Week 12 (2024)
a comet, the planets & Lewis, childhood risk & disappearing cousins, maternal workers & intellectual friendship, singleness & the human comedy
(Click title to open in browser, on the Substack website)
to read: books
It’s been the best kind of whiplash taking in the range of Lewis’ freakish genius over medieval cosmology, his ability to smuggle it into his playfully serious stories, and then take the utmost care & generosity when responding to young children who corresponded with him.
Planet Narnia — Michael Ward — Brilliant. There’s an interview with Ward further down below.
Letters To Children — C.S. Lewis, edited by Marjorie Lamp Mead, Lyle W. Dorsett — Reading any number of these brief letters will lift your spirits. What a fun guy.
to read: essays, articles, newsletters
If Lewis Wrote Today — Brad East — “There are historical and social and political and generational reasons why Living Lewis in 2024 wouldn’t fly with American evangelicals the way Dead Lewis does. I get it. It’s just a thought I had. And it gets at something that irks me, even if I can’t quite put a finger on it. A gesture or a feeling. I wonder whether it resonates with others.”
Variations On The Planets — Ruby Dunn, Ekstasis — “This is why, of course
we find stars in ice and all the things that
we don’t think are quite eternal enough:
flowers and fireworks and babies’ eyes – all
as if to hold in stasis something of
light, to hold in our hands the echoes of
what was trapped and freed in fairy-tale terms:
long ago and far.”A Boy And A Comet — Howard Thurman, Plough — “As I look back on it, what I sensed then was the fact that what stirred in me was one with what created and controlled the comet. It was this inarticulate awareness that silenced my fear and stilled my panic.”
Cousins Are Disappearing. Is This Reshaping The Experience Of Childhood? — Natalie Stechyson, CBC News Canada — “Similar-age cousins, especially, can often enrich one's childhood in addition to having some shared experiences… it's important to note the cousin decline is happening alongside other family-related changes, such as the decline in the number of aunts and uncles and the decline in the number of siblings.”
(related: The Family Tree, Stripped found in this post of Leah’s, shared previously)
Free The Children — Leah Libresco Sargeant, First Things — “When perfection is the expectation, online and off, there’s little room for the messiness of human life. This is unrealistic. Being a parent never becomes “safe,” no matter how much you sock away in a 529. Indeed, there’s risk in too much safety.”
(discussion at her post here)
Tearing Down The Maternal Wall — Rachel Lu, Fairer Disputations — “We may end up with a world in which mothers find it relatively easy to get low-skill, low-paid but steady jobs, while the more interesting and creative work again slides out of reach, except for a certain group of highly ambitious women who are willing to make all necessary sacrifices on the family front. I think we can do better than that. Can’t mothers enjoy both honor and opportunity? Let’s keep talking.”
(related: Claudia Goldin’s Work Is Foundational For Understanding 21st Century Families, shared previously)
Spinus Tristis (From The Latin, Meaning ‘Sad’) — Ron Riekk, Fathom — “She thought I was having
a flashback, asked. No, I said, no, I just
thought I saw something beautiful. And
we sat there in silence, in gentle silence.”Choosing The Human Comedy — Amanda Ruud, Comment — “Human choices rarely occur within the hermetically sealed structure of a Greek tragic plot.”
Absence, Presence, And Holy Detachment — Rebecca Faulks, Imprints — “How do you name a grief that is primarily an absence? Uncurious responses to the ache of singleness shut down the dialogue, compounding the isolation... The cross of holy detachment is an invitation to remember that “you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” It is an opportunity to follow Mary into the discomfort and expectancy of acceptance: “Let it be to me according to your word.” There is something grounded about this openhanded expectancy, something rooted in a reality that is deeper than what is visible.”
(related: Singles In The Pew, shared previously)
Intellectual Friendship: Why It Matters — Jamie Boulding, The Public Discourse — “Intellectual friendship, based on mutual respect and love, motivates us to think as well as we can, to submit our ideas to each other for criticism, and to share something of ourselves, together… not just for the sake of conviviality, but with the hope of ascending to a clearer view of reality.”
(related: Friends, Mirrors, Prophets, shared previously — also Dixie on Grammarly and the nature and purpose of writing)
to watch, listen to
Michael Ward: Planet Narnia — Socrates In The City — The dude lived in the Kilns for three years and MADE LEWIS’ BEDROOM HIS OWN (who knew one could do that?) That is some dedication to the research. *Please don’t come at me about Eric Metaxas, I came for Ward.
Continuing On:
The Commonplace with Autumn Kern — #1 Thing Homeschool Moms Need To Do This Summer and Planning Your Homeschool Schedule
to glean from: tip, product, resource
Good Lion Golf — Long story short: The first time we attend this church, we see a dad with a hoodie that said Good > Safe on the back and a lion somewhere on there. I tell my husband at some point, “Bet you he owns an apparel line or something.” Time passes, and another member serves us the communion cup wearing a blue shirt that says Good Lion Golf. My husband looks it up later: “It’s those guys!” “A clothing brand, I knew it”, I say. Anyways, just chuckling at my weird intuitions, and how this discovery of a random golfing apparel company (infused with obvious Aslan references) came my way during what apparently was a very Lewis Week for the newsletter (and our family, we watched one of the films). Life is funny.
These Taper Candles — We’ve purchased these multiple times. That honey smell and natural yellow cannot be beat. Simple pleasures, I tell ya.
to look back on
This Week:
You can reply directly to this email if received in your inbox — I always enjoy hearing from y’all that way.
Haley, truth is I only skimmed your headlines and enjoyed the photos....however, I hear you on the Planet Narnia praise--the book blew me away. Michael Ward is such a gift to this world.
Thank you for the tip on the candles.
Have a lovely week!
Your comment on Metaxes made me chuckle. 🤭