Well, That Was a Bit Interesting

Tornadoes, hail, thunder snow, and a blizzard. In five days. Must be spring.

This is the time of year when the weather out here is exceedingly variable, thanks to diving cold fronts. When they combine with low pressure systems that pull water up from the Gulf of Mexico, it can lead to anything from branch-breaking wet snow to hot and cold running tornadoes. Or in this case, “yes.”

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Green Beer Day

OK, not really. For some this is a day to honor one’s Irish ancestry and heritage, and to eat corned beef and cabbage and potatoes, drink good beer (Guinness, Harp, et al), listen to Irish music, and honor the efforts of an early Christian missionary who is associated with Ireland although he is a Briton. If you are a politician in Boston or New York City, you’d better be seen at an Irish event, or your absence Will Be Noted.

Yes, this is an Orthodox icon of an Irish saint from Britain. Next question?

Why yes, we were plotting, Officer

And editing, and telling stories, and comparing “you think that cover art is bad, here let me pull this one up for you,” and trying to figure out what is in the Secret Spice Blend in that one recipe, and, “Oh geez, Hollywood, that’s a side-sword, not a rapier,” and “OK, but what caliber for an Eohippus” sorts of things.

Yes, there was a meeting of the North Texas Shooters, Writers, and Pilots’ Association.

If I were in charge of the dictionary . . .

I would toss it with great force at the next person who says “impactful.” Apparently this is the new word of choice to describe anything that the news reader or weather forecaster feels will be: important, serious, grave, looming, highly effective, critical, dangerous, or make major short or long term changes to a situation.

Book Review: Beyond Order

Peterson, Jordan. Beyond Order: Twelve More Rules for Life (New York, Portfolio Books, 2021)

If the original twelve rules were about organizing yourself and your pocket of society, then Beyond Order is about living in the chaos around you, and staying true to yourself and others in the midst of that chaos. The book reminds me a bit of Viktor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning, in the sense that the focus is on you, the reader’s, and your way of dealing with the world and your attitude to chaos beyond your direct control.

Story Power: Jung, Fiction, and Culture

So, you can’t read much by a Jungian, or about Jung, without stories. I just finished Beyond Order and will have a review up later. I went on and got a hard copy, too, so I can annotate (and in case the e-book gets disappeared.) I suspect one reason why I find Peterson’s way of framing things so useful is because he is looking through Story.

Tree of Life

It’s an image found in many cultures – a tree with religious, ahem, roots, a symbol or a character in legend and faith. Trees are impressive wherever one finds them, and it is easy to see why certain individual trees, or trees in odd places, or certain types of tree, inspired veneration. Eventually, trees became elements of imagery in animist and later religions.

OK, maybe not these trees.

She, Who Will Be Pampered

I needed to make the bed. As you can tell, this was not on someone else’s agenda. Now, to be honest, since it was -11 F out with a wind chill of “don’t ask,” and horizontal snow, Athena T. Cat had some justification for staying put on the warm faux-fur throw on my bed. In fact, she was probably smarter than the two-foots who was up and about.

Diminishing Evil

The topic of “evil” has been on my mind recently, in part because I’m getting ready to teach Europe in the 1920s-30s, which means Stalin, Mussolini, and Co. Part of it is because I got caught off-guard by the ending of a cycle of three symphonic rock albums by Dark Sarah, and in part because of current cultural events.

What the Author is Reading . . .

the inside of my eyelids. (I wish).

Jordan Peterson’s Beyond Order. I just started it, so I don’t have a review up yet.