Toluu

The Anchoress

Religion. Politics. Punditry. Baseball. You know, all the important stuff.

Richard John Neuhaus, RIP - UPDATEDToday

Richard John Neuhaus, 1936-2009

First Things announces his death and reprints an old, relevant, and quite brilliant piece of his, on the subject of death.

It was a couple of days after leaving intensive care, and it was night. I could hear patients in adjoining rooms moaning and mumbling and occasionally calling out; the surrounding medical machines were pumping and sucking and bleeping as usual. Then, all of a sudden, I was jerked into an utterly lucid state of awareness. I was sitting up in the bed staring intently into the darkness, although in fact I knew my body was lying flat. What I was staring at was a color like blue and purple, and vaguely in the form of hanging drapery. By the drapery were two “presences.” I saw them and yet did not see them, and I cannot explain that. But they were there, and I knew that I was not tied to the bed. I was able and prepared to get up and go somewhere. And then the presences-one or both of them, I do not know-spoke. This I heard clearly. Not in an ordinary way, for I cannot remember anything about the voice. But the message was beyond mistaking: “Everything is ready now.”

Do read it. It is deep, open, thoughtful, funny moving and wise. Typically, so.

Peggy Noonan, Roger Ebert & meToday

Noonan - October 2005

A few weeks ago I was reading Christopher Lawford’s lovely, candid and affectionate remembrance of growing up in a particular time and place with a particular family, the Kennedys, circa roughly 1950-2000. It’s called “Symptoms of Withdrawal.” At the end he quotes his Uncle Teddy. Christopher, Ted Kennedy and a few family members had gathered one night and were having a drink in Mr. Lawford’s mother’s apartment in Manhattan. Teddy was expansive. If he hadn’t gone into politics he would have been an opera singer, he told them, and visited small Italian villages and had pasta every day for lunch. “Singing at la Scala in front of three thousand people throwing flowers at you. Then going out for dinner and having more pasta.” Everyone was laughing. Then, writes Mr. Lawford, Teddy “took a long, slow gulp of his vodka and tonic, thought for a moment, and changed tack. ‘I’m glad I’m not going to be around when you guys are my age.’ I asked him why, and he said, ‘Because when you guys are my age, the whole thing is going to fall apart.’ ”

Mr. Lawford continued, “The statement hung there, suspended in the realm of ‘maybe we shouldn’t go there.’ Nobody wanted to touch it. After a few moments of heavy silence, my uncle moved on.”

Lawford thought his uncle might be referring to their family–that it might “fa

Wednesday Linkfest!Yesterday

Personally a difficult day over here for some family members who are crucible-stepping. If you could keep J and P in your prayers, I would really appreciate it.

Meanwhile, there’s plenty to read!

Big Doings: for the launch of Big Hollywood. I like the Steyn quote highlighted by Ed Driscoll he’s right!. And Driscoll is correct that editor John Nolte will keep the site provocative, smart and funny. I like the site a lot - it’s quickly going to become yet another of my daily “must reads” and a clear counterpart to Huffpo. Being a fan of the graphic novel Watchmen, I really enjoyed Jonah’s piece and the blogging seems pretty promising.

Also, don’t miss this biting, no-holds barred post by center-left John Ridley, who takes issues with labels, Hollywood’s intellectual dishonesty, and brainlessness-in- general as he discusses his story Three Kings, which this blog has referenced a few times.

Garbriel at Ace has the first ten bills of the eleventy-first congress. I feel a nightmare coming on.

Explaining the NewsYesterday

I love this fellow’s expressions. Pretty funny; some great one-liners. Check back later for a linkfest!

Textbooks, we get textbooks!Yesterday

Actually, my Elder Son gets textbooks. I did think, though, that when Buster majored in music, it would cut down the cost of textbooks. I didn’t realize how much music scores can cost, though. They can get pretty pricey!

If you’re heading back to school this week - Buster is - Amazon has new and used textbooks galore with special deals.

None of the music scores we need, though!