticed references to a dragonfly, MLK being a Republican, and dream imagery being inaccurate but indisputable in dream logic.  (You know, when it's your friend and you know it but upon awakening you realize that person in the dream looks nothing like your friend.)  

Here's a great quote:

p. 41

It isn't enough to be brilliant, if you're a woman.  You must be demonstrably more brilliant than your male rivals- your "brilliance" is your masculine attribute.  And so, to balance this, you must be suitably feminine- which isn't to say emotionally unstable, volatile, "soft" in any way, only just quiet, watchful, quick to absorb information, nonoppositional, self-effacing.


Elihu sounded familiar and I see from a quick search that Prince Elihu is one of the characters in my favorite JCO novel, My Heart Laid Bare.

Trying to live in the present, I was confronted with a character that does that.  There are distinct limitations.  Yet, he isn't the unhappiest of the people in the book.  It's not a book about happiness, I don't think.  But it certainly brings up issues of balance and authority and self-determination.  I know how Elihu feels, not knowing when he's hungry and when he's not.  We're all products of suggestion.  If we think we haven't eaten enough, of course we'll want more.  But what is 'enough'?  Does it have quotes or italics and isn't it a judgement call?

Hosea 4

So I will punish them for their ways And repay them for their deeds. 10They will eat, but not have enough; They will play the harlot, but not increase, Because they have stopped giving heed to the LORD. 11Harlotry, wine and new wine take away the understanding.…

 Still contemplating Arnold Ehret's Mucusless Diet I think we're all stuffing in whatever we can and wondering why we're still hungry.  "Hungry" is a judgement call.  Let's make that judgement.  We do have enough.  We do eat enough.  We  are enough.


The book was great.  I thank the best living author in the world for her contribution to my reading schedule and I look forward to what she has to offer in the future.  Would it seem obscene for me to mention that underneath her bed or stuffed behind a loose brick in her office one might find 420 additional manuscripts?  The output is amazing, but don't be misled.  The content is what is amazing.

I actually saw in print where JCO denied not going through her work and editing it, like most writers do.  She told the haters that of course she does that.  She doesn't just write first drafts.  I don't care.  It's good.  Whoever writes like this, and how they get there, and who they are and what they look like isn't nearly as important as the prose: It stands on its own.

 Excerpt from

Six Ways to Live a Joyful Life from St. John Bosco

 from CatholicGentleman.net


So how did St. John Bosco find real happiness? Here’s his six recommendations for living a joyful life:

1. Live for God alone – “Give God the greatest possible glory and honor Him with your whole soul. If you have a sin on your conscience, remove it as soon as possible by means of a good Confession.”
2. Be a servant – “Never offend anyone. Above all, be willing to serve others. Be more demanding of yourself than of others.”
3. Be careful in your associations – “Do not trust those who have no faith in God and who do not obey His precepts. Those who have no scruples in offending God and who do not give Him what they should will have many fewer scruples in offending you and even betraying you when it is convenient for them.”
4. Spend carefully – “If you do not wish to be ruined, never spend more than you earn. You should bear this in mind and always measure your true possibilities accurately.”
5. Be humble – “Be humble. Speak little of yourself and never praise yourself before anyone. He who praises himself, even if he has real merit, risks losing the good opinion of others. He who seeks only praise and honors is sure to have an empty head fed only by wind… will have no peace of soul and will be unreliable in his undertakings.”
6. Carry your cross – “Carry your cross on your back and take is as it comes, small or large, whether from friends or enemies and of whatever wood it be made. The most intelligent and happiest of men is he who, knowing that he is doomed to carry the cross throughout life, willingly and resignedly accepts the one God sends him.”

The Politics of Genre

Gospel tells people that they are not enough but they're not so bad that they should do anything to change their position.  Translation:  Black people, you'll be okay someday, but for now don't do your best and don't try too hard.  Skate.  You'll get your reward in the end.  Power resides in a detached future.

Country tells people that they're just as good as the people who live in cities.  It protests so much that the message is actually- it's okay to be stupid because you know education isn't worthwhile.  Cities are powerful but don't go join one.  Stay rural and get drunk because you don't want power.

Rock tells people to dislike their parents and that they're generation is the only one that's ever dealt with growing up.  Power is in serving oneself. 

Hip Hip tells some people they are victims and can't work through the system to make anything better.  Power resides in men.

Romantic Comedies tell people their love isn't enough.  Real love is a selection of touching emotions.

Movies tell people that good stories end in marriage and bad ones end in death.  (All stories end in death so the implication is that life isn't as good as a movie.)

Facebook tells us that what we think is important, but only to us.