Art

Thank You, Monks!: The laborious art of making medieval books

by Mary Valle September 16, 2013

You know how sometimes you find yourself slogging through a literally and figuratively Big Novel thinking “This ‘work’ is long merely for sake of acquiring the Heft of Importance”—and “I’m 400 pages into this thing but still think I’m going to cut bait

Film

Undead Again: Brad Pitt’s hair and other oddities of ‘World War Z’

by Mary Valle June 28, 2013

Despite using phrases like “the Jesuit order—you know, the one that includes the pope” and “Catholics—1/6 of the world’s population” I was unable to convince Plan B Entertainment that I was cool enough to get an advance DVD of "World War Z." I was

Faith in Focus

I Remember Mary: Can we revive a classic Catholic name?

by Mary Valle May 7, 2013

I’m a Mary. My mom is a Mary. My older sister is a Bridget Mary. Although I was born in the decline-of-Mary era, I was never the sole Mary around, because I attended Catholic school, although some of my fellow Marys got to go by their middle names or nicknames. As a child, I wished that I had

From Our Archives

The Fierce Urgency of Now

by Mary Valle January 16, 2013

The following is a guest blog post from freelance writer Mary Valle nbsp A friend Christine Lorenz posted this video on Facebook a few days ago It rsquo s a short video taken in her yard on January 13 2013 It was 68 degrees Farenheit in Pittsburgh and wolf spiderlings were running amok Most y

Television

Elvis Who?: Why Dolores Hart left Hollywood behind

by Mary Valle April 16, 2012

Why Dolores Hart left Hollywood behind

From Our Archives

The Littlest Way of Lent

by Mary Valle February 27, 2012

For two or three consecutive years in grade school I got a handout at the beginning of Lent. It was a millionth-generation chart of sorts, handdrawn by someone in the 1970s, most likely. It had little pictures of eggs and jellybeans with little hand-written suggestions in them. The idea was that you