The Narthex

On an Amtrak train approaching Maryland, Friday, April 15, 2011 Craig invites Jason, a young genius in his late twenties, to join us. He is a non-degreed application technician devoted to robots as chief artist and scientist in the employ of Mechanimal in Pittsburgh, PA. He is traveling to D.C.…

Berea College, in rural Kentucky, was founded in 1855 by a Christian minister. The private liberal arts work college is known, at least regionally, for providing free education to students and for having been the first college in the South to be co-ed and racially integrated. Since its beginning, Berea…

4:00 PM, Wednesday, April 13, 2011, near Raton, NM  We’re approaching 9,000 feet as we climb to Raton. These are the first pine trees we have seen on this trip. I’m beginning to feel some shortness of breath climbing the steep stairs from the rest rooms. It’s an uncomfortable feeling,…

Wednesday, April 13, 2011, 11:10 AM, Albuquerque, NM As I deboard the train for exercise during our stopover, I notice an old man having great difficulty stepping down the coach stairs. There he stands wobbly on the platform, mustering the energy to walk hesitantly with a cane, struggling to pull…

According to news reports, a shocking number of Mt. Everest climbers have been dying -- eleven at the summit and nearly 300 more below, mostly from avalanches. Recently my friend David skyped me from Florida. He is a former whiz kid of Wall Street. We usually chat about the latest…

Two members of Congress with decidedly socialist leanings announced this week their plans to introduce bills that would cap interest rates on credit cards and consumer loans at 15 percent.  Calling it a “national usury law” the two politicians hope to reduce the amount of interest that consumers pay for…

In Balboa Park, a renewed antique carousel turns round and round, with bobbing horses and the familiar circus décor and music. It has one of the few operational brass-ring games anywhere. I was touring the Park to create an excursion video for the San Diego County Library branch in San…

This year my parish re-themed Lent to address the Climate CO2 Crisis. It's apparently a "wholesale" international push (by Global Catholic Climate Movement, a "collective" of diocesan offices and international NGOs inspired by Laudato Si and Catholic Climate Covenant, the USCCB-related entity) with local "retail" distributors, embodied in miniature in our…

With presidential candidates bragging about it and state after state legalizing it, the use of recreational marijuana is fast becoming a cultural norm in our country.  The Church, with only a few notable exceptions, has remained strangely silent on the issue, tacitly implying consent to the drug's “responsible use.”  If…

Our local senior center holds a well-attended bingo game once a week. “B-10,” a moderator announces by microphone, and a hundred heads nod to scan their cards. It’s a good money maker for city services while providing a needed social event. Our local parish does the same to provide funding…

A recent poll revealed that almost one-third of Americans and Brits are in favor of “rebranding” Santa Claus.  Santa 2.0 might wear sneakers instead of his trademark boots or he might become she or it, with 27% of respondents favoring either gender neutralizing him or making him a woman.  Christian…

When I was a kid, coffee was served only to adults at our dinner table. Smoking was definitely a no-no, so we had to leave the dining room if a guest lit up a cigar. Even profanity was prohibited in our presence. The reason, of course, was that these would…

A lesbian couple in Texas has become the first such couple to give birth to a baby that they both carried.  Using a technique dubbed Reciprocal Effortless IVF, one of the women had several of her eggs fertilized while she acted as an incubator using a device called INVOCell.  After…

The headline caught my eye: “Banksy shreds a painting, and its value likely rises.” Even if you sampled the media fanfare, some background helps. Banksy is an unnamed but not unnoticed U.K. street artist. The painting, Girl with Balloon, first appeared in 2002 as a stencil on a London building.…

The Roman Empire depended entirely on its slave culture. Back then, Spartacus, a former Thracian soldier who had deserted, was captured and enslaved. After being forced to perform as a gladiator, he rebelled. He was eventually followed by 70,000 slaves to the mountain caves near Vesuvius. The Empire, threatened after…