Oh Downton Abbey!
Posted by Rachel Balducci in Family on Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Was anyone else counting down the days to the premiere of Downton Abbey, Season 2 this past Sunday? What is it that makes this show so irresistible?
Last year, we stumbled across the weekly drama on PBS one evening, and I was hooked. I had been seeing little comments here and there about the show, but never paid much attention. Then I watched five minutes and I am now a devoted fan. Oh Lord Grantham,... READ MORE
Thanksgiving Trivia
Posted by Rachel Balducci in Family on Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Do you have any favorite bits of Thanksgiving trivia?
Here’s mine: the first baby born in the New World was Virginia Dare.
Here are a few other links for some good Thanksgiving information.
My family has an annual Thanksgiving Day Trivia contest, which might sound geeky but is a lot of fun. (The stakes are high as there is a resin Turkey involved as top prize.) So I’m off to study and hopefully dominate... READ MORE
Washington's Prayer For His Country
Posted by Rebecca Teti in News on Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Each time I read George Washington’s first Thanksgiving Day proclamation something new strikes me.
This year what most draws my attention is his unquestioned assumption that there is no contradiction between faith and reason, and that good government will promote the practice of religion and virtue as well as the increase of science.
Here’s the entire text.
Whereas it is the duty of all nations... READ MORE
The Broadcasting See
Posted by Arwen Mosher in News on Friday, February 18, 2011
Did you know that the Vatican has had its own radio program for 80 years?
Over the decades, Vatican Radio has - among other things - helped unite war refugees and their families after World War II, and broadcast to those behind the Iron Curtain during the years of European communism. Pretty cool!
I enjoyed reading the history. You can read it, as well as the Vatican’s plans for the radio’s future, at CatholicNews.com.
Gets Me Every Time
Posted by Rebecca Teti in Reviews on Friday, November 19, 2010
Arguably the greatest speech in American history, the Gettysburg Address, was given on this day in 1863.
Can’t hear it without tearing up. Can you?
History Feast
Posted by Arwen Mosher in Family on Friday, May 28, 2010
For as long as I can remember, I’ve loved Memorial Day weekend.
Because it’s the beginning of summer, of course, that wonderful time of sunburned shoulders and skinned knees and playing outside until the mosquitoes chase you in. But also because our hometown has a colonial reenactment feast every year on this weekend. When you’re a kid, can many things be more magical than a reenactment feast?
I certainly... READ MORE
Someone Else's Current Events
Posted by Rebecca Teti in Reviews on Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Even as a kid I recall being distressed by the way textbooks sucked the life out of history.
It meant my peers had no interest in the topic: whereas my journalist dad taught us to think of history as “someone else’s current events.”
It was filled with real people facing dilemmas similar to our own.
Adventure! intrigue! precision judgment! disaster! triumph! drama!
What’s not to love?
Alas, that... READ MORE
That Useless Old Internet
Posted by Danielle Bean in News on Wednesday, March 10, 2010
I was amused recently to read a 1995 Newsweek column by Clifford Stoll, in which he predicts the demise of that useless old internet thing.
A small sample:
Do our computer pundits lack all common sense? The truth in no online database will replace your daily newspaper, no CD-ROM can take the place of a competent teacher and no computer network will change the way government works.
First of all, back... READ MORE
What A Way To Go
Posted by Rebecca Teti in Reviews on Wednesday, February 03, 2010
Want to read something fascinating?
Here is the letter Mary, Queen of Scots wrote to her late husband’s brother hours before she was executed.
I’m struck by her concern that her servants be taken care of, her desire for the sacraments and prayers for her soul after death—and her offering of her death for her brother-in-law’s intentions.
That’s a slightly different Mary than the history books generally paint!
But then, it is easy to forget historical figures were persons.
Advent Ends on a High Note
Posted by Arwen Mosher in Faith on Tuesday, December 22, 2009
When I was a kid we always looked forward to December 17th and the start of the “O Antiphons” during Evening Prayer. The antiphons are read from December 17th through the 23rd, and are the source of Advent’s best-known hymn, “O Come, O Come Emmanuel.”
During my childhood the antiphons’ main appeal to me was the fact that they indicated Christmas was near. But they’re beautiful, and I wanted to know more. I went looking and found this excellent article by Fr. William Saunders: “What are the ‘O Antiphons’?”
As Fr. Saunders mentions, the origin of the antiphons is not known, but it seems likely that they were used in the sixth century, and probably earlier. They have quite a long history!
Fr. Saunders also outlines the biblical basis for the antiphons, and you can read the original Latin text of each one, plus an English translation, in the Wikipedia article.