This Week's Miscellany (04/21/23)
What makes a writer a Catholic writer?, Hannah Coulter, Miss Scarlet and the Duke, the return of phonics
Hello to new subscribers and welcome all to another edition of This Week’s Miscellany. TWM is full of my favorite things from around the web, typically trending literary.
This week’s email is a short one because I’m headed out of town to speak in Indianapolis!
But here’s the news around here:
-We survived 5 days of my husband Daniel being out of town—barely.
-We were hit by yet another horrible bug (thank goodness my kids are not all toddlers anymore because I was out of commission!)
-I watched all three seasons of Miss Scarlet and the Duke from my sick bed.
(Highly recommend if you need something to drift off to a Nyquil-induced feverish sleep to.)
Links
How to Spot a Catholic Writer by Nick Ripatrazone for Image (hat tip
)By nature of its rituals, theology, ambiance, Marian devotion, Latin shadows, and immigrant ethos, Catholicism will always feel a bit foreign in America. In Catholic enclaves like Newark, the culture is the faith—so inseparable that they are downright transubstantial. Dana Gioia has noted that the Sicilian and Mexican sides of his families blended together in Los Angeles; the same is true on the other side of the country, and in pockets in between. There is a figure or shape to Catholicism, a form and a flesh…
‘Kids Can’t Read’: The Revolt That’s Taking on the Establishment by Sarah Mervosh
If you dived into the Sold a Story podcast I shared in last week’s TWM, then this piece will come as no surprise.
Research shows that most children need systematic, sound-it-out instruction — known as phonics — as well as other direct support, like building vocabulary and expanding students’ knowledge of the world.
I also wonder if we will discover that exchanging direct instruction for exercises on iPads and Chrome books will similarly diminish student learning. (Okay, fine, I don’t wonder, I’m positive it will do damage.)
Speaking of damage, our increasingly polarized culture is hurting all of us:
Now listen: I know there are ideological positions so opposed that partnership between those opposing positions is unworkable. I also understand the free choice of religious, political, and economic associations. Yet, things feel different these days. We’re retreating into corners, calling our corner good and the other evil. We’re banning books and sometimes going so far to suggest book burning (as one Montana state Representative recently did). We’re calling Michelangelo’s David pornagraphic, forcing principals to resign if they won’t remove the sculpture from curriculum (as recently happened in Florida). We’re drawing tedious lines to define tribes. And we’re doing all of it without attention to how much chaos it’s creating.
I am so eager to read Seth and Amber Haines new book. I think the world of both of them and I appreciate their deeply insightful Catholic voices and their commitment to find common ground with others.
And then with Wendell Berry, C.S. Lewis, and how we might think about rootedness in our mobile culture, this piece has a little of everything:
Hannah Coulter, the Green Lady, and Me by Emily G. Wenneborg for Plough
So, in these two fictional characters, Hannah Coulter and the Green Lady, we have two visions of Christian faithfulness: one praises rootedness as among the highest virtues; the other suggests that rootedness can draw us away from God, leading us to place our hope in material stability rather than in his providence. What are we to make of this?
Rootedness is something I struggle with. I see the value of it. And having recently moved back to our hometown to be close to family and raise our children where we were raised, we are prioritizing it. And yet, I struggle with wanderlust—not because I want what’s novel, but due to the desire for a place where I don’t have to worry about gun violence at the grocery store, the bank, concerts, and God forbid, my children’s classrooms. Every place has its problems, but maybe I would prefer to trade another place’s problems for this one’s? And I do long for more beauty—cities that are lovely and full of history, churches where the prayers of the faithful have been lifted up to the heavens like incense for centuries. But we’re here now and I’m grateful to be here. Maybe that contentment is all we need to cultivate to live well.
Another Request
Last week I shared the GoFundMe for Laura Fanucci, mom of five boys, battling breast cancer. It is almost 4/5 supported! And great news from Laura: the cancer has not spread to her lymph nodes. But sadly, this week I learned of another friend who was hit by devastating news. My friend Katie’s toddler, Sofie, was diagnosed with rare and aggressive brain cancer. Sofie is the much longed for and prayed for baby after her parents suffered multiple miscarriages. Please cover them in prayer and help support their GoFundMe if you can.
The Year of Jane
We’re finishing up Emma for our Year of Jane book club. Keep an eye out for the weekly reflection and discussion question email on Sunday early next week (my travels this weekend might mean the weekly reflection is late—again)!
And that’s all folks! Wishing you all a wonderful weekend. And a huge thank you to Danna, Anna, Maria, and Lisa for upgrading to a paid subscription. This is a reader-supported newsletter so if you enjoy getting these emails, please consider supporting this Substack by upgrading to a paid subscription with the button below.
And if you’re not in a position to pledge a monthly subscription but you enjoyed this post, you can always just throw some change in the tip jar.
Thanks for reading!
P.S. Lots of folks on Instagram liked my idea of doing classic children’s book reviews here. Hoping to add that in to TWM or as a separate feature!
Haley
(Editor of Word on Fire Spark, Author, Former Podcaster)
Haley’s Children’s Mystery Series about Mouse Nuns
Haley!!! We need to argue about Sold a Story next time we talk! I have so many thoughts. 🤣
"Rootedness is something I struggle with."
I hear you. I, too, see the value in it and yet I have never truly felt it. I was an Air Force kid, moving around a lot as a kid, never feeling that I had a true home. I recently spoke at my daughter's college faith group, and I mentioned this as its own kind of gift from my childhood — never having a "real" earthly home helped me to grasp the reality that this earth is NOT my home. And yet I understand the beauty and value of roots and community. It's a subject that fascinates me and that I want/hope to write more about.