Great Expectations. Or Should We Say the British “Dallas”?

Quite the day on the world stage. And as we know:"All the world's a stage,And all the men and women merely players;They have their exits and their entrances”And that’s an important part of today: the tradition and culture of Great Britain. A people whose culture has informed the English-speaking world...

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 Mapeel     4/29/2011     current events, literature, television   

“Shadow was not superstitious”: How I auditioned for American Gods Audiobook, back in the day

"Shadow was not superstitious." Try saying that several times in a row. It’s not an easy phrase, and it falls tonally flat easily. It’s the opening line of the Audition Paragraph for a chance to read a part of the upcoming Audiobook for Neil Gaiman’s American Gods. And I have auditioned! I’m late...

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 Mapeel     4/26/2011     blogs   

The Empty Tomb

Dum transisset Sabbatum, Maria Magdalena et Maria Jacobi et Salome emerunt aromata : ut venientes ungerent Jesum. Alleluia. Et valde mane una sabbatorum veniunt ad monumentum : orto iam sole.Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome: From the agony at the foot of the cross to being the first...

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 Mapeel     4/24/2011   

Attendite! "Pay Attention"

"O vos omnes qui transitis per viam, attendite et videte: Si est dolor similis sicut dolor meus." "O all you who walk by on the road, pay attention and see: If there be any sorrow like my sorrow." The great cry of hurt written by the prophet Jeremiah mourning the destruction of the First and Second Temples, traditionally recited on Tisha B’Av, was co-opted by the first-rate Catholic composers...

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 Mapeel     4/22/2011     music   

The Ghosts of the Blue and the Gray

I am drawn to the elegiac. There are moments in world history that can only be honored by our focus on the actions and lives of those who came before us. Sometimes, it’s all that‘s in our power to do.That’s how I feel about this 150 anniversary of the firing on Fort Sumter, and the four blood-soaked...

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 Mapeel     4/11/2011     current events