Five Favorites (vol. 20)

(1) Gilbert Magazine, (2) Dappled Things, (3) StAR, (4) oh comely, (5) Soul Gardening

This week I want to share my five favorite traditional publications.  The digital word is convenient and nice for bridging gaps of geography to bring people together, but I believe in black print on paper and the feeling of a cover v'd between your hands.

Most likely, I have listed the quirky British lifestyle/artsy/creative magazine as one of my favorites before, but this is a new grouping, and so I feel obliged to include it.  Also, I couldn't think of a fifth traditional publication for which I anxiously check my mailbox every day when I know that it's that time of the month/season/year!

I know I've included Soul Gardening previously.  And so what?  It stands on its own merit as a favorite outside of printed paper!

Next week, I'm going to do my five favorite online publications.

-- 1 --

Named for the infamous G.K. Chesterton, who gave this blog its name and whom I consider my spiritual teacher and father, patron saint, and favorite writer.  Gilbert is intelligent without being dense and has much to offer even those who are not fans of Chesterton.  Among its readers are multitudes of Catholics, many Christians, some Jews, and at least one Muslim (stats quoted by memory from one of the GM's past articles, so don't hold me to it--they may have changed by now).

My favorite returning articles are the editorial by Dale Ahlquist, president of the American Chesterton Society; "The Signature of Man," a column that is a re-print of some commentary of GK's on art of his day, which is, as in all of his writing, eerily appropriate to modern times; and "News with Views," little snippets of real news events that highlight the absurdity of modern culture--chances are, you won't find reports on these sometimes-outrageous-sometimes-astounding happenings anywhere else, unless you are deliberately looking for them.

Gilbert Magazine is about 1/3 Chestertonian learning, 1/3 cultural and literary reflection and discussion, and 1/3 innocent fun--if for nothing else, pick up a copy of one for its delightful illustrations!

-- 2 --

This pristine periodical is the Catholic literary magazine in English which, if it had appeared in her day, would have certainly made Flannery O'Connor cry with joy.  Dappled Things' standards are impeccable and never have I seen it to sacrifice quality art for religious sentimentalism.  Its genres are fiction, essays, and poetry, spanning the rigid but triumphant traditional forms to the languid modernity of free verse.  Every university and seminary needs a subscription.

--3--

Saint Austen Review takes a scholarly eye to Catholic culture with regard to art and literature.  It's like if Gilbert and Dappled Things got married and had a baby, and StAR was it.  Love this one!  As in DT, don't expect fluff and ginger, nicey-nice treatment.  They mean to keep Catholic art art and judge accordingly; as O'Connor said,

. . . the chief difference between a novelist who is an orthodox Christian and the novelist who is merely a naturalist is that the Christian novelist lives in a larger universe.  He believes that the natural world contains the supernatural.  And this doesn’t mean that his obligation to portray the natural is less; it means it is greater.

--4--

From made-up covers of penny dreadful novels to an interview with the roller derby queen of England, sometimes the frivolous can be good for the soul; I mean, delighting in the daily things--in mismatched buttons, scribbling self-portraits, and making your own pasta-- is far less shallow than what we find in fashion mags and gossip columns.  oh comely is that kind of read.

Oh and the tagline: "Keep your curiosity sacred."

!!!  <3

The sparse and lovely photographs aren't bad either.  c;

--5--

I can't say enough how much of a delight this little magazine is to me!  In some ways, I'm too artsy and flower-child for a devout Catholic crowd; in others, I'm too dogmatic and orthodox for a the poet-types (which accounts for the somewhat schizophrenic nature of this blog).  Soul Gardening is a perfect marriage of both.  With little reflections and tips and rhymes that bring together Catholic mothers who value classical education, the natural world, and the importance of beauty, with icon-like, folksy black-and-white illustrations, this one needs to find its way into the hands of every Catholic woman looking for a way to add dimension and quiet communion to the daily drudge.  Thank you Mary, Ursula, Sia, and Ellie!

It's also completely free.



So what are you favorite printed publications?  First Things get your philosophy and politics ticking?  Simple Things magazine lift you up with its light-as-air advice and content?  I'm always looking for great new reads.

Seven Quick Takes: Volume 22

Tuscany Press Edition & Giveaway

Linking up with Conversion Diary for this week's 7 Quick Takes Friday.

-- 1 --

Tuscany Press is accepting manuscripts for the 2013 Tuscany Prize for Catholic Fiction.  Genres include novels, novellas, short stories,and young adult novels.  If you've got a manuscript lying around, or one that needs just a bit more polish, send it on over.  If they like your work, they might offer you a publication contract aside from the Tuscany Prize.  So even if it's not 100% ready for submission, you might be letting the right people know that you have a skill and to expect more from you in the future.

-- 2 --

They've recently put up an author's page so you can get to know the people behind the award-winning fiction.  We range from all over the country (and out!) and vary in race, gender, age, and ethnicity; but the one thing we have in common is a Catholic vision of art and literature.  Some of them have links to blogs and such, so you can even get in contact.

-- 3 --

And here's a comprehensive essay addressing what is Catholic fiction?  We may be inclined to think Catholic fiction requires convents and rosaries, or indiscreet moral stands such as the writings of Michael O'Brien and Regina Doman (both good authors), but the category is actually much wider.

-- 4 --

The founders are looking for ways to promote Tuscany Press and her sister projects CatholicFiction.net and CatholicInk.com, so if you work with or for a university, library, Catholic parish, or other organization that you think would benefit from an event with Tuscany Press, get in contact.  Or you can let me know, and I can contact them for you.

-- 5 --

Tuscany Press has ties with the prestigious Catholic literary magazine Dappled Things.  Some of the authors for Tuscany have also published in Dappled Things, and the editor of Tuscany Press, Joe O'Brian, is active with DP as well.  So this is a strong and growing Catholic sub-culture, with truth and beauty as its aim, but not at the expense of art.  See Pope John Paul II's Letter to Artists.

-- 6 --

Tuscany Press is currently looking for a freelance Fiction Substantive/Line Editor.  Requirements include:

1.) Experience with Book publishing  

2.) Experience with Substantive/line editing

a.) analyze the manuscript 

b.) Work in the manuscript 

c.) Address issues:

i.) Story Arc 

ii.) Character Development

iii.) Chaptering and pacing 

iv.) Transitions 

v.) Fictional Dream Issues 

vi.) Beginning, Middle and end 

3.) Knowledge of John Gardner and the Fictional Dream – also The Art of Fiction 

4.) Know of Flannery O’Connor and Mystery and Manners

Do you know of anyone who needs work or is interested?  I assume at this stage that they're going to prefer a practicing Catholic, but I don't actually know.

-- 7 --

I'm giving away my copy of 2012 Tuscany Prize for Catholic Fiction: Collected Short Stories.  Want to be eligible?  Here's what you have to do:

• comment on this post saying that you'd like to be included for the random drawing
• in the following week, write a brief post or paragraph advertising Tuscany Press on your blog/Twitter/Facebook/internet platform to help support its mission and get the word out

That's it!  I'll sign and address the book however and to whomever you want!  Okay?  Okay!  Thanks so much ahead of time for participating.

Seven Quick Takes: Volume 12

7 Quick Takes Friday is hosted at Conversion Diary.  See more Quick Takes here.

-- 1 --

Q & A
In Which I Ask Questions and you Answer

The two-year-old has become incredibly clingy lately.  He follows me around the house whining to be picked up.  When I try to sit down to do anything, he climbs into my lap and squirms, getting upset when he falls out or is uncomfortable, and generally getting in the way.

Is this a normal phase for toddlers?  If so, how have you handled it?

I'm looking for a sturdy picture book of the mysteries of the Rosary, for him to follow along when I'm praying.  That way, when I'm saying my Hail Mary's, he'll be able to look at the pictures and understand, to some extent, what's going on.  Any suggestions?

Last, I have these comfy gray sweatpants that are long past wearable.  I couldn't give them to charity.  But there's a lot of quality fabric there that isn't damaged, and it feels wrong just to throw it away.  Do you know of any amateur friendly projects you can do with an old pair of sweatpants?

-- 2 --

My thoughts exactly.

-- 3 --

Speaking of prayer, look at this awesome Flannery O'Connor-inspired book on prayer.  What a thing to have had at the start of Lent!  It's definitely going on my wishlist.

-- 4 --

Courtesy of Mary's Cova, the little library collection at my parish, which is growing strong, I've been able to get a copy of The Quest for Shakespeare by Joseph Pearce!  I devour any book read by this Catholic, English scholar, and The Quest is no exception.  Mr. Pearce's research is thorough, professional  and illuminating, but not dense.  Highly recommended.

The likelihood of William Shakespeare's Catholicism.  That's not something they teach you in school.

-- 5 --

I was introduced to a new saint this week.  Her name is Parascheva of the Balkans, and she is the patroness of embroiderers, needle workers, spinners, weavers, and marriage.  I love it.

-- 6 --

How to master your time.  Courtesy of A Light Inside.  This needs no other introduction.

-- 7 --

Got a lovely little copy of Soul Gardening in the mail last week, an inspirational journal for Catholic mothers, but who anyone would enjoy.  They've got articles, book reviews, poems, recipes, projects, and a page for the kids.  What's more, it's an oasis in the day-to-day hustle and bustle that brings similar-minded people to the font of Christ in the our quest for domestic sanctity.

The illustrations are patterned, black-and-white, and symmetrical, and compliment it perfectly.  It feels so good to connect.

Setting Them Free

A short story of mine is under consideration in its genre for the Tuscany Prize in Catholic Fiction.  I didn't write the story for the prize, but when a friend e-mailed, passing along the information, I thought it might be a good fit for the newborn Catholic press.

Especially as they mention Flannery O'Connor on the home page.  (Ask and you shall receive . . ?)

It's tempting to try to plan and moralize.  I've killed a good many story that way before its even got off the ground.  I think what helped with "The Debt" was that I didn't try to think too much into it.

I wrote the entire rough draft in one sitting (in front of the Eucharist, no less).  Consecutive images came to me and I just put them down as they came.  When I had finished  I had something that kind of made sense, though I couldn't put my finger on why.

Some time has passed since I polished up the final draft, and coming back to the story every now and again, the pieces have started to arrange themselves more clearly, a kaleidoscope falling into place.

It occurs to me that the story is about two attitudes toward debt: that of the teacher, Mrs. Parsons, a rigid Puritan-remnant, who believes salvation must be worked for, that every sin must have a scapegoat; and Sister Ruth, who seems to know that debt is impossible to repay and that embracing this truth--rather than running from it--sets one free.

Or she could just be crazy.

Of course, I'm only the one who wrote it.  And a story, once finished, is kind of like a baby bird leaving the nest.  You may have formed and nurtured  it to the point of preparation, but when it's time for it to lift off on its own two wings, there's no telling where it may fly.

Maybe "The Debt" means something different to somebody else.  That is one of the pleasures and pitfalls of fiction.

Seven Quick Takes: Volume 6

 -- 1 --

Today at work, a woman came in and bought six Cuban sandwiches with her EBT (food stamp) card. 

It took me about forty-five minutes for to make them all, what with having to cut new meat because we ran out of kits, answer the phone and take a cake order, and just generally hurry back and forth along the counter on which was spread three foot-long loaves of bread, sliced longways and then cut in half.

She was patient and perfectly civil, but I can't help but wonder what $36 worth of sandwiches could buy in groceries for a truly needy family.  Thoughts?

-- 2 --

 Have you seen this one?

To see the research behind this and the other videos, visit the website.

Overpopulation is a myth; but that's not the point.  In a characteristically Catholic "to-hell-with-what's-popular," know-it-all kind of way, Flannery O'Connor is as right as left's opposite when she says:

The Church’s stand on birth control is the most absolutely spiritual of all her stands, and with all of us being materialists at heart, there is little wonder that it causes unease.  I wish various fathers would quit trying to defend it by saying that the world can support 40 billion.  I will rejoice in the day when they say: This is right, whether we all rot on top of each other or not, dear children, as we certainly may.  Either practice restraint or prepare for crowding . . .

-- 3 --

While we're on Flannery O'Connor, I sent for her published letters, The Habit of Being, from the library and was taken aback at how large it is.  Though I don't know why.  It's not like she would have sent a lot of e-mails.

I think I'm going to have to buy this one, and not just because it is too long to finish in the course of a single library loan period.

-- 4 --

Around the house:

-- 5 --

School's started, and I'm on the substitute teacher's list at Saint Anthony School.  This means, I've moved my meat maiding to weekends only, to be better available for something I much prefer and which can actually lend help to me in a future career.

But it also means that I won't be any freer than usual.

To those who know me well, and know me well enough to know I've a medical aversion to picking up the telephone, this won't change much.

-- 6 --

Here's a trick I've learned from working at the deli sandwhich bar.

To make a Phili cheese steak sandwich:

    slice roast beef, mushrooms, green bell peppers, and red onions
    mix them all together in a bowl with provolone cheese
    microwave or cook on the stove
    spread onto a loaf of Italian bread slathered with heart attack-inducing may; yum!

-- 7 --

Obligatory baba picture: