{bits & pieces}
The weekly “little of this, little of that” feature here at Like Mother, Like Daughter!
(This will all look and work better if you click on the actual post and do not remain on the main page.)
Thinking about how to remember the process for finishing the hem I had blithely committed to on this little sweater I was making but could not find a tutorial for, I wished for a video of my own. I know myself well — I would go through the entire learning curve every time, without some sort of visual reminder.
Behold, my five-year-old granddaughter made it happen! She did a great job, I think! Does it make any sense to you at all? Ah well, at least my own memory will be jogged! If you want to see, here’s 41 seconds of the method:
I recently saw a tribute to a lovely lady given by her grown children. They posted her photo with the caption that said something like, “Dear Mother, you gave up a career [can’t remember if they specified] and success to devote yourself to us; we love you.”
I was very moved by this, and looking at her beautiful face, I thought to myself, I wonder if she sees it that way — that she gave up something, that it was a sacrifice.
I do think that a young woman might think of it that way.
Of course, every choice involves, in a sense, rejecting and sacrificing every other choice — always provided that the other choices are real, of course. It at least means rejecting some goods. For instance, as Chesterton points out, when we marry one person, we are by definition rejecting all the others — assuming that they would have us!
But in any case, if this lady is anything like me and my friends who have traveled this route to the other side, I can imagine her chuckling gently to herself as she wipes away a grateful tear (for every mother’s only desire is to be appreciated by her children) and quietly remarking, “But it’s what I wanted to do, and it turned out better than I ever imagined. What on earth would I have wanted with anything else! And besides [she might have thought, considering her long marriage and her happy home, even in the midst of suffering] there was much, much more to it — even than you, my dears!”
This is what I imagine her thinking. I know that’s a wild thought, but there it is.
On to our links!
Where does virtue come from, asks Russell Kirk: an overview. It’s not enough to think about goodness; somehow we must acquire it.
There is an exhibition of Pieter Bruegel’s works at the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. I would love to see it and almost certainly will not (barring a miracle), but reading about it makes me happy. About a series made for Bruegel’s friend’s dining room, the author of the article says: “Their precise purpose and meaning, like much of Bruegel’s work, remains enigmatic but it seems likely that they were intended to spark discussion at a ‘convivium’ — a gathering of intellectuals. Among the topics disputed might have been what lessons can be taken from the great cycle of life on display and perhaps whether the simple country life was preferable to that of Jongelink and his guests.” The book that goes along with the exhibition, while obviously a distant substitute, is available as well for pre-order.
The princess issue is becoming dire. This Wall Street Journal article (well worth asking a subscriber to share with you) reveals the lack of respect for the collective memory held by purveyors of entertainment for children. They are willing to jettison universal archetypes and typology for their own political ends, and they have total devotion to ideals that have not been tested — or being tested, have been found wanting; yet they themselves hardly model virtue. It troubles me that many families leave their children’s imaginations wholly to Disney for formation, especially as political correctness becomes more entrenched. As we enter the season of gifts, all I can say here is, beware.
Queering Science: Mark Regnerus, someone whose reputation and career were savaged by the activist mob, examines the case of Brown University public health professor Lisa Littman’s study documenting the reality of a type of experience: the rapid onset of gender dysphoria (ROGD) in adolescents. I do not quite agree with him that this sort of suppression hasn’t occurred before, albeit not with the mob intensity we see now; but certainly studies about the effects of divorce on children — even adults — are suppressed in favor of sparing the feelings of the couples. Still, his observations about the sudden demise of the scientific method stand.
As you know from our little disclaimer, below, we don’t usually recommend a whole site, but here’s one; this page in particular might be helpful to be more informed on sexual issues.
What is chant? Why do I go on and on about it? A good article from Peter Kwasniewski on the subject, with some recordings. The main thing to know about chant is that it has a sacred quality that no other form of music has, in part because of its unique sense of breathing and of freeing, in an austere way, the breath, in transcendent vocal expression.
There’s also this:
It’s well worth the 12 minutes it takes to listen to this podcast about how students are indoctrinated into PC thinking the minute they get to college, before classes even start. Emanating from a centralized program that works with publishers’ profit motive, The First-Year Experience is an entire packaged event used by over 90% of schools today in the US and expanding to foreign markets. If you are considering sending your kid to most any college, you need to have this information.
The Cathedral of the Plains — read this article to understand why it is we can’t have nice things (churches, that is) — we have no idea of sacrifice. “If the church [funded and built by simple farmers living at subsistence levels] had to be replaced today,” said Father Hammel, who was assistant pastor of the church from 1923 to 1925, “it would cost two-and-a-half billion dollars.”
The theme of orphan literature needs a lot of exploration. Fr. Dwight Longenecker looks at The Path of the Orphan Hero.
If you will be nearby, come to this talk! I’d love to meet you!
From the archives:
How to prepare for Thanksgiving, Auntie Leila style.
Five things that are worse than being in debt.
Ask Auntie Leila: 10 Reasons Not to Have Separate Finances; or, Marriage is about Wholehearted Trust.
Happy feast of St. Elizabeth of Hungary!
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