Week 31 (2024)
loneliness, block parties & adventures close to home, burdens, belonging & plodding, motherliness & the hospitality of words
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to read: books
Works Of Mercy — Sally Thomas — Please read it.
to read: essays, articles, newsletters
The Least Of My Brethren: Sally Thomas’ Works Of Mercy —
, The European Conservative — “Caring for others in their distress can be an emotionally fraught task. And yet we are called to it all the same. After all, refusing to encounter suffering doesn’t spare us from it.”To Be A Woman Is To Be Called To Motherhood —
, Plough — “Only, the motherliness must be that which does not remain within the narrow circle of blood relations or of personal friends; but in accordance with the model of the Mother of Mercy, it must have its root in universal divine love for all who are there, belabored and burdened.”What's Behind America's Loneliness Crisis? — Ian Marcus Corbin, Commonweal — “There are few tasks in the work-world we are making that can be turned toward any truly human purpose, and so fewer and fewer workers will have the experience of working alongside true comrades—people one might be willing to make sacrifices for. In this system, we are all mercenaries scrambling to grab some scrap of security for ourselves and those we love.”
(related and shared previously: You Are Not Your Own (book), Together (book), this from Plough, this from Strong Towns, this from , this from , this from , this from , this from , this from , this from , this from )
Home Is Where The Welcome Is — Gregory Thompson, Comment — “And then we would sit, the two of us, at a small round table surrounded by windows framed by dogwoods and chorused with birdsong. After a prayer, we handed the bowls to one another: creamed corn, garden tomatoes, Vidalia onions, salmon cakes. I remember her laughter as the juice of a cantaloupe ran down her chin, and her words, “This is so good to me.” It was good to me too, all of it. A rare moment when I felt seen, safe, and satisfied. A moment when the Wanderer found the shore.”
3 Reasons Your Neighborhood Should Start Throwing Block Parties — Emma Durand-Wood, Strong Towns — “North American society is beginning to understand the devastating toll that loneliness can have on human health and how vital social bonds are. Those bonds take time to build, but they can be nurtured. Brian found that people are yearning for connection and time spent face-to-face with the people in their neighborhoods.”
Adventures Close To Home — Phil Christman, Hedgehog Review — “I am realizing something obvious—that the quality of attention we bring to things is more important than the freshness of the things we bring attention to—and I had to go to so much trouble to do it.”
(related: this from )
- , Mere Orthodoxy — “Such daily showing up… is the key for healthy marriage and family life, for building friendships, and for growing spiritually… this kind of regular, slow-plodding kind of showing up also means setting the pressure bar lower for ourselves.”
Dear Richard + The Boy —
— “I’ve caught 3 Raccoons over 4 nights, and each one looks chagrined, as though they’ve been caught red handed having traded liberty for a fistful of baby marshmallows.”Reading (And Writing) As Hospitality — Rachel Donahue, The Rabbit Room — “When I pick up a book (or read a blog post!), I am sitting down at a table that my host has prepared. I am receiving what they have to give. I am extending the hospitality of a listening ear, the gift of my presence, and a willingness to commune over ideas.”
to watch, listen to
Theology: What Is It Good For? —
— A conversation with .
Continuing On:
to glean from: tip, product, resource
This Hospitality Poem Poster — from Phylicia Masonheimer — A fitting accompaniment to all the threads of loneliness, fracture, welcome, and belonging shared this week.
The Great American Bar Scene album — from Zach Bryan — So, one night this week my husband was watching a bit of this 3 hour Joe Rogan interview with a country artist who is apparently famous… but I have been out of the music scene, so what do I know. Anyways, while in the Navy this guy was sharing his music here and there online, and developed a significant following that way. This recent album is a pleasure. Better Days is especially good for a hit of nostalgic sound, as all John Mayer features are. (Recently my husband and I were able to bike to our small main street one evening, for outdoor drinks at a bar - one that really could have used more of this on the playlist, as opposed to old pop tunes that were not exactly reading the room’s vibe, you know?)
to look back on
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I have arrived.
I made it onto Life Considered.
Thanks for the links Hayley. I enjoyed reading “Hone is where the welcome is”. Amazing work and a really beautiful read.