rising tide of rivers and catholicism.

i am not really sure how interesting it is of me to post about the random things i do here, but i really need to let folks know that this book is a great addition to anyone's nightstand or deskstack of books. john m. barry walks through, with great gusto and an interesting narrative tone, the build up to the 1927 flood of the mississippi flood and the dynamiting of levee in st. bernard parish. i mean, i'm not a good history book reader & this was a page-turner for me.

you can get it at amazon used for right around $5.

in other news, i'm less and less convinced that vatican 2 caused dramatic shifts in the catholic psyche. as a product of a good benedictine tradition, i have always heaped a lot of wonderful things onto vatican 2, especially to our very own virgel michel.

this week, we read a book called summer in the city (another great read, if you're coming up short!), which is an uber-sympathetic look at what i think is asset-based organizing in east harlem in the mid-1960s. so the nuns and priests do all these art programs, stun the world with their dislike of habits, etc. etc. but in 1964, there are major riots on the streets. the monsignor organizes a peace march and what do they do? pray the rosary. say rote prayers. offer mass. times get tough & people rely in these things.

there's a way in which i find it to be a beautiful irony--as much as the changes were being pushed for and at, documents and hierarchical meetings simply cannot switch a deeply ingrained catholic psyche.

now, please. don't read between the lines here some romanticized image of a pre-conciliar church. nonononono. the mission of the class is to think about these transitionary years where even the liberals were raised with a latin mass, novenas and the virgin mary. the push & pull is fascinating.

and, ladies & gentlemen, this was when our parents came of age. that, my friends, might be the most fascinating part of all.

peaceout, k.

p.s. shoes are on their way & i'm not sure how i feel about the (red) campaign. c'mon...shop at the gap & stop AIDS in africa? gimme a break:).