In 2004, the St. Joseph’s University men’s basketball team made a long run in the N.C.A.A. tournament, falling just short of the Final Four. This excerpt from Aaron Bracy’s ‘A Soaring Season’ tells part of that thrilling story.
Ideas
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Dick Button taught Americans how to watch, judge and love figure skating
Dick Button, the voice of figure skating for half a decade, taught us what figure skating was supposed to be.
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Van Gogh’s holy family—and mine
Looking at the Van Goghs we see a few parallels with the Holy Family, who knew humiliation and repudiation.
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The Fellini film that scandalized Catholic audiences—and the Jesuits that defended it
Federico Fellini’s “La Dolce Vita” scandalized Italian audiences. But it was a group of Jesuit priests who were determined to offer a more nuanced interpretation of the film.
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Puccini, opera and the arts as a gift from God
Giacomo Puccini, the composer of “La Bohème,” “Tosca” and “Madama Butterfly,” has been called the world’s most popular songwriter, and with good reason.
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A.I., C.S. Lewis and the dangers of artificial prophets
There have always been false prophets, but now we have something else: artificial ones.
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Comedian Matt Rife’s crowd work depends on marginalized people in the audience in ‘Walking Red Flag’
Rife’s humor of the quick, off-the cuff variety is best suited to these more conversational modes of presentation. He is lucky that he has a gift for improvisation and interacting with crowds, because his straight up standup is pedestrian.
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Batman, Bruce Wayne and the complexity of the superhero’s psyche
In “Batman: The Caped Crusader,” we explore the mystery of heroism.
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Fathers and Sons Contemplating ‘Field of Dreams’
The relationship between Ray and his father is the part of ‘Field of Dreams’ that has the most meaning to me. The film expertly takes the audience on the journey of getting in a fight with your dad and its aftermath.
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The true story of the Christian teen behind ‘The Paradoxical Commandments’ for effective protest
“The Paradoxical Commandments” peal out a truth that no one wants to hear: Doing right is its own reward. And it was formulated by, of all people, a teenager.