The Fleming Foundation Cultural Commentary
Off the Shelf, Episode 3: The Riders of the Purple Sage
In this episode of On the Shelf, Stephen shares his thoughts on Riders of the Purple Sage by Zane Grey, and Dr. Fleming comments on it and what he considers a superior Western novel, The Virginian by Owen Wister. Join us for discussions of shootouts, Mormons, and the beguiling beauty of the American West.
Wednesday’s Child: Sicilian Defense 7
The Chinese fortune cookie with a Russian message inside, which I strove to decipher in last week’s post, is beginning to crumble.
Still More
Butch Cassidy, Thomas Jefferson, Loretta Lynn, Pete Rose, Leonardo da Vinci, Durkheim, Charlie Chaplin
Wednesday’s Child: Sicilian Defense 6
Comments on last week’s post, fifth in this Sicilian Defense epopee, proved yet again that the reader is astute as he is gentle. “Never let a crisis go to waste!” ironized Andrew G. Van Sant…
Secular Confession, Conclusion
I’ll take the last two commandments as a whole, since they are saying, in essence, the same thing: Nobody has the right to tell anyone what is right for him or her. You should be free to live any way you want so long as you’re not harming other people.
Homer: Episode 3
Homeric epic poems were not originally written but preserved by a tradition of oral composition that made these stories easier to recite (and remember). To appreciate the brilliant technique, it is useful to understand dactylic hexameter, which is used throughout the Iliad, as well as how the various “homeric” texts came down into the texts we know today as the Iliad and the Odyssey.
More April Birthdays
Francis Ford Coppola, Robert Casadessus, Buddha, Cioran, W.C. Fields, Charles Baudelaire (PS, the final “s” in fleur de lis is pronounced!)
Thoughts on Churchless Easter 2020
A year ago I attended Midnight Mass at St. Michael’s Abbey of the Norbertine order in Silverado out here in Orange County. It began with a procession with candles, then continued with the beautiful liturgy going back many hundreds of years.
