Hi, I’m Haley! Book midwife (editor) and author. 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.
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I meant to send this out on Friday, then Saturday, then Sunday. But it’s one of the two craziest times of the year for parents (the other is May). And we Stewarts are barely maintaining our sanity. We celebrated St. Nicholas Day four days late. I’m resigned to the fact that we won’t send Christmas cards this year. It’s the season of ruthlessly whittling down the family schedule only to STILL be overscheduled. But we’re nearing the end of the marathon!
We are making time for hot chocolate. Whisked by our resident fox.
TWM is one thing I’m ruthlessly whittling down for the rest of 2023 (but will revive in the new year). I’ll still be sharing the final reflections and discussions for our read of Persuasion for everybody—the LAST of the six novels—we did it! And for paid subscribers there will be some other fun posts before we wrap up the year. On that note, if you have a topic you’d love to hear about in the new year, I’m all ears. I often get my best ideas from your questions in the ol’ mailbag (aka the comments or emails).
Links
I wrote a review for paid subscribers about an interesting read that prompted me to reflect on the writing life, motherhood, and Toni Morrison (as well as share an exciting new project of my own):
A Life of One’s Own: Nine Women Writers Begin Again
While I don’t agree at all that writing and parenting are “in opposition," I think here Biggs is on to something key. I wish she had spent more time wrestling with the idea that these parts of life that seem to be held in tension—our obligations to others, our obligation to our craft—might be part of a whole. There’s something a little wistful in the final pages of A Life of One’s Own as Biggs wonders if her own path can lead to fulfillment. I hope it does. And I hope that there will be more people wrestling with the idea that the call to the creative life also means being unencumbered by family life. Because I think that’s a fantasy that is long overdue for retirement.
My favorite thing I read this week was this piece about Sweeney Todd, one of my favorite Sondheim musicals. I remember when I was a little girl, my grandparents would take us to a fancy hotel/restaurant where the servers were all musical theatre students and they would put on a show every night. One night, someone sang “Johanna” from Sweeney Todd and I thought, “I must see the musical that has this song—the most beautiful song in the world.” Sweeney Todd wasn’t what I expected! But I loved it and I love how reveals how Sweeney himself misses the beauty of Johanna because of the warped lens through which he sees the world. Her writing is always so compelling and her insights about Sweeney Todd are not to be missed.
on recognition: or, what I learned from Sweeney Todd by Tara Isabella Burton
I used to think Sweeney Todd was my least favorite Sondheim musical. What I’d always loved about Sondheim, after all, was the tension between his cynicism about human nature combined with his gentle love of people: the sorry/grateful that makes so much of his work so bittersweet. Sweeney Todd, brutal and bleak, with lyrics like “there’s a hole in the world like a great black pit / and it’s filled with people who are filled with shit,” and telling the story (with a book by Hugh Wheeler) of a revenge-driven “demon barber” who murders his victims and bakes them into meat pies, always felt like a curiously nihilistic entry in Sondheim’s oeuvre. Then I saw it again.
This is a great interview with Makoto Fujimura by my friend Susannah Black Roberts:
Making Art to Mend Culture in Plough
The idea of “culture care” is to seek to love culture as an exile in the “Babylon” we are called to serve. Culture care is a nonviolent antidote to a culture-wars mindset where scarcity rules in fear. Culture care always seeks to plant seedlings (as Jeremiah 29 tells us to do), even in Ground Zero ashes, so that future generations will find the city, once at enmity with the gospel, now prospering because of the faithful making journey of her children.
And this is a fantastic piece about the spiritual undertones of Home Alone—a movie my kids want to watch every year without fail. Like LuElla D’Amico, I think there’s more than meets the eye to this classic film.
Kevin’s Suburban Panopticon: Home Alone and the Christmas Spirit by LuElla D’Amico for Notre Dame’s Church Life Journal
Kevin symbolically stays in a liminal spiritual place, outside of doors that would open for him if only dared enter them. With this said, it is not an accident that Kevin’s fear and loneliness lead him to a symbolic representation of the Incarnate God within the crèche. His soul is yearning for fulfillment, but he cannot appreciate or understand what he seeks. As soon as the criminals leave, he runs back toward his home, where he can remain King, not Christ, from whom he is now fleeing.
And this is just a lovely piece about mending jeans by making them more beautiful featuring my longtime Twitter friend Grace Russo and written by the wonderful
The Joy of Mending Jeans by Leah Libresco Sargeant for Plough
In our garments, in our gardens, and in our moral choices, we draw the seams of our life together. Daily practice with making and mending helps us recognize our frailties, our dependencies, and what work of restoration is required for us in our own particular role.
Listening
Really enjoying following along with
‘s podcast with her friend Elena as they journey through The Artist’s Way. Now, I have many critiques of The Artist’s Way (and Joy and Elena have some, too), but I’m finding some valuable material in it. I’ll probably do a big write up about it after I’ve completed the book.Reading
I have several books that I’ve started and hope to finish over Christmas break. One of them is
‘s Jesus Through Medieval Eyes. Great review of it here byCome to Belgium and Germany!
My husband and I are leading our second pilgrimage with Fr. Harrison Ayre, a trip that he’s been dreaming up for several years. Beautiful abbeys, amazing breweries, daily Mass and a small group of pilgrims.—we’ll close the trip at 30 pilgrims. Last year’s pilgrimage to Scotland with Fr. Harrison was an experience I’ll treasure forever (and half of our pilgrims from that trip are already signed up for Belgium, so I’m not the only one who found it life-changing!)
You can check out the registration page: Heavenly Hops Pilgrimage with Fr. Harrison Ayre to Belgium and Germany.
Wishing you all a wonderful week! And a huge thank you to Linda, Kim, Maurice, Avellana, Serena, RSE, Catherine, and Regina 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.
Thanks for reading!
Haley
(Editor of Word on Fire Spark, Author, Former Podcaster)
Looking for bookish Christmas gifts?
Haley’s Children’s Mystery Series about Mouse Nuns
Thanks for the shoutout, Haley! Hope you enjoy the book ♥️
I have absolutely loved reading Jane in a year!! Will you be doing something similar next year?