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I read Muriel Sparks's The Comforters, and I am sold for life. This book was good, good, good. She shares Flannery O'Connor's wry way of looking at tragedy, of almost aping humanity and holding a mirror up to us to show us how silly we are, but she is better, I think, at treating each character with a genuine, albeit caustic, affection.
Here's the lowdown:
A recent Catholic convert, Caroline Rose, begins to hear voices discussing herself and her acquaintances as if they are characters in a book. You'd think she's crazy . . . if what she was hearing wasn't the narration itself. But is she? Because you and I know that she is a character in a novel, and we are reading about her right now. . .
Also, there's a diamond-smuggling grandmother, a diabolist bookseller, and a mean housemaid who has no personal life whatsoever so she ceases to exist when she is alone.
I don't know if Ms. Sparks (who is a Catholic, by the way) intended this novel commentary (no pun intended) on meta-fiction and the modern novel as a mediation on the nature of reality, what it means to exist, and who we are in relation to God and the universe . . . but it kinda is.
Highly recommended.
-- 2 --
This Australian photographer, Bill Gekas, is self-taught and takes pictures of his angelic daughter in imitation of the classics.
I want to pinch her cheeks pink. What a beautiful child! What a talented dad.
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If you haven't seen this video, it's so worth it. It makes me want to run to Confession, and I am a Confession-phobe.
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Etsy find of the week:
There are tons more clothespin dolls here.
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One of these days, I'm going to do a blog post consisting solely of a list of all the things I thought of or wanted to buy that day. My hope is that by making myself accountable and recording it, it will put me in check by bringing me face to face with my endless wants and the uselessness of them. I mean, I have a feeling the number of things I itch to buy in a day is pretty wanton.
-- 6 --
What to do about the Easter bunny?
Saint Nicholas/Father Christmas has a foundation in faith and a fairy tale-ality that makes him natural for me to integrate into our own new-family traditions. Not so with the Easter bunny. As a child, I was very happy to have free presents and candy, but the mystery and magic of a giant, bow-tied rabbit spoke no poetry to me. So I'm kind of "meh" about the whole thing as regards my own little boy.
I'd almost rather just have Easter as at time to focus on Jesus and the Resurrection. Gifts can come with that, as well. They can even be from the Risen Christ, perhaps.
On the other hand, the Easter Bunny is so prevalent in our culture, I foresee possible problems for my son when he comes into contact with other children who do get visited by the Easter Bunny. So do I carry on the tradition, even though my heart's not in it?
What does your family do for Easter tradition?
-- 7 --
The first anniversary of this blog is coming up on the 24th, and I'd like to do something special. What would you like to see on Everything to Someone?
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See more Quick Takes at Conversion Diary.
#6. I can kind of relate. For years we were the Jewish minority in a predominantly secular-nominally Catholic country. We didn't do Easter at all. My kids learnt very early how to explain it to their friends why they didn't have Easter bunnies or chocolate or things like that without being condecending. I think if you don't want to do the bunny it's all good. You can still give chocolate and gifts and explain that they are from you for Easter.
ReplyDelete#6 My children play along. Hide and seek with eggs.
ReplyDeleteWith Santa it can transition into knowing who is Saint Nicholas.
Even though we were not religious growing up, we at least had older children books on the real Saint. So when I learn to read, I pretty much understood where the tradition came from. I wasn't traumatized into hating God.
Always bothered me how adults will think because there is no Santa there is no God. I think parents get so caught up in 'the magic' they forget to teach kids reality. There no magic in your heart or what ever, remember Disney is a cooperation. It's a fun place. Just like Harry Potter, it's a fun read. And magic is the element that moves the story.
For instance, I'm not Irish so we never had the leprechaun and gold coins or whatever people do now. But I knew who Saint Patrick was, I guess from my interest in history. The same with Halloween, and all Saints/Souls Day within the Church. Local customs integrate with new religion. Duh... makes sense from an anthropological point of view.
I am conflicted about The Easter bunny too. In the end, my kids picked it up from outside sources and so while I don't correct them, I also don't really play along. Santa brings one gift each year, and that is sort of a compromise with my in-laws. But we make a BIG deal about the Nativity and St. Nicholas, so I don't fell too bad about it.
ReplyDeleteI never missed the Easter Bunny. Chocolate and egg hunts, however, we often had, and I loved them. My in-laws do egg wars (link is to my sister-in-law's blog) every year, which has been pretty popular.
ReplyDeleteI should make a list of all my rabbit trails on the internet in a single day... it would probably be pretty shameful. Time-wasting!
"magic of a giant, bow-tied rabbit spoke no poetry to me...." What an awesome way to put that! :) We do it, but there's no big season-long leadup to it like there is with Santa. I think it's a stupid tradition, myself. It's just as fun to hide eggs and have a basket Mom and Dad put together...but my wishes in this matter are not as strong as my husband's, so we keep doing it. :)
ReplyDeleteI grew up as a faithful Atheist, and knew that the easter bunny was just as much fiction as St. Nicholas bringing the chocolate on December 5/6 and the baby Jesus bringing Christmas presents. I think if you feel uncomfortable with the bunny, ignore his existence, and definitely make sure your children know that it's a fictional being. I actually take my niece to shop for eggs and chocolate bunnies for other members of the family, so we never had an issue with that.
ReplyDelete@Ago (sorry for slaughtering your name, my computer is biased against symbols)
ReplyDeleteI'v never heard an atheist described as faithful before. From all my encounters with them, they've insisted that atheism isn't actually a religion.
See, the thing is, I don't see Saint Nicholas as fiction, and even the idea of baby Jesus bringing Christmas presents rings true in a mythological sense. The Easter Bunny . . . he's very distantly related to a Germanic goddess . . . but the fact that he's a magic animal just makes it hard for me to get into him. Not that I feel uncomfortable, I just don't care for him that much. I'd rather have an Easter fairy or something.
@Jenna
ReplyDeleteNEAT!!
@Kathleen
ReplyDeleteI might just do that, put a basket together from me, symbolic of the Resurrection.