Week 17 (2025)
seeing & traveling internet symphonies, lovers in imperfect towns & marriages, nightlife care & parenting in a Boogie Nights world
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to read: books
The Story Of Christianity, Volume 1 — Justo Gonzalez — Quite good, thanks Justo.
to read: essays, articles, newsletters
On Not Carrying A Camera — John Rosenthal, Hedgehog Review — “In the face of our present insatiability for miniaturized screen images, what could be more irrelevant than to suggest that these photographs, which lock us into certain moments, often organized photogenic moments, may deform the way in which we recall the past? Or that the uncultivated spaces in between our photographs may be the most fertile ground of memory. Were they worth it, those childbirth photographs?”
(related: ’s Learning To See With Eyes Wide Open)
A Small-Town Dentist Chooses To Stay — Charles E. Cotherman, Plough — “I have, however, seen people catch a vision for what a flourishing, interconnected life in a small town can look like by getting caught up in a story. When we send students to work alongside small-town pastors and lay leaders, more often than not the students come back with a new appreciation for what is possible. They have learned a profession at college, but the people they encounter are what will make them amateurs (which means lovers) in the best sense of the word. We need more impassioned professionals and amateurs in small places everywhere.”
Interruptions, Imperfections —
, Blind Mule Blog — “On all your normal Saturdays, you will need to know this gift of an imperfect and humorous life. You will need to be strong enough to weather interruptions and human frailty and gracious enough to admit, even in your best moments, that you are but men at best, achingly normal, and in need of someone who will swear not to forsake you and place a cup of coffee in your shaking hand every morning until death parts you. And so when someone says they want their wedding day to be perfect and the best day of their lives, I think Oh I hope not. I hope that doesn’t come true for you.”
It's A Good Time To Be A Parent —
, The Savage Collective — “Parents could simply acknowledge that children are demanding, permanent commitments and give thanks for this counterbalance that they do not have to actively choose every day. How much harder it would be to do a cold plunge every morning! …I think it’s fair to ask if children have ever been more of a blessing than they are today. Have their difficulties and demands ever been a more needed respite from our cultural hedonism and narcissism?”- , — “…many mothers (especially of infants) measure life in nights rather than in days, because they measure life according to the demands of others.”
Easter Triduum — Carla Galdo, Humanum Review —
“At first, perhaps, you think you’ve been snatched up,
a twisted plaything in an eagle’s claw,
careening up to kiss an open flame,
and then the moment comes when you are held,
close-cradled like an infant, or embraced
on a familiar threshold by a friend.”
(h/t Mary at Dappled Things — previously shared from Carla: Strength To Stay)
Kingsnorth's Machine — Alan Jacobs, The Homebound Symphony — “I used to call this blog Snakes and Ladders, because it documented the ups and downs of culture. Now I call it The Homebound Symphony, after the Traveling Symphony in Emily St. John Mandel’s post-apocalyptic novel Station Eleven, because I think we’re living in the aftermath of a slow-motion cultural and moral apocalypse. I really do. I’m trying to keep some beautiful things alive for the people who are willing to encounter them and maybe even to love them. I believe we keep on re-diagnosing, and describing the same diagnosis in slightly different terms, because we don’t know what to do.”
(I have a draft of a too-long essay thinking through Neil Postman’s aforementioned book Technopoly - the chapter on medicine, specifically surrounding the beginning and end of life - in case we need literally any more think pieces. Wrote it last fall for a slow read-through that is no longer happening so we’ll see if any version of it sees the light of day.)
Treating Infertility: The New Frontier Of Reproductive Medicine — Ethics & Public Policy Center — The perfect collaborative endeavor to encompass a good chunk of what I’ve been trying to get at here (with some familiar, overlapping contributors). Our approaches to the complexities of the fertile body come with both acute and widespread physiological, social, and moral ramifications. What a gift that this collective effort was accomplished to explain as much. I’m reading through sequentially. This fifth week: Putting All Our Eggs In One Basket by Craig Turczynski, PhD, and Phil Boyle, MD — “Although the process is longer, it can be done at a fraction of the cost of [artificial reproductive technologies]. With additional awareness and research funding, tremendous progress could be made…”
to watch, listen to
Continuing On:
The Natural Womanhood Podcast with
— Season 3, Episode 9 — A Global Perspective On Women's Health with Obianuju EkeochaWoven Well Podcast with
— Episodes 57-58 — Why & How Gut Health Affects Fertility and Why Egg Quality Is Key
(more resources on female embodiment in the Big Ol' Compilation — now unlocked)
to glean from: tip, product, resource
Bach: St. John Passion shared by
somewhere, and this one’s new to me. (Trying to re-culture myself after too many years of garbage-adjacent music in my twenties.) I put this Bach on one night this week while we Parents drank some rum drinks at the kitchen table by candlelight, amidst our respective books and writing utensils. Most nights aren’t able to be like this, so it was a treat. A vibe, even.Thanks to Jan for the mention in this beautiful Notes From Home & Road and Ekstasis for one in April Curated.
I really appreciate the "On Not Carrying a Camera" essay. I often think about just how many unphotographed people have existed throughout human history and how their lives are imbued with no less meaning or dignity and are no less eternal than our over-exposed ones.
I loved that piece on marriage! My husband and I were very adamant that our wedding day was not “the most important day of our lives”- those days were the days of our baptisms, even if we don’t remember them; marriage is that baptismal grace unfolding in our particular circumstances.