Wandering the Web on Wednesdays

Last updated on: June 19, 2019 at 8:33 am by Anne Kennedy

Wandering the Web on Wednesdays 2019-06-19T08:33:13-04:00 Anne Kennedy

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

This is pretty great. If you were thinking about writing a highbrow literary review of some book or other, just do whatever it says, especially this,

In a profile about a corporate executive in the news, it is always a good idea to mingle a classical prototype with a contemporary idiom, e.g., “Like Augustus Caesar, he is at peace with his tradeoffs,” the “he” in this sentence being Mark Zuckerberg.

On the whole much much better than this, which is a rambling, slightly bombastic screed against the word “parenting” full of probably true facts and statistics overlaid with a lot of Marxist grievance mongering (I got the word grievance from the article above, seriously, it’s a pretty great word). Here’s what you can expect if you click the link:

A graph of usage of the word “parenting” over time looks like a steep slope moving up and to the right from the 1960s through the early part of the 2000s before plateauing. Lay that slope over a graph American income inequality over the same period and you’ll be looking at an almost perfect X. This inverse correlation indicates — though causality is obviously difficult to pin down…

No kidding. Really difficult. If you don’t feel like trying, just go look at these beautiful overlays.

Not that he’s wrong. I’m pretty sure parenting is a total scam, just like so much else in these modern times. I love the term “the parenting industrial complex” and everything he says about college loans is right on. His solution though—more government policies—I’m not particularly enthusiastic about. I’m about to dive into my quarterly homeschool reporting to some portion of that government and that always makes me feel more than vaguely libertarian by the end of it. Plus, you know, I’d love for the “family” to be evermore the pawn in political debates that it always is.

Anyway, the thing I wish women had more of was leisure. I’m pretty sure this was never a thing, even in the golden past, except for the occasional Lady who got to have a household of servants to support her “retiring to her room to write her letters” but I wish it could be. The problem with “modern conveniences” is that they just produce more work, not more leisure.

Maybe my categories are wrong, or maybe my definition of work is flawed. I do take it upon myself to do a lot of tasks that don’t technically need doing—like blogging every day—and classifying them as “work” so that I don’t feel lazy, when really, they surely must fall under the category of “leisure”.

Oh well, this is not important. I’m going to go make chili—a day late for taco Tuesday—and…who knows what else. I will quit rambling and leave you with something delectable. Try this, it’s frankly nicer than both of those other reads:

Half of earth’s gorgeousness lies hidden in the glimpsed city it longs to become. For all its rooted loveliness, the world has no continuing city here; it is an outlandish place, a foreign home, a session in via to a better version of itself—and it is our glory to see it so and thirst until Jerusalem comes home at last. We were given appetites, not to consume the world and forget it, but to taste its goodness and hunger to make it great. That is the inconsolable heartburn, the lifelong disquieted of having been made in the image of God. All man’s love is vast and inconvenient. It is temping, of course, to blunt its edge by caution. It is so much easier not to get involved—to thirst for nothing and no one, to deny that matter matters and, if you have the stomach for it, to make your bed with meanings which cannot break your heart. But that, it seems to me, is neither human nor Divine. If we are to put up with all other bothers out of love, then no doubt we must put up with the bother of love itself and not just cut and run for cover when it comes. — The Supper of the Lamb, Robert Ferrar Capon

Work and the Christian

Culture Watch

links

Previous Post

June 18, 2019

Embrace Forsooth!

Next Post

June 20, 2019 At Least There Will Always Be Housework

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category books Catechesis of the Good Shepherd Children in Conversation culture watch Daily Devotions Demotivations with Anne faith alone for the grandparents GAFCON In conversation with children In the News Kitchen Notes Lambeth Learning Notes Life Going On Men are Human Notes from Home Pictures Reading the Bible Saturday Links Sermons Signs of the Apocalypse The Bad Word Association The Prayer of Jonah Travel Notes Uncategorized Witless Wednesdays Work and the Christian

Select a Month June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 July 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What does "Messiah" mean in both Hebrew and Greek?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Chosen Sacrifice Anointed one Beloved

Books by This Author Books by Anne Kennedy

See All Titles »