A Letter to My Daughter on Her Eighth Birthday (August 8)
Mt. Cecelia, near Great Falls, Montana.
August 8, 2015
Dear Little One,
On this day, we should be celebrating with eight candles burning fiercely on a cake, a cake made with all of the love in the world. Would it have been chocolate or lemon or vanilla or strawberry or some weird thing we’d never thought of before you’d entered the world?
On this day, brightly colored boxes, and sacks, and ribbons, and balloons should be cluttering and littering the kitchen table.
On this day, all seven kids should be filled with a restless joy, anticipating the moment, but savoring the mystery. Some quietly and some, naturally, mischievously.
On this day, there should be singing and more than a little bit of Birzer-patented wackiness and mayhem. The cats should be confused, and the floor should be ready to receive the tipped-over drinks, the crumbs of cakes, and the meltage of iced cream.
On this day, you should be sitting proudly with the rest of your family. Would your eyes still be so penetratingly blue, your hair so dark and full of curls, your skin as white as china?
We should be taking photos of you, a princess, a queen, a faerie, a ballerina, an American girl.
Would your friends come and join us? Would they run wild on the deck? Would they chase the cats? Would they love our woods and our swing set? Would the boys draw swords to slay dragons?
Probably.
But, of course, these are just dreams. The dreams of the living. The dreams of those left behind. The dreams of those who miss you with a pain as fierce and as indescribable as any ever given.
Your life was so bright, it burned all too quickly. At least from the view of this clouded, skeptical, doubtful, angry, and yet hopeful father.
Where Cecilia Rose’s body rests–in the cemetery across the street from our house. This photo taken by our great friend, Laura J. Smith.
From the beginning, the Lord of Life wanted you for Himself. He is a jealous god.
You were not made for corruption, or hard choices, or easy choices, or sin. You were made to take the straight path. And, accompanied by the armed might of elves and warriors, you went straight from here to eternity. From your mother’s womb into God’s hands.
Did Elbereth smile upon you as you passed Taniquetil?
You, oh little one, are chosen, sacramental, and blessed.
God gave you a mother, a woman who gladly bore you for nine months, a woman chosen to be a vessel of grace. And, when that nine months had ended, God turned that mother’s grace into a strength—a strength unmatched in this world of chaos.
Oh, little one, I miss you so profoundly, and I love you equally so. You are never out of my mind, and you always reside in my soul.
And, yet, however much I might disagree with God’s decision, I know that you are wrapped in the arms of love, forever safe and forever happy.
Someday, I pray, you will guide each of us to our eternal home. Hand in hand, we will journey as father and daughter. And, when we arrive, I will ask for the one thing I will never have with you here, a dance with my Cecilia Rose, daughter of song.
With all of my love, Dad.
My great aunt, Cecelia, who also died too young. Our Cecilia is named after her.
Socrates on Why One Must Be Good No Matter the Cost
Soc. Are we to say that we are never intentionally to do wrong, or that in one way we ought and in another way we ought not to do wrong, or is doing wrong always evil and dishonorable, as I was just now saying, and as has been already acknowledged by us? Are all our former admissions which were made within a few days to be thrown away? And have we, at our age, been earnestly discoursing with one another all our life long only to discover that we are no better than children? Or are we to rest assured, in spite of the opinion of the many, and in spite of consequences whether better or worse, of the truth of what was then said, that injustice is always an evil and dishonor to him who acts unjustly? Shall we affirm that?
Soc. Then we must do no wrong?
Soc. Nor when injured injure in return, as the many imagine; for we must injure no one at all?
Soc. Again, Crito, may we do evil?
Soc. And what of doing evil in return for evil, which is the morality of the many-is that just or not?
Soc. For doing evil to another is the same as injuring him?
Soc. Then we ought not to retaliate or render evil for evil to anyone, whatever evil we may have suffered from him. But I would have you consider, Crito, whether you really mean what you are saying. For this opinion has never been held, and never will be held, by any considerable number of persons; and those who are agreed and those who are not agreed upon this point have no common ground, and can only despise one another, when they see how widely they differ.
A Farewell to Rush
Usually Neil rejects the Limelight, and the whole band heads off the stage without a bow. Instead of milking applause, they show a short movie as they Exit… Stage Left. So, when this happens, it looks like A Farewell to Rush…
2112.net has all the details on the tour that is now history:
Digging deep for these setlists, “Losing It” and “How It Is” were performed for the first time ever, and while most of the songs from the first half of the show have been performed on relatively recent tours, many of those performed after the intermission have not been performed in decades: “Jacob’s Ladder” was last played in 1980; “Hemispheres: Prelude” in 1994; “Cygnus X-1: Part 3” in 1980 (“Prologue” was played in 2002); “Lakeside Park” in 1978; and “What You’re Doing” in 1977. Closing out the show is a teaser of “Garden Road”, an unreleased original song…
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PROGARCHY EXCLUSIVE
An Interview with Yes’ Alan White (August 3, 2015)
Prog Rock’s quintessential super group, Yes, will be heading out on an American tour again this summer/fall, including the third annual Cruise to the Edge in mid-November. The most notable change in the line-up, of course, will be the absence of Chris Squire on bass—the first time ever for a Yes tour.
PROGARCHY’s Kevin McCormick recently spoke for with Yes drummer extraordinaire, Alan White, as he prepared for rehearsals for the upcoming tour.
____________________
PROGARCHY Thank you so much for taking time to talk with us. I think I speak for all of the members of Progarchy.com in offering our condolences after the recent and sudden death of your colleague and friend, Chris Squire. Obviously he was such an essential part of Yes, founding member and the only person to appear on every Yes album. Are there…
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University Bookman at Its Best; Autumn 1965 Issue
Pieces by M.E. Bradford, Father Francis Canavan, Russell Kirk, and Warren Flesichauer. Doesn’t get better than this.
University Bookman V31 N3 1991
Nice issue with pieces by Dante Germino and Stephen Tonsor.
Holy Schnikees, Chris Farley!
I find it hard to believe that Chris Farley departed this world almost twenty years ago. I don’t think any one has ever made me laugh as much as Farley did. Whether or not it was SNL, Tommy Boy, or on the floor of the House of Representatives, Farley never failed to bring out painful, gut-wrenching laughter from me.
After all, who else could have produced such an immortal exclamation as “Holy Schnikees!”
I knew during his life that he was a daily Mass Catholic. I’d forgotten this, however, and this article reminded me not only of Farley’s brilliance but also of his deep humanity.
Whatever demons afflicted him, he did his best to make the world just a bit better than it deserved.
God bless you, Chris. RIP.
From the article:
Like when Farley had just moved into a new apartment in New York and asked his ordained friend to come bless it.
Foley was walking around the apartment sprinkling holy water when he turned around and saw Farley following him, his hands folded like an altar server, quietly reciting the Hail Mary and Our Father prayers to himself.
“He was completely serious, but it cracked me up because it was just the two of us there and he looked so funny with his hands folded,” Foley remembered. “But he was dead serious, and there was a tenderness in his face. It was a beautiful thing.”
Another Incredible Issue of University Bookman: V32 N2 1992
Another amazing issue, including a fine piece by Kirk, “Will Our Culture Endure?”
University Bookman V32 N1 1992: A Great Issue
The University Bookman at its best: two pieces by Russell Kirk as well as responses and article by Ben Lockerd, Thomas Molnar, and Michael Jordan.
Why Neil Peart, Part I
Why Neil Peart?
[Be forewarned, this is a serious essay that leads to an advertisement. Proceed at your own risk!!!!]
R40 Tour. Rush in Lincoln.
A year ago, I had the great privilege of reading a fine history of Rush: Robert Freedman’s RUSH: LIFE LIBERTY AND THE PURSUIT OF EXCELLENCE. It was a very satisfying read, and, as I finished it, I sighed to myself. . . “I wish I’d written this.” I don’t think my reaction was one of hubris, but rather one of joy. I was glad to see Peart taken so seriously at an intellectual level. All too often, even in a culture that can go utterly ga-ga over the most trivial things, Americans still tend to dismiss rock music as a fad or rock musicians as a low form of artist.
For those of us who love prog and art rock, we cringe at such…
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Stormfields 