One of nature’s ironies is that when it comes to wildflowers, the semi-arid West, even the desert Southwest in springtime, outdoes the green-forested East. I am told the secret is sunlight. The open forests and high meadows of the Sierra Nevada or Colorado’s San Juan Mountains seem to sp
Of Many Things
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You may not have noticed, but the listing of associate editors on the masthead of this journal is determined by seniority. When I returned from the Philippines in the Spring of 1972 to join the staff, my name was added at the end of a list of seven other Jesuits who had preceded me. Immediately ahea
Posted inFaith, Of Many Things
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The best-known prayer among American Catholics, after the Our Father and the Hail Mary, may be the one to Anthony of Padua, which goes, Saint Anthony, Saint Anthony, please come around. Something is lost and cannot be found. How many times have you turned to the Portuguese-born Franciscan after losing your keys?
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One summer in the early 1920’s, Ms. Lorelei Lee, a resident of Manhattan who had grown up in Little Rock, Ark., made a trip to Europe. This diversion was sponsored by her gentleman friend, Mr. Gus Eisman, known as the Button King of Chicago. During the journey, Ms. Lee kept a diary, which, fortuitously preserved by Anita Loos, was published in 1925 as Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. It became an American classic.
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Among the books I would list as must-read but too-little-known is Ronald G. Musto’s The Catholic Peace Tradition (Orbis, 1986; Peace Books, 2002). A history of 2000 years of Catholic peacemaking, it is a vast survey from which I never cease to learn. The sheer accumulation of information gives
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http://americamagazine.org/internal/magazine/article.cfm?article_id=5440&issueID=613
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“One a of the lessons we all must learn if we are to survive spiritually and psychologically is how to leave behind what is unnecessary and travel light. Wise counsel, this, from Robert J. Wicks, a professor at Loyola College of Maryland and the author of some 40 general and professional books. His
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We buried Joe Hacala two days short of his 62nd birthday. Joe’s last job was as president of Wheeling Jesuit University. It was a natural fit, because Joe was a native West Virginian, deeply committed to his home state and the poor people of the Appalachian region. Joe and I came together in W
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It is not easy to get published in America. In fact, for every piece we print, three or four are rejected. Before being accepted for publication, every manuscript is screened, many by three or four associate editors, followed by the editor in chief. Sometimes even that is followed by a conversation with the editorial staff as a whole. Bottom line: getting published here is not easy!
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Months ago a friend sent me an article from The Atlanta Constitution (10/22/06) about a man whose family I knew well when we all lived together at Koinonia Farm in Americus, Ga. Today Koinonia is known as the birthplace of Habitat for Humanity, but a generation ago it suffered the bitter distinction