Archive | August 2004

Sin Leads to More Sin; Movies Lead to Catharsis?

Aug13

Alfred Hitchcock: “”Seeing a murder on television can help work off one’s antagonisms. And if you haven’t any antagonisms, the commercials will give you some.”

Today is also the anniversary of the birth of Alfred Joseph Hitchcock (b.1899, d.1980). I have seven Hitchcock films on my 102 Best Movies list: The Man Who Knew Too Much, North By Northwest, Notorious, Rear WIndow, Rebecca, To Catch a Thief, and Vertigo.

(Semicolon’s 107 Best Movies)

So Hitchcock is my favorite director. He made scary movies that were not (usually) gory nor full of gratuitous violence. I don’t include Psycho or The Birds on my list because I watched them both ages ago and they scared the bejabbers out of me. I don’t know if that’s good or bad, but I do know that I plan never to see either one of them again. As for the others that did make the list, they are full of suspense, plot twists and engaging characters. I would have preferred that Hitchcock had cast someone besides Kim Novak in Vertigo, but as compensation, Cary Grant and Jimmy Stewart are about my favorite leading men.

Hitchcock, again, with the last word: “‘Once a man commits himself to murder, he will soon find himself stealing. The next step will be alcoholism, disrespect for the Sabbath and from there on it will lead to rude behaviour. As soon as you set the first steps on the path to destruction you will never know where you will end. Lots of people owe their downfall to a murder they once committed and weren’t too pleased with at the time ‘”

Charlotte Mary Yonge

Aug13

Victorian author Charlotte Yonge was born on this date in 1823 (d. 1901). She was extremely prolific, author of over 120 books in addition to children’s stories, Sunday School materials, and other writings. She taught Sunday School for over seventy years to children of the village where she lived out her life. Her books are, I gather from my reading, too Victorian and Christian and didactic to be very popular nowadays, but they were enormously popular in Victorian England. She loved history and wrote many volumes of history, especially history stories for young children. I read a bit of one of her books online at Project Gutenberg, a book called Young Folks’ History of England. I thought it was delightful–even though I couldn’t agree with her characterizations of all the kings she writes about. Here’s an excerpt to give you a sample:

About Henry V The young King Henry was full of high, good thoughts. He was devout in going to church, tried to make good Bishops, gave freely to the
poor, and was so kindly, and hearty, and merry in all his words and ways, that everyone loved him. Still, he thought it was his duty to go and make war in France. He had been taught to believe the kingdom belonged to him, and it was in so wretched a state that he thought he could do it good. The poor king, Charles VI., was mad, and had a wicked wife besides; and his sons, and uncles, and cousins were always fighting, till the streets of Paris were often red with blood, and the whole country was miserable. Henry hoped to set all in order for them, and gathering an army together, crossed to Normandy.

Here are some titles of books by Yonge; I truly enjoyed reading just the titles, so evocative of a bygone era.

Aunt Charlotte’s Stories of English History for the Little Ones
Aunt Charlotte’s Stories of German History for the Little Ones
(and Greek and French and Roman, etc.)
Burnt Out: A Story for Mother’s Meetings
Aunt Charlotte’s Evenings at Home with the Poets
How to Teach the New Testament
Stray Pearls
Given to Hospitality
Spring Buds: Counsels for the Young
The Penniless Princesses
The Crossroads, or a Choice in Life
The Patriots of Palestine, a Story of the Maccabees
Reasons Why I am a Catholic and not a Roman Catholic
Willie’s Trouble and How He Came Out of It

Don’t those titles take you back in time? The books themselves may be pure drivel, but I plan to add Yonge’s most famous novel, The Heir of Redclyffe to my legendary and growing Reading List. She may simply be too pious, in the best sense of the word, for our modern and post-modern sensibilities.

Frontier House

Aug11

Computer Guru Son and I have been watching the PBS version of reality TV, the series Frontier House. I checked out a DVD of the entire series at the library, and we’ve watched all but the final episode. In the series, three families from various parts of the U.S. are asked to live on a homestead in Montana using only the tools and survival skills available to a family in 1883. I’m impressed with the amount of work, ingenuity, and just grit that it took to live on the frontier–even in the summer/fall of the year. I can’t imagine surviving a Montana winter. I told my son that I don’t think I’d last any longer than two days, but then even in my rather sheltered life I’ve found that people often can do whatever they have to do. In other words, if there were no choice, if I were “stuck” on a homestead in Montana in 1883, I might find that I could do what had to be done. I thought the historical aspects of the program were very interesting, and the concept is intriguing. However, I did find it amazing that at least two of the three families were willing to air so much “dirty laundry” in public. These families know that they’re going to be on TV, yet they feud and gossip and talk about divorce and about their private lives. I doubt if families of the 1880’s would have been anywhere near so open with their private affairs. But in our day and age we “let it all hang out.” I’m also amazed at what some people write on their blogs for all the world to see. Propriety is a lost concept.

Affectionate Patriarchs

Aug9

This interview with sociologist W. Bradford Wilcox at the University of Virginia might be of interest to those of my readers who are exploring feminist perspectives on evangelical Christianity. According to this sociologist’s findings, evangelical men are more committed to their marriages and families and less likely to engage in domestic abuse than any other demographic group.
Interviewer Doug LeBlanc asks Wilcox about the future of families in the evangelical world. And Wilcox sees three challenges to the continued strength of family life among evangelicals: high divorce rates, falling birthrates and insularity. Key quote:

Since the 1960s, birthrates have been falling among Christians. Too many Christians now think marriage is primarily about the emotional union between the spouses. This is wrong. Marriage is supposed to be a fruitful spiritual, emotional, and physical union between spouses that enlarges the kingdom of God in large part through the bearing and rearing of children. Married Christians should recall the first commandment God gave to his people: “Be fruitful and multiply.” Christians ought to recognize that children are a gift from God and act accordingly.
Thanks to Jeremy Frank of Letters from Babylon for the link and Doug LeBlanc of getreligion for the interview.

Being Adults in a Post-September 11th World

Aug7

The unifying theme of their (Democrats’) otherwise contradictory messages is that we can return to the infantile delusions of September 10, and not the crisis-filled adult world of post-September 11 that now confronts George W. Bush.

I got this quote from Victor David Hanson via Worldmag blog. The quote is the final sentence of an article in the August 6th National Review entitled A Return to Childhood. I agree with everything Hanson says, and I have something to add to his argument. Not only are those who are listening to the Democrats and who plan to vote for John Kerry falling for a siren song of false security, but also those third -party utopians who plan to throw away their votes in a meaningless gesture instead of voting for an imperfect candidate who might have the will to win this war in which we are engaged, those third party voters are deluded. Peggy Noonan, in the column I wrote about yesterday, says,
Because I am a conservative I support the party that best represents conservative views, the Republican Party. Sometimes I get mad at it; often it disappoints me. It is imperfect, and not perfectible. But to a greater degree than in the past I feel an urge to help it. Since peace was wrenched off the tracks on 9/11, deep in my heart I have pulled for President Bush, Vice President Cheney, members of the current administration, and Republicans in the Senate and the House. With the decline of the Democratic Party I have become convinced there is a greater chance we will win the war if the Republican Party wins the election.
This is the way adults think. There are no perfect political parties, no ideal political candidates. I will never find a political candidate who will agree with me on everything, and in this post 9/11 world we do not have the luxury of voting for someone who sounds more Christian or more conservative than GWB and thereby throwing the election to the Democrats. John Kerry doesn’t even seem to know who our enemy is; he and his supporters believe that I am the enemy of America, Bush and his right-wing, extremist, fundamentalist voting base. I do not understand this kind of thinking, and I do not understand the thinking that says because GWB is wrong on immigration or wrong on the war in Iraq or not pushing hard enough to end abortion or whatever, I will vote for Candidate X who says all the right words and has absolutely no chance of winning this election.
I believe our continued existence as a nation is at stake in this election, and I further believe that if we elect John Kerry we will pay for our mistake with “blood, sweat, and tears.” As Peggy Noonan implies, there are no guarantees. We are already in a war with Islamic terrorists around the world; the question is not how can we get out of this war? Nor is it should we be fighting this war? The question is how can we win this war and defeat these terrorists and show the world the fallacies of their evil worldview? And who can lead us as a nation to do so?

Right Ho, Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse

Aug6

And now for something completely different . . . I finished reading this Wodehouse comedy. Here are some quotes to cheer you up, if you need cheering.
I have always found that in moments of heart-bowed-downness there is nothing that calms the bruised spirit like a good go at the soap and water. I don’t say I actually sang in the tub, but there were times when it was a mere spin of the coin whether I would do so or not.

It was the old, old story, I supposed. A man’s brain whizzes along for years exceeding the speed limit, and then something suddenly goes wrong with the steering-gear and it skids and comes a smeller in the ditch.

I was trying to think who you reminded me of. Somebody who went about strewing ruin and desolation and breaking up homes which, until he came along, had been happy and peaceful. Attila is the man. It’s amazing. . . . To look at you one would think you were just an ordinary sort of amiable idiot–certifiable, perhaps, but quite harmless. Yet, in reality, you are a worse scourge than the Black Death. I tell you, Bertie, when I contemplate you I seem to come up against all the underlying sorrow and horror of life with such a thud that I feel as if I had walked into a lamp post.

And since I can’t leave you there, in the company of death and gloom and Attila the Hun, here’s one more:
To say that Bertram was now definitely nonplussed would be but to state the simple truth. I could make nothing of this. I had left Brinkley Court a stricken home, with hearts bleeding wherever you looked, and I had returned to find it a sort of earthly paradise. It baffled me.

And there you are, nonplussed and baffled.

Alfred, Lord Tennyson

Aug6

On this date in 1809, Alfred was born, the fourth of twelve children, and his father educated him at home. Also of interest, Tennyson couldn’t see very well; without a monocle he could not even see to eat. Therefore, he composed much of his poetry in his head, memorizing and working on the poems over the course of many years sometimes. Tennyson was enormously popular in Victorian England; his Idylls of the King sold more than 10,000 copies in one month. I can’t imagine a book of poetry being that popular in this day and time. Tennyson was a Christian, and he asked that this famous poem be printed at the end of any collection of his poetry:

Crossing the Bar

Sunset and evening star,
And one clear call for me!
And may there be no moaning of the bar,
When I put out to sea,

But such a tide as moving seems asleep,
Too full for sound and foam,
When that which drew from out the boundless deep
Turns again home.

Twilight and evening bell,
And after that the dark!
And may there be no sadness of farewell,
When I embark;

For tho? from out our bourne of Time and Place
The flood may bear me far,
I hope to see my Pilot face to face
When I have crost the bar.
Tennyson died in 1892 at the age of 83.

Thank You, Peggy Noonan

Aug6

I just read Peggy Noonan’s most recent column in the Wall Street Journal. She’s taking a leave of absence, without pay, in order to work fulltime as a volunteer to help Republicans win the election this November. She doesn’t say specifically what she’ll be doing, I think at least partly because she doesn’t know exactly yet. Anyway, I’m impressed. I can’t quit my job or take a leave of absence, but I’m happy to see that someone as talented and articulate as Ms. Noonan can and will do so. Like Peggy Noonan, I believe that this election is very important and that it’s vital to the health of our nation that GW Bush win. I’ve already written something about my views on the election of GWB in this blog, and I will continue to do so off and on. And I’ll be praying for Peggy Noonan and all of us. The God who has allowed to live and vote in this country of unprecedented liberty and justice for all is allowing us another chance to choose our leaders and choose the direction of this nation for the next four years. May we make truly wise choices by the grace of that same God.

Children’s literature is for everyone

Aug5

Today is the day for birthdays of authors of “children’s literature.” However, I am in agreement with C.S. Lewis who once said the “it certainly is my opinion that a book worth reading only in childhood is not worth reading even then.” I also think there’s something to be said for adults who still have enough “childlikeness” to enjoy good children’s literature. So, these authors who have birthdays today are all three worth reading and enjoying–even for grownups.
Robert Bright wrote My Red Umbrella, the story of a little girl with an umbrella that expands to protect all her animal friends from the rain. Shouldn’t we all have just such an umbrella?
Maud Petersham (b. 1890, d.1971), along with her husband Miska, wrote and illustrated more than sixty books for children and illustrated more than one hundred books written by other authors. The Petersham book I like best is called The Box with Red Wheels.. I would love to own some of the Petershams’ other books, many of which are out of print. Maud was the daughter of a Baptist minister, and she and her Hungarian husband wrote and illustrated many retellings of Bible stories. Go here for more information about the Petershams.
Ruth Sawyer (b. 1880, d. 1970) was a storyteller, folklorist, and children’s author. I need to re-read Roller Skates, the book for which she won the Newbery Award. It’s the story of a girl who explores New York City, or maybe her section of NYC, on roller skates. I found out when I looked for information about Sawyer that she started the first storytelling program for children at the New York City Public Library. Also, Robert McCloskey, author of Make Way for Ducklings and Blueberries for Sal, was Ruth Sawyer’s son-in-law! And my favorite Ruth Sawyer book is Journey Cake, Ho! was illustrated by Robert McCloskey.
By the way, all the books mentioned in this post (except for Roller Skates which isn’t a picture book) are recommended in my self-published book, Picture Book Preschool. See these posts for more information on my book or my favorite picture books.