Week 50 (2024)

gardens & philosopher-carpenters, kneeling & the art of dying, cremation & graveyards, the conception machine & fertility awareness for all

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to read: books

• The Lost Art Of Dying — L. S. Dugdale — Recommend, and the audio version was great. This previously shared essay put her on my radar. (Also recommend The End Of The Christian Life. How Should We Then Die? looks helpful and my copy of Handbook On Critical Life Issues will be read, promise

  Sara Dietz
  )

• Advent: The Season Of Hope — Tish Harrison Warren — Helpful. “Less than an academic tome and more than a devotional.”

to read: essays, articles, newsletters

• Belonging To The Garden —

  Matt Miller
  , Front Porch Republic — “How can I belong to a place that I quietly ache to flee? I no longer see much prospect that my family will relocate back to my native territory, and so I’m left to grapple with the need to either live as a displaced person or to embrace this place that I struggle to love.”

  (his book Leaves of Healing arrived the other week, and flipping through I can tell it will be a cold, refreshing drink of water for the souls who read it)

• Ride To Glory — Sarah Tate, Ekstasis —

  “Suddenly, a roiling infinity of space
  in front of you, and you can finally
  let the doubt out of your mouth like smoke.”

• Schools For Philosopher-Carpenters — Alex Sosler, Plough — “A divide between head and hands, intellect and practical skills, can be traced to the very beginnings of Western philosophy. Plato imagined a society governed by a philosopher king. Reason was the highest of human goods, and lower-class citizens consumed with practical tasks weren’t expected to have the time or intelligence to contemplate higher things.”

  (related: Addressing The College Credibility Crisis, The Case For Vocational Training, Christian Formation For The ‘Toolbelt Generation’, Apprenticeship To The Carpenter King, Classical Education's Remedy For America's Loneliness Epidemic, Men Only Want One Thing, Let's Build Analog Single-Sex Boarding Schools, shared previously — and of course

  Nate Marshall
  ’s archives)

Early Winter Morning in the Woods - Clarence Gagnon

• On Kneeling — Heidie Senseman, Dappled Things — “But still I kneel, sometimes with clasped hands, sometimes holding fast to the chair in front of me, because I suspect kneeling is a type of prayer that transcends words. When I cannot find the syllables to explain my confusion or awe or need, I can lower my body onto the carpet and let my drooping shoulders speak for me. When I fear my pride will drive me straight to the heavenly throne with a riotous list of complaints, I can stoop down as a corrective. Sure, I feel awkward in this position, but maybe that’s part of the discipline. Maybe the skin on my knees, white like strained knuckles, pressed hard into the carpet, is meant to feel numb, meant to make me feel my need… Of course we’d find Him down here.”

• Hospice Care And The Denial Of Death — Ethan Schimmoeller, Church Life Journal — “…the many professionals involved are tempted by their expertise to replace the primacy of spouses, children, and priests from the deathbed under an assumption of discursively mastering death. Confessing one’s sins, for example, can become a secondary concern to bio-psycho-social assessment and intervention, enclosing death and dying within scientific and secular boundaries.”

• Why We Need Graveyards — Paul Lauritzen, Commonweal — “I have thought of that afternoon often in recent months as my daughter has been pregnant with a baby girl who will never meet her grandmother. Had we buried Lisa in Lake View Cemetery, I could one day take my granddaughter to visit Lisa’s grave and tell her stories about her Nonna. We could bring flowers to her gravesite and tend the plot. Such scenarios never occurred to me when Lisa and I talked about cremation.”

  (related:

  Matthew Lee Anderson
  ’s book Earthen Vessels: Why Our Bodies Matter To Our Faith, shared previously — here’s a teaser of his thoughts on cremation. these disagreements over the meaning and treatment of the physical body amongst Christians are eerily reminiscent of contraception, artificial reproduction, et al.)

Twilight - Clarence Gagnon

for the compilation:

• Illusions Of Control And The Ableism Of Big Fertility — Patience Sunne, Public Discourse — “Even before parenthood begins, it involves surrendering to the possibility that it may not happen in our preferred timeframe or in the manner we expect and hope. It may not happen at all. No one is guaranteed risk-free parenting; no one is insulated from suffering.”

• The ‘Wild, Wild West' Of The American Egg Donor Industry — Rina Raphael, The Free Press — “Many countries, including the UK and Australia, have banned donor anonymity. The U.S. leaves this up to each state to decide. Colorado is the only state with legislation mandating a donor-conceived individual’s right to know their genetic origins.”

• Resist The Conception Machine — Michael Hanby, First Things — “The social and political effects of reproductive technologies have been no less vast than the scientific effects.”

• The Reproductive Justice All Women Need —

  Amber Adrian
  , Fairer Disputations — “A basic understanding of our reproductive systems—known as fertility awareness—should be common knowledge among both men and women. It is not. Ignorance is not empowering.”

Beach Scene, Baie-Saint-Paul - Clarence Gagnon

to watch, listen to

Continuing On:

• The Natural Womanhood Podcast with

  Grace Emily Stark
  & Cassondra Moriarty — Season 2, Episode 1 — Navigating Postpartum — Needed reminders.

• Woven Well Podcast with

  Caitlin Estes
  — Episodes 19-21 — PCOS 101, Nutrition For PCOS With Tracy Mann, RD and Client Story: Anna (Infertility)

(more resources on female embodiment in the Big Ol' Compilation)

Tinzen (Oberhalbstein), Switzerland - Clarence Gagnon

to glean from: tip, product, resource

• These Food Skills from

  Meredith Hinds
  — Honestly these are the ones I’ve been meaning to master for a while, in order to lower our food bill and increase nutrition. This could very well be our family’s bare-bones New Year goal in the food department. (Apparently I just needed someone funny to break it down for me and inspire in a way the influencers simply cannot.)

• These Book Lists from

  Christine Norvell
  — Nice category title in that first one: “Books You’ll Never Be Graded On Except By Reality.”

• This Song from Poor Bishop Hooper — Maybe it’s partly 20 week hormones, but this hits something tender. On repeat. (Drop your favorite Visitation of Mary artwork.)

Girl with Goat - Clarence Gagnon

to look back on

Week 50 (2023)

Week 50 (2022)

Week 50 (2021)

Week 50 (2019)