Andrew Sullivan's Blog, page 2601

The Prescient Pope

by Zoe Pollock

John Farrell celebrates the 60th anniversary of "Humani Generis", the papal encyclical (or pastoral letter) that established the Catholic Church's official relationship with Darwinian evolution, written by Pope Pius XII in 1950. While recognizing the Pope's foresight, Farrell also points out a slight problem in the church's position today: 

While Pius was willing to concede that there was reason to believe the human body was the product of evolution, he was adamant that the...

Cool Ad Watch

by Zoe Pollock

Living backwards:

Aids PSA Topsy 90 human Mix-Simian H.264 2 from Human Music & Sound Design on Vimeo.

(Hat Tip: Videosift)

Vimeo - Public service announcement - Health - Music - Zoe Pollock

Time To Act

by Zoe Pollock

The tragic realities of prison rape continue, as evidenced by a new report. Lovisa Stannow and David Kaiser follow one man's story:

[C:]onsider the case of Scott Howard. Scott was a gay, non-violent, first-time inmate in a Colorado prison when he was targeted by members of the "2-11 crew," a white supremacist gang with over 1,000 members in prisons throughout the state. For two years he was forced into prostitution by the gang's leaders, repeatedly raped and made to perform oral...

The Big Picture

by Zoe Pollock

Lawrence Weschler continues to mine life for its never-ending convergences. He asks of Van Gogh's Cafe Terrace at Night:

Is his an attempt to make the vast
universe seem cozier (like a galactic outdoor café) or rather the café
more galactically lonesome, the guests scattered like far-flung nebulae?

And then finds a similar thread in a David Hockney vignette (pictured), roughly 100 years later:

at the height of the AIDS epidemic, as it happens, at a time when Hockney used...

"Wish The Rent Was Heaven Sent"

by Zoe Pollock

Regina Brett of the Cleveland Plain Dealer debates whether a house Langston Hughes lived in for two years in high school is worth saving:

It's tempting to turn the home of writers into museums to honor the writers, bring in tourists, and preserve the cultural legacy of a neighborhood. But she's visited 55 homes of famous writers in America and found that many of them suffer financially. To do well, they need to be in a good location and have a big operating budget. Last year...

The Easy Narrative

by Zoe Pollock

Tom Bissell defends Virginia Quarterly Review editor Ted Genoways and expresses disappointment that a true tragedy, the suicide of managing editor Kevin Morrissey, has been turned into a trend story, which seems to be a popular thing to do these days:

I would like to believe that I know enough about human nature to beable to sense within someone to whom I am close a monstrousness capableof tormenting a colleague into the dark embrace of suicide. What I dosense in the VQR

Book Biases

by Zoe Pollock

Chris Jackson, subbing in for TNC, has a nice post about our own unintentional literary biases, after he had to make a concerted effort to read more female fiction. As a fiction lover, I just recently vowed to bone up on my foreign policy non-fiction, thanks to some enthusiastic encouragement from my nerd boyfriend. Chris' point is well put and well-taken:

 There are ways that our reading is shaped and limited by the biases of the dominant literary gatekeepers--maybe without...

Mental Health Break

by Chris Bodenner

A stirring tour of Lindisfarne, Northumberland, also known as Holy Island:

Isle from Euan Preston on Vimeo.

Northumberland - Lindisfarne - England - Travel and Tourism - Rothbury

Atomized Individuals

by Zoe Pollock

Mark Lilla explores China's one-child policy and its psychological repercussions, through the story of a father distraught over his only son's breakup with a girl:

It worries him that the popular culture now promotes dating and youthful romantic love, something he feels Chinese young people aren't psychologically prepared for, especially the breakups. The more he spoke, the more anguished he sounded about losing his son in other ways, too. Even as a youngster the boy would stay...

Can Church Be Hip? Ctd

by Chris Bodenner

In contrast to this response, a reader writes:

As a longtime reader of this blog and a professional church musician, I must say that I have found the series, "Can the Church be Hip?" mildly irritating and was moved by the reader who wrote this:

Based on the material you've been showcasing, "Can church be hip?" is not the question you're actually exploring. Those songs may make reference to Christian concepts or images, but they are lyrics; they display an intimate, personal...