Missed this story when it came out in December of last year - Home Sweet Home: The New American Localism by Linton Weeks
Related:
Friday, July 27, 2012
Fight, As a Last Resort
DHS-funded video gives tips to survive a shooter (h/t commentor at VP)
The video was released by the city of Houston but produced with funds from Homeland Security.
The video was released by the city of Houston but produced with funds from Homeland Security.
The New Great Britain
From the FB page for the British Army:
Service personnel to raise flags at Olympics opening ceremony: Tonight, specially selected service personnel from the Army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force will raise the Union and Olympic flags at the spectacular London 2012 Olympic Games Opening Ceremony. A select team of 16 tri-Service personnel will raise the flags before a global audience of billions. Platoon Sergeant Kyle Reains said: "I am proud to participate in the headline Olympic event, showcasing the British forces on behalf of all UK personnel deployed on operations around the world." Read the full story at http://www.army.mod.uk/news/24326.aspx
The women present in the photo are worse than pipsqueaks.
Service personnel to raise flags at Olympics opening ceremony: Tonight, specially selected service personnel from the Army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force will raise the Union and Olympic flags at the spectacular London 2012 Olympic Games Opening Ceremony. A select team of 16 tri-Service personnel will raise the flags before a global audience of billions. Platoon Sergeant Kyle Reains said: "I am proud to participate in the headline Olympic event, showcasing the British forces on behalf of all UK personnel deployed on operations around the world." Read the full story at http://www.army.mod.uk/news/24326.aspx
The women present in the photo are worse than pipsqueaks.
2012 Olympics
There is very poor reception of the local NBC affiliate's signal here, so I may watch the opening ceremonies online. Danny Boyle is in charge of the program. That should be a spectacle.
I don't care for what the Olympics now represent, but I may watch a few of the events, if I take the trouble to remember to check the schedule. Gymnastics, even though the females can hardly be called women? There is nothing wrong with admiring physical ability and talent - if we remember Chariots of Fire and glorify God, both as athletes and spectators. (Or even the example of the ancient Greeks, for whom the games had a religious significance.) We don't have to watch the games with the meaning given to them by the IOC with its endorsement of PC values and secular [atheistic] humanism, or the accompanying nationalism that seems to dominate spectators and fans, or the crass commercialism of the corporate sponsors. (I hope there will be no doping scandals this year - alas the ideal of the amateur, where has that gone?)
(What a white movie!)
2012 Olympic Gymnastics Team: Greatest Threats to Jordyn Wieber's Crown
I don't care for what the Olympics now represent, but I may watch a few of the events, if I take the trouble to remember to check the schedule. Gymnastics, even though the females can hardly be called women? There is nothing wrong with admiring physical ability and talent - if we remember Chariots of Fire and glorify God, both as athletes and spectators. (Or even the example of the ancient Greeks, for whom the games had a religious significance.) We don't have to watch the games with the meaning given to them by the IOC with its endorsement of PC values and secular [atheistic] humanism, or the accompanying nationalism that seems to dominate spectators and fans, or the crass commercialism of the corporate sponsors. (I hope there will be no doping scandals this year - alas the ideal of the amateur, where has that gone?)
(What a white movie!)
2012 Olympic Gymnastics Team: Greatest Threats to Jordyn Wieber's Crown
Deo Gratias!
Bishop Cordileone will be the new archbishop of San Francisco! Who will take over in Oakland? Let us pray that he will be able to reform the archdiocese. (And excommunicate some politicians... and bring some discipline to the Jesuits.)
Rorate Caeli: Lionheart: After several decades, a worthy bishop for the city of Saint Francis
The Most Reverend Salvatore J. Cordileone Appointed Ninth Archbishop of San Francisco
Statement of Archbishop-Elect Salvatore Cordileone
San Francisco archbishop retires; Bishop Cordileone to succeed him
CWR/VIS
Patheos
SF Gate
Catholic SF
NC Register
Part 2
Rorate Caeli: Lionheart: After several decades, a worthy bishop for the city of Saint Francis
The Most Reverend Salvatore J. Cordileone Appointed Ninth Archbishop of San Francisco
Statement of Archbishop-Elect Salvatore Cordileone
San Francisco archbishop retires; Bishop Cordileone to succeed him
CWR/VIS
Patheos
SF Gate
Catholic SF
NC Register
Part 2
Diane Sanfilippo, Author of Practical Paleo
Practical Paleo with Diane Sanfilippo by DrLoRadio
Practical Paleo with Diane Sanfilippo by Underground Wellness
Primal Diet Modern Health
Practical Paleo with Diane Sanfilippo by Underground Wellness
Primal Diet Modern Health
James Howard Kunstler Interview
Haven't tired of him yet!
Urban Times: Interview with James Howard Kunstler – Author and Urbanist Critic
An interview from last year at Terrain.org.
Urban Times: Interview with James Howard Kunstler – Author and Urbanist Critic
An interview from last year at Terrain.org.
Thursday, July 26, 2012
Treasure Island
I didn't know there was an adaptation of Treasure Island featuring Charlton Heston and Christian Bale. It was produced for TNT.
I was looking for a trailer for the 2012 Disney adaptation (DTV?) with Elijah Wood.
I was looking for a trailer for the 2012 Disney adaptation (DTV?) with Elijah Wood.
Thomas Fleming on Anglo-American Heritage
This is Not Your Grandfather’s Country
Obama doesn't understand Anglo-Saxon culture? He may understand Chicago political culture, but that isn't the same thing. He did goew up in the multicultural paradise of Hawaii but attended a school for the elites. He probably has some familiarity with some form of Yankee culture (especially in its "liberal" form); but that isn't the same as traditional American culture, now, is it? At least not the best part of it.
Who are the primary bearers of culture? Fathers or mothers? When it comes to passing on rules for men, fathers are crucial. There are many "unkind" words that could be used of Obama's mother and her choice in life, including her choice of spouses. What evidence did she give that she is anything but a deracinated white? What evidence has Obama given that he cares about his European heritage?
Yesterday I was looking through some Russell Kirk titles, including America's British Culture and Roots of American Order. Has Obama ever read these books? "Anglo-Saxon" does have a strict meaning, referring to certain Germanic tribes who mingled with the natives, initiating the "English" identity. "British" is more of a multiethnic (and multicultural) identity as it is comprised of 4 countries and their peoples, rejected by some (such as Joseph Pearce). I think the staffer's comments about "Anglo-Saxon," if they were actually made, should be understood as meaning "English."
Something by Daniel Hannan: Mitt Romney's staffer is right: whatever their family origins, Britons and Americans are joint heirs to Anglo-Saxon liberties
"One thing that Britain and the US have in common is that they define nationhood in civic rather than ethnic terms. A hundred years ago, 80 per cent of British subjects were neither white nor Christian. You become British, as you become American, by signing up to a set of values."
Hannan seems to be a believer in the proposition nation. How unfortunate.
Related:
Do We Have an Anglo-Saxon Heritage? by Samuel Goldman
Obama is not Anglo-Saxon
NYT: Churchill's Special Relationship "poisonous," "hateful"
Norman v. Saxon after 946 years
The Prestige of Ignorance
Obama doesn't understand Anglo-Saxon culture? He may understand Chicago political culture, but that isn't the same thing. He did goew up in the multicultural paradise of Hawaii but attended a school for the elites. He probably has some familiarity with some form of Yankee culture (especially in its "liberal" form); but that isn't the same as traditional American culture, now, is it? At least not the best part of it.
Who are the primary bearers of culture? Fathers or mothers? When it comes to passing on rules for men, fathers are crucial. There are many "unkind" words that could be used of Obama's mother and her choice in life, including her choice of spouses. What evidence did she give that she is anything but a deracinated white? What evidence has Obama given that he cares about his European heritage?
Yesterday I was looking through some Russell Kirk titles, including America's British Culture and Roots of American Order. Has Obama ever read these books? "Anglo-Saxon" does have a strict meaning, referring to certain Germanic tribes who mingled with the natives, initiating the "English" identity. "British" is more of a multiethnic (and multicultural) identity as it is comprised of 4 countries and their peoples, rejected by some (such as Joseph Pearce). I think the staffer's comments about "Anglo-Saxon," if they were actually made, should be understood as meaning "English."
Something by Daniel Hannan: Mitt Romney's staffer is right: whatever their family origins, Britons and Americans are joint heirs to Anglo-Saxon liberties
"One thing that Britain and the US have in common is that they define nationhood in civic rather than ethnic terms. A hundred years ago, 80 per cent of British subjects were neither white nor Christian. You become British, as you become American, by signing up to a set of values."
Hannan seems to be a believer in the proposition nation. How unfortunate.
Related:
Do We Have an Anglo-Saxon Heritage? by Samuel Goldman
Obama is not Anglo-Saxon
NYT: Churchill's Special Relationship "poisonous," "hateful"
Norman v. Saxon after 946 years
The Prestige of Ignorance
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
Mission Baroque
BBC3, The Early Music Show: York Early Music Festival 2012: Florilegium, Arkaendar Bolivia Choir, Ashley Solomon (3 days left to listen) - music from Bolivia
Plus: York Early Music Festival: Ensemble Villancico (2 days left to listen) - music from Equador
Plus: York Early Music Festival: Ensemble Villancico (2 days left to listen) - music from Equador
Tom Sunic Interviews Andrew Fraser
The Sunic Journal: Interview with Andrew Fraser, Part 1 - mp3
From the program description:
Here is a discussion with Kevin MacDonald [VDare] of the American Third Position Party - mp3.
From the program description:
Tom Sunic interviews Professor Andrew W. Fraser. Topics include:Part 2 - mp3
- Fraser’s thesis that WASPs surrendered identity based on ties of blood and faith in favor of civic-nationalist pseudo-religion;
- How loss of ethnic identity has made WASPs victims of the successful states and corporations that they created;
- The internationalism of the papacy, and the excesses of American Puritans and revolutionaries;
- How the Anglo-Saxon “spiritual disease” has been imposed on Europe and the rest of the world;
- The orthodox Anglican Church’s potential to bring about spiritual revival for Anglo-Saxon “tribes” around the world.
Here is a discussion with Kevin MacDonald [VDare] of the American Third Position Party - mp3.
It's been a while since I've dropped by his blog, but Mr. JC is still blogging, though the blog has a new name: New Sherwood.
Classical Education in the Bay Area
Is Live Oak Academy the only school in the area that offers some version of classical education? Are there enough parents (Catholic or otherwise) in the South Bay to financially support a Catholic school offering a classical education? How does one go about organizing for the foundation for such a school? One would think that such an effort would be founded on the contributions of traditional(ist) Catholics, many of whom are already homeschooling. There was a school associated with St. Stephen the Martyr up in Sacramento, but it had to close. Did the parents there start homeschooling or did they send their children to other schools in the area? Trinity Prep would be a bit far...
Nothing has materialized around St. Margaret Mary in Oakland, as far as I know. The Catholics there homeschool or... ? The same is true of OLP.
Given the bad economic times maintaining an independent Catholic classical school may just be too much here. And if it were to attempt to have some sort of edible schoolyard program? One would have to first persuade the parents that that sort of focus on practical living skills is necessary for the times ahead.
Circe Institute
Veritas Press
Memoria Press
Classical Academic Press
An interview with E. Christian Kopff from May by Western Word Radio - mp3.
From 2010:
The Sunic Journal: Interview with Dr. E. Christian Kopff, #1 of 2 (mp3)
Part 2: mp3
Julius Evola & Radical Traditionalism
While going through ISI's YT channel, Educating for Liberty, I found the lecture series, Conservative Intellectual Tradition in America . What sort of "conservatism" is being defined if the series includes Newt Gingrich as one of its speakers?
Then there is the John Jay Institute:
Conservatism as a form of liberalism.
Misc.
PSM 01: AAM, Mahan Esfahani
2012 Season, Proms Saturday Matinees
"Harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani joins the Academy of Ancient Music to perform Bach's Art of Fugue in a new instrumental arrangement by Esfahani himself. In doing so he revives the informal spirit of Bach's Leipzig coffee house concerts, in which the composer would direct his own band of musicians."
(Access to the audio will be available for 3 more days.)
Nothing has materialized around St. Margaret Mary in Oakland, as far as I know. The Catholics there homeschool or... ? The same is true of OLP.
Given the bad economic times maintaining an independent Catholic classical school may just be too much here. And if it were to attempt to have some sort of edible schoolyard program? One would have to first persuade the parents that that sort of focus on practical living skills is necessary for the times ahead.
Circe Institute
Veritas Press
Memoria Press
Classical Academic Press
An interview with E. Christian Kopff from May by Western Word Radio - mp3.
From 2010:
The Sunic Journal: Interview with Dr. E. Christian Kopff, #1 of 2 (mp3)
Part 2: mp3
Julius Evola & Radical Traditionalism
While going through ISI's YT channel, Educating for Liberty, I found the lecture series, Conservative Intellectual Tradition in America . What sort of "conservatism" is being defined if the series includes Newt Gingrich as one of its speakers?
Then there is the John Jay Institute:
Conservatism as a form of liberalism.
Misc.
PSM 01: AAM, Mahan Esfahani
2012 Season, Proms Saturday Matinees
"Harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani joins the Academy of Ancient Music to perform Bach's Art of Fugue in a new instrumental arrangement by Esfahani himself. In doing so he revives the informal spirit of Bach's Leipzig coffee house concerts, in which the composer would direct his own band of musicians."
(Access to the audio will be available for 3 more days.)
Thaddeus Kozinski Continues His Critique of Liberalism
Thaddeus Kozinski, The Tradition of Nothing Worship II (Part 1)
Initially, the liberal claim was to provide a political, legal, and economic framework in which assent to one and the same set of rationally justifiable principles would enable those who espouse widely different and incompatible conceptions of the good life for human beings to live together peaceably within the same society. Every individual is to be equally free to propose and to live by whatever theory or tradition he or she may adhere to… I have been wondering about this; using the language of the New Natural Law Theory (without accepting NNLT) can the good of social life be possible without taken into consideration higher "goods"? What if social life is founded upon a unity with respect to being oriented to the same higher goods? In which case, is social life not irremediably opposed to pluralism? Pluralism can only "exist" where there is no real community, especially because the place exceeds the proper scale. It seems that liberal ideology would not have been influential if not for the rise of the modern nation-state, racked by internal divisions (and external threats?).
Dr. Kozinski writes:
Granted, Anglo-American conservatism (or the Anglo-American political tradition) may be problematic with respect to some of the sources which are claimed for it. The supposed republicanism of people like Oliver Cromwell and those who opposed the Stuarts? The Glorious Revolution? The tension between republicanism and liberalism in the thought of the American founding fathers? Consequently, some are critical of the effort to recover and pass on Anglo-American republicanism; they favor looking to medieval European models for inspiration.
It may be that there is a mixture of republican and liberal elements in the thought of many of the premier American statesmen who were involved in giving form to the American states and the federal union. Might it be possible to separate a republican tradition be separated from the problematic elements, especially by returning to sources in classical antiquity and the medieval period? Can we not look to them as heroes even while admitting that they were wrong on certain points?
If the decay of the states and the loss of history and cultural memory continues, this may not really matter, but it seems impossible that we can "start from scratch," unless there is a great disaster which wipes out all bearers of tradition and artifacts of intellectual culture.
Related:
Rothbard's Rejection of the Old Order of Catholic Europe
Noam Chomsky, Destroying the Commons: How the Magna Carta Became a Minor Carta
Initially, the liberal claim was to provide a political, legal, and economic framework in which assent to one and the same set of rationally justifiable principles would enable those who espouse widely different and incompatible conceptions of the good life for human beings to live together peaceably within the same society. Every individual is to be equally free to propose and to live by whatever theory or tradition he or she may adhere to… I have been wondering about this; using the language of the New Natural Law Theory (without accepting NNLT) can the good of social life be possible without taken into consideration higher "goods"? What if social life is founded upon a unity with respect to being oriented to the same higher goods? In which case, is social life not irremediably opposed to pluralism? Pluralism can only "exist" where there is no real community, especially because the place exceeds the proper scale. It seems that liberal ideology would not have been influential if not for the rise of the modern nation-state, racked by internal divisions (and external threats?).
Dr. Kozinski writes:
To me, America’s worship of freedom at the empty shrine bears a striking resemblance to the Church’s worship of the Holy Trinity in the Eucharist. First of all, like the Catholic Church, the empty shrine defines itself as both universal and particular: as a universal idea, that of equal freedom for all, and as a particular country with a particular history, the United State of America. Like the Holy Trinity, absolute freedom is transcendent, unlimited, and infinite. Discourse about freedom, like talk about the Trinity, is necessarily abstract, since to speak in a concrete manner about that which transcends any particular object would be to profane it by limiting it, a kind of idolatry. Since America is not only an abstract idea but also a real place, its worship is both immanent and transcendent, like the Holy Eucharist. The immanent body, blood, and soul of the Eucharist are a thirty-three year old Jewish carpenter from Nazareth, but these are inseparable from His higher identity as the transcendent and eternal Second Person of the Blessed Trinity. The immanent land, citizens, and government of freedom-worship are a 230-year-old regime located in North America, but these are inseparable from its higher identity as the very locus of transcendent and eternal freedom.Dr. Kozinski apparently accepts the Nationalist narrative; the First Amendment is for the protection of the states, it is not an absolute curtailment of religion's influence in the public life. It merely prohibits the Federal Government from appointing a state church that would be imposed on all of the states. It thus respects the states and their identity. Has there been a deliberate substitution of civic religion for true religion by certain politicians and ideologues? Yes, but it is questionable whether this was the intention of those who ratified the Constitution. (For now, I will not deal with the question of the attitudes of those who drafted the Constitution, like Madison and Jefferson, to official religion and religious liberty.) The dominance of liberal ideolgy may be an unintended consequence, not of the Constitution (or the federal union), which respected the rights of the states to determine the question of a state church for themselves, but of the instability of the states and the lack of true communities with stable identities. (The influx of new arrivals and immigrants, the lack of proper education, or rather, the assimilation of the Yankee mythos after the "Union" defeated the Confederacy.) This sort of ethnic pluralism allows liberalism to seem like a reasaonble way of handling differences in culture.
Granted, Anglo-American conservatism (or the Anglo-American political tradition) may be problematic with respect to some of the sources which are claimed for it. The supposed republicanism of people like Oliver Cromwell and those who opposed the Stuarts? The Glorious Revolution? The tension between republicanism and liberalism in the thought of the American founding fathers? Consequently, some are critical of the effort to recover and pass on Anglo-American republicanism; they favor looking to medieval European models for inspiration.
It may be that there is a mixture of republican and liberal elements in the thought of many of the premier American statesmen who were involved in giving form to the American states and the federal union. Might it be possible to separate a republican tradition be separated from the problematic elements, especially by returning to sources in classical antiquity and the medieval period? Can we not look to them as heroes even while admitting that they were wrong on certain points?
If the decay of the states and the loss of history and cultural memory continues, this may not really matter, but it seems impossible that we can "start from scratch," unless there is a great disaster which wipes out all bearers of tradition and artifacts of intellectual culture.
Related:
Rothbard's Rejection of the Old Order of Catholic Europe
Noam Chomsky, Destroying the Commons: How the Magna Carta Became a Minor Carta
Boomer Romance
Even though their children and grandchildren may come to have a grudge against them, don't Boomers deserve happiness? Tommy Lee Jones and Meryl Streep in Hope Springs. How guilty are they, as a whole, of being selfish and short-sighted?
Apparently Meryl Streep's character wants some more romance (and sex) in her life; Tommy Lee Jones seems to be the reluctant husband. A realistic portrayal of the wishes of Boomer women? At least her character isn't seeking a divorce, unlike her real-life counterparts? A health married life may be necessary for emotional satisfaction but how is its depiction as a goal different from distorted notions of romance, especially with its excessive focus on pleasing the woman and her "needs," rather than situating married life within a "broader context" (God and community)? Does the movie respect actual sex differences, or does it lay blame solely at the foot of the husband for marital misunderstandings and problems in the "relationship"?
Apple
FB
Hope springs eternal for Baby Boomer intimacy
FILM TRAILER: Meryl Streep In 'Hope Springs'
How much of the Strauss-Howe Generational Theory is based primarily on what is represented in mass culture (which derives its strength from the loss of community and social dynamics that exist only in the United States because of rootlessness and excessive mobility)? I am hesitant to accept their "observations" of 20th century American mass culture and, even more, their attempt to impose this model on preceding centuries of American (and before that, English) history. Is their model too focused on the urban population centers in the United States?
(Art of Manliness summary)
Apparently Meryl Streep's character wants some more romance (and sex) in her life; Tommy Lee Jones seems to be the reluctant husband. A realistic portrayal of the wishes of Boomer women? At least her character isn't seeking a divorce, unlike her real-life counterparts? A health married life may be necessary for emotional satisfaction but how is its depiction as a goal different from distorted notions of romance, especially with its excessive focus on pleasing the woman and her "needs," rather than situating married life within a "broader context" (God and community)? Does the movie respect actual sex differences, or does it lay blame solely at the foot of the husband for marital misunderstandings and problems in the "relationship"?
Apple
FB
Hope springs eternal for Baby Boomer intimacy
FILM TRAILER: Meryl Streep In 'Hope Springs'
How much of the Strauss-Howe Generational Theory is based primarily on what is represented in mass culture (which derives its strength from the loss of community and social dynamics that exist only in the United States because of rootlessness and excessive mobility)? I am hesitant to accept their "observations" of 20th century American mass culture and, even more, their attempt to impose this model on preceding centuries of American (and before that, English) history. Is their model too focused on the urban population centers in the United States?
(Art of Manliness summary)
Just Saw This Commercial on Hulu
Trojan Charged Pharmacy "After Her" TV Commercial
Uhmerica, where almost anything can be advertised now. The company must be doing ok despite the recession. Who's the big supplier for the Olympics? The oh, oh, Ohhh-lympics! As record 150,000 condoms are handed out to a host of super-attractive athletes, could London 2012 be the raunchiest games ever?
More:
Trojan Charged Lab Twins TV
Trojan Charged Condoms Sensations Frau TV Commercial
Uhmerica, where almost anything can be advertised now. The company must be doing ok despite the recession. Who's the big supplier for the Olympics? The oh, oh, Ohhh-lympics! As record 150,000 condoms are handed out to a host of super-attractive athletes, could London 2012 be the raunchiest games ever?
More:
Trojan Charged Lab Twins TV
Trojan Charged Condoms Sensations Frau TV Commercial
Items of Interest, 25 July 2012
Ralph Nader, Prisons As Growth Industry
Kevin Carson, The Predictable “Scandal” At The FDA
Taki, The Magic Mystery of Monarchy
The Confederate Colonel:
The Cultural Destruction of England
Romney on The Confederate Flag
Top 10 All-American Food Myths: What You Don’t Know About Our Food Chain Will Shock You
Building a civil economy by Adrian Pabst (EB)
I thought it was interesting that Vox refers to Ugo Bardi - Complexity and the fall of empires I. I can't recall if he's discussed peak oil.
The mayor of Boston is making life difficult for Chick-Fil-A: Michelle Malkin, Hey, Boston: Leave Chick-fil-A Alone. Looks like he's not the only one: Chicago Alderman to Chick-fil-A: No deal
Chick-Fil-A is still a chain and not an ideal form of business organization for many reasons. The company probably relies on CAFOs for its chickens. Let those politicians seeking to impose their PC values on the company do so; give those who support a more traditional view of morality their own space and leave them alone, then. It's unfortunate that the LoS and other organizations are not that effective in building up regional identities and independence.
So the Muppets are now being used as a front for PC causes? It's time to do away with mass entertainment, now matter how much we may have enjoyed it as children. Hicks: Muppets break ties with Chick-fil-A over gay marriage
Opponents can't stomach Chick-fil-A's plans in Mountain View
The SJ store is set to open on August 16.
Catholic:
Student Design for a Proposed Benedictine Monastery
The Life and Thoughts of Cardinal Merry del Val - VII
Sarto and Merry del Val, communion of thoughts and ideals - and a long recess
Louis Bouyer and Church Architecture by Uwe Michael Lang
RESOURCING BENEDICT XVI'S THE SPIRIT OF THE LITURGY
SOFREP: Breaking Down the Pattern of Success by Randy Kelley
MovNat:
Resurgence article
ERWAN LE CORRE: THE 10 MOVNAT PRINCIPLES
Kevin Carson, The Predictable “Scandal” At The FDA
Taki, The Magic Mystery of Monarchy
The Confederate Colonel:
The Cultural Destruction of England
Romney on The Confederate Flag
Top 10 All-American Food Myths: What You Don’t Know About Our Food Chain Will Shock You
Building a civil economy by Adrian Pabst (EB)
I thought it was interesting that Vox refers to Ugo Bardi - Complexity and the fall of empires I. I can't recall if he's discussed peak oil.
The mayor of Boston is making life difficult for Chick-Fil-A: Michelle Malkin, Hey, Boston: Leave Chick-fil-A Alone. Looks like he's not the only one: Chicago Alderman to Chick-fil-A: No deal
Chick-Fil-A is still a chain and not an ideal form of business organization for many reasons. The company probably relies on CAFOs for its chickens. Let those politicians seeking to impose their PC values on the company do so; give those who support a more traditional view of morality their own space and leave them alone, then. It's unfortunate that the LoS and other organizations are not that effective in building up regional identities and independence.
So the Muppets are now being used as a front for PC causes? It's time to do away with mass entertainment, now matter how much we may have enjoyed it as children. Hicks: Muppets break ties with Chick-fil-A over gay marriage
Opponents can't stomach Chick-fil-A's plans in Mountain View
The SJ store is set to open on August 16.
Catholic:
Student Design for a Proposed Benedictine Monastery
The Life and Thoughts of Cardinal Merry del Val - VII
Sarto and Merry del Val, communion of thoughts and ideals - and a long recess
Louis Bouyer and Church Architecture by Uwe Michael Lang
RESOURCING BENEDICT XVI'S THE SPIRIT OF THE LITURGY
SOFREP: Breaking Down the Pattern of Success by Randy Kelley
MovNat:
Resurgence article
ERWAN LE CORRE: THE 10 MOVNAT PRINCIPLES
A Repeated Complaint
That I've stated on this blog and partly explains my trepidation (and mostly explains my repulsion) that keeps me from visiting one of these events. I posted this video for the Sacramento group rather recently.
Some more videos of local groups:
2012 San Francisco Folk Fest Contra Dance
Palo Alto Contra Dance with STEAM
Palo Alto Contra Dance with Community Band! (pt.2)
From the mid-west, featuring Perpetual e-Motion:
(more from ITMDG - looks like I missed the opportunity to hear them in person at Felton Hall earlier this year. I hope they'll be back next year.)
If you take a look at the videos available on youtube for various Contra/ECD events in the U.S., dressing very casually for the dancing is the norm. (Some samples below.) On various websites for CD/ECD visitors are told that there is no dress code but to wear something comfortable since physical activity is involved. Shorts? Blue jeans? T-shirts? How many of those dancing are really presentable to others, not looking like slobs? Although the Sacramento group is rather fit, but this is not always the case. Obesity may not be the fault of Uhmericans, but that doesn't mean one shouldn't feel shame. (As opposed to guilt.) They should try to conceal it through their clothing, instead of revealing it, or worse, drawing attention to it through poor choice in clothing.
In order for it to be fun and welcoming, casual dress is tolerated and becomes the norm. Organizers don't want to turn people away because they need people to attend in order to keep the dances going. You don't want to stand out or appear to be too snooty by going semi-formal. But an you can associate with people with looser standards in dance? Even if you can ignore for the moment the standard in question, the sight of people adhering to disparate dress standards seems rather ridiculous.
Dressing the part in a historical re-enacment (or role-playing) looks much better by comparison:
The JASNA Regency Ball from last year:
Of course this may only make sense for English Country Dances, and not so much with American Contra Dance. Am I saying that ECD/CD enthusiasts have to dress up in Regency costumes or other attire from the 19th century? No, but simple clothing that is decent in appearance, a dress shirt and slacks, would be much more dignified than the t-shirt, shorts, and obvious athletic shoes. Some places may require certain shoes so that they do not leave marks on the floor, but surely there are "dressy-looking" shoes that meet this requirement? Actually, I would have no problems with them going barefoot, though this would make dances that involve some sort of clogging impracticable. Some may claim that going barefoot to a dance, while wearing "traditionally" more formal clothing is rather incongruous. What about dressy minimalist shoes, then?
Dressing too casually represents a failure to respect one's self and others. The music, the dance patterns, what the occasion represents all refer to a standard of order that we no longer have and yet some of us yearn for it, though perhaps unconsciously. They are tied to beauty, which is part of their appeal. And yet we don't see that casual dress violates the decorum that such dances represent, not only historically but even intrinsically, since they should be special occasions of festivity for the community. I suspect that when folk dances (square dances or contra dances or the like) were events for the community, no one dressed down for them, or as if they had just left the field or work. We, on the other hand, who have the money and the gas for such hobbies take the liberty of attending in whatever clothing we like. That is rather self-indulgent and narcissistic.
If ECD or CD is to become a dance for the "vulgar masses," we should expect people to rise about the vulgarity that is Uhmericanism? We need to understand that dances are more than a private hobby or leisurely activity. They need to be reintegrated back into some semblance of an authentic communal life.
Some might argue that since such dances take place in a gym or some other minimalist community place that it would be out of place to dress nice. But the solution isn't to dress down, but to spruce the place up with tasteful decorations and the like. A basketball court may not be the ideal place to have a dance, but if it is the only open area where people can congregate, then one must make do.
As for those groups that advertise themselves as being gay-friendly -- if there is a sex imbalance and you are alternating partners throughout a dance, you may end up dancing with someone of the same sex, with the other person playing the incorrect part. Now this happens now even when there are too many heterosexual women and not enough men, and may have happened in the past. Where does one draw the line between practical necessity (as in the case when women outnumber men) and an affront to traditional morals? When one removes distinctions or any reference to gender roles one has gone too far.
Youth Flock To Contra Dancing
Related links: Country Dance and Song Society
Some more videos after the jump:
Some more videos of local groups:
2012 San Francisco Folk Fest Contra Dance
Palo Alto Contra Dance with STEAM
Palo Alto Contra Dance with Community Band! (pt.2)
From the mid-west, featuring Perpetual e-Motion:
(more from ITMDG - looks like I missed the opportunity to hear them in person at Felton Hall earlier this year. I hope they'll be back next year.)
If you take a look at the videos available on youtube for various Contra/ECD events in the U.S., dressing very casually for the dancing is the norm. (Some samples below.) On various websites for CD/ECD visitors are told that there is no dress code but to wear something comfortable since physical activity is involved. Shorts? Blue jeans? T-shirts? How many of those dancing are really presentable to others, not looking like slobs? Although the Sacramento group is rather fit, but this is not always the case. Obesity may not be the fault of Uhmericans, but that doesn't mean one shouldn't feel shame. (As opposed to guilt.) They should try to conceal it through their clothing, instead of revealing it, or worse, drawing attention to it through poor choice in clothing.
In order for it to be fun and welcoming, casual dress is tolerated and becomes the norm. Organizers don't want to turn people away because they need people to attend in order to keep the dances going. You don't want to stand out or appear to be too snooty by going semi-formal. But an you can associate with people with looser standards in dance? Even if you can ignore for the moment the standard in question, the sight of people adhering to disparate dress standards seems rather ridiculous.
Dressing the part in a historical re-enacment (or role-playing) looks much better by comparison:
The JASNA Regency Ball from last year:
Of course this may only make sense for English Country Dances, and not so much with American Contra Dance. Am I saying that ECD/CD enthusiasts have to dress up in Regency costumes or other attire from the 19th century? No, but simple clothing that is decent in appearance, a dress shirt and slacks, would be much more dignified than the t-shirt, shorts, and obvious athletic shoes. Some places may require certain shoes so that they do not leave marks on the floor, but surely there are "dressy-looking" shoes that meet this requirement? Actually, I would have no problems with them going barefoot, though this would make dances that involve some sort of clogging impracticable. Some may claim that going barefoot to a dance, while wearing "traditionally" more formal clothing is rather incongruous. What about dressy minimalist shoes, then?
Dressing too casually represents a failure to respect one's self and others. The music, the dance patterns, what the occasion represents all refer to a standard of order that we no longer have and yet some of us yearn for it, though perhaps unconsciously. They are tied to beauty, which is part of their appeal. And yet we don't see that casual dress violates the decorum that such dances represent, not only historically but even intrinsically, since they should be special occasions of festivity for the community. I suspect that when folk dances (square dances or contra dances or the like) were events for the community, no one dressed down for them, or as if they had just left the field or work. We, on the other hand, who have the money and the gas for such hobbies take the liberty of attending in whatever clothing we like. That is rather self-indulgent and narcissistic.
If ECD or CD is to become a dance for the "vulgar masses," we should expect people to rise about the vulgarity that is Uhmericanism? We need to understand that dances are more than a private hobby or leisurely activity. They need to be reintegrated back into some semblance of an authentic communal life.
Some might argue that since such dances take place in a gym or some other minimalist community place that it would be out of place to dress nice. But the solution isn't to dress down, but to spruce the place up with tasteful decorations and the like. A basketball court may not be the ideal place to have a dance, but if it is the only open area where people can congregate, then one must make do.
As for those groups that advertise themselves as being gay-friendly -- if there is a sex imbalance and you are alternating partners throughout a dance, you may end up dancing with someone of the same sex, with the other person playing the incorrect part. Now this happens now even when there are too many heterosexual women and not enough men, and may have happened in the past. Where does one draw the line between practical necessity (as in the case when women outnumber men) and an affront to traditional morals? When one removes distinctions or any reference to gender roles one has gone too far.
Youth Flock To Contra Dancing
Related links: Country Dance and Song Society
Some more videos after the jump:
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