Week 45 (2024)
Laurus, Fra Angelico & rehearsing death, why we have kids & embracing courtyards, women, icons & loving Mary
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to read: books
No completed books this week. Still chugging along listening to a novel even longer than Kristin Lavransdatter.
to read: essays, articles, newsletters
All The Saints, And The Ones They Leave Behind — Logan Hoffman, Plough — “The truth evoked by Vodolazkin in Laurus, however, is that eternity is not simply history extended out to the distant horizon. “Eternity” denotes a fundamentally different relationship to time than that which we experience in the present.”
The Disquiet Of Rehearsing For Death — Vikki C., New Verse Review — “Who among those beneath cool grass
would you choose to speak to about loss?
All these beings now interred, loved too.
Had fond names in their once beating hearts”
Fra Angelico’s Last Judgment And Hallowtide —
, Art For The Liturgical Year — “Although Fra Angelico includes many recognizable saints, he also includes many who are not, reminding us of all the saints who lived holy, hidden lives and are not officially canonized but recognized by Christ among the blessed. These unknown saints are among the ones who dance with angels in what is perhaps the most memorable part of the painting: the heavenly dance.”
Two reviews of the book What Are Children For?
- , First Things — “This is a daunting responsibility for a person raised in the void. But perhaps, having liberated themselves from empty autonomy, this generation will be willing to take the next step. Perhaps they will liberate their children from the terrible obligation of forming themselves.”
Don't Worry, Have Babies — Rita Koganzon, Hedgehog Review — “Once we eliminate religious motivation, obligation to one’s family or country, aggregate economic rationales, “gender essentialist” ideas about the nature of women and their unique necessity in the lives of children, and the biological-sentimental appeal of motherhood as possible justifications for having children, few arguments can be marshaled…”
(related: thoughts on the book Hannah’s Children, Dixie Dillon Lane’s written interview, Louise Perry’s podcast interview, Rachel Lu’s review, ’s review, and ’s review, shared previously)
Can Courtyard Blocks Make Cities More Family Friendly? — Alicia Pederson, Strong Towns — “The parent who needs to pick up groceries, a coffee, an antibiotic for a sick child or a six-pack can run down the stairs to the bodega, pharmacy and cafe on the ground floor. By collocating business and residential life, courtyard block neighborhoods are the most walkable and least car-dependent urban areas.”
The Answer To Making Cities More Family-Friendly? Courtyards — Alexandra Lange, Bloomberg — “Courtyard housing also offers a powerful salve for the housing affordability crisis. Most courtyard housing is also “missing middle housing” — defined as multifamily projects ranging from accessory dwelling units and duplexes to mid-rise apartment buildings — most of which could easily be arranged around common green space.”
- , Word On Fire — “A woman (like a man) is a creature made in the image and likeness of a loving Creator, designed to be God’s royal representative in creation. She does this by means of being a body-soul unity: her immortal soul has the capacities for rationality and moral freedom. She is both created good by God and affected by sin, therefore in need of Christ’s redeeming work. She shares all of this with her fellow human persons, both female and male.”
(discussion here — related: her first in the series, shared previously)
How And Why To Love The Mother Of God —
and , A One-Storey Life (podcast audio available) — “Whenever we read about the lives of other female saints, we see that they come from a myriad of radically different backgrounds… I get to be who I am, but I can find my way within that by looking at the Theotokos, and other female saints, as my examples. To me, that was wonderfully freeing…”(related: ’s Talking About Mary, shared previously)
Seeing And Unseeing The Icon — Jordan Parro, Fare Forward — “And as much as they obscure that reality—being only painted wooden blocks, mosaics or what have you, formed in stylistic dissimilitude to their referents—it is only within this obscuring, this hiding of reality, that it becomes present. Iconographic artistic motifs may intentionally distort human proportions, but they do so to emphasize spiritual matters—icons are less life-like than photographs, but perhaps more true.”
(related: Maternal Body (book), shared previously)
to watch, listen to
Continuing On:
Genealogies Of Modernity — Season 1, Episode 4 — Chris Nygren: Giorgio Vasari and Genealogies in Art History
The Natural Womanhood Podcast with
& Cassondra Moriarty — Episode 4 — The Surprising (and Sordid) History of Hormonal Birth ControlWoven Well Podcast with
— Episodes 8-9 — Pelvic Floor Part 1 and Part 2
(more resources on female embodiment in the Big Ol' Compilation)
to glean from: tip, product, resource
Someone asked about resources for Christians to teach girls about their bodies. From what I’ve gleaned from others and gathered in this list, here are a few. If anyone has found anything else helpful, let us all know below:
Period Genius — from Natural Womanhood — Not an explicitly religious organization, but I’ve gathered it has a significant Catholic presence. There is a high regard for physiologically accurate information, the dignity of the person, and age-appropriate knowledge.
Cycle Show — from Guiding Star Project — An educational workshop for girls aged 9-12. This organization has a network of holistically pro-life women’s health centers.
The Happy Girl's Guide To Being Whole — by Teresa Kenney — A book that covers a good amount for girls, and honestly any woman who needs a good starting place. Edited by Leah Jacobson, founder of the Guiding Star Project.
- — An educational curriculum from an Orthodox perspective.
Thank you for the resources for girls!
Also, this Catholic resource for teaching girls about their cycles! https://pearlandthistle.com/