While surfing today, I came across a great-looking high-school resource from Catholic Heritage Curriculum, a home schooling company. They have created book and study guide packets to guide students through great Catholic books. Packets are available for Chesterton's poems Lepanto and The Ballad of the White Horse, Hilaire Belloc's Path to Rome, T.S. Eliot's Murder in the Cathedral, and others. The resources are designed with an introduction to the author, a discussion of literary elements, questions and exercises, an answer key, and teacher's resources.
http://www.chcweb.com/catalog/Exclusives/CatholicGreatBooksSeries/catalog.html
In her classic on speechwriting, Simply Speaking, Peggy Noonan stressed that you write your best speeches when you are reading great speeches. Analogously, you will write great books and poems when you are reading great books and poems. Self-study is an essential part of the writing life. Even if you are fifty-five, a well-designed book and study guide can improve your understanding of great ideas, great literary forms, and great authors.
Each of us writers can find areas of literature into which we have never delved. Why not use a study guide to assist in the exciting discoveries involved in the literary life?
Hopefully Catholic Heritage Books will continue to make additional volumes available in this series. It is a great idea.
Thursday, May 3, 2007
Tuesday, May 1, 2007
May 1st: Feast of St. Joseph the Worker
Today is one of many Church feast days dedicated to St. Joseph. It celebrates St. Joseph the Worker, the carpenter and humble artisan to whom God entrusted his Son and Our Lady.
On another feast day of St. Joseph, March 19, 1997, John Paul II spoke the following words on the subject of work:
The Church reminds all who attempt to assert the predominance of technology, thereby reducing man to a "product" or a means of production, that "man is the subject of work," since in the divine plan "work is 'for man'" and not man 'for work.'"
Have a wonderful Tuesday, and don't get too frazzled at work!
On another feast day of St. Joseph, March 19, 1997, John Paul II spoke the following words on the subject of work:
The Church reminds all who attempt to assert the predominance of technology, thereby reducing man to a "product" or a means of production, that "man is the subject of work," since in the divine plan "work is 'for man'" and not man 'for work.'"
Have a wonderful Tuesday, and don't get too frazzled at work!
Sunday, April 29, 2007
Everything's online now, even Elvish!
No, not Elvis. He really is dead.
Elvish! http://www.elvish.org/
This can provoke thought about whether Tolkien's stories about little people have any moral merit, whether it is a waste of time or a noble use of our speculative intellect to create alternative worlds, etc...
or Elvish can be used the way kids use it: as a secret language to speak in when you don't want the teacher, boss, party officials, etc to know what you're really talking about. I believe it sounds quite a lot like Latvian. Others claim Tolkien based it on Irish.
Analyzing how Grimm's Fairy Tales differ from pagan folk tales because of our Christian beliefs is an area of interest... My reservations about Tolkien, Lewis, MacDonald, etc, is that to my knowledge, in 20th century England people didn't really believe in witches [or did they?]. Was it an inauthentic device, kind of like our liturgies that involve faux folk music-- written in New York apartments?-- to whip up inauthentic emotions? Also a real caution for Catholics is the problem of focusing on magic-- a thing forbidden by the Lord our God. A complex topic-- certainly we are allowed to imagine; but how do we tell stories without swallowing the evil we are trying to smash? WWJD?
Gentle reader, I hope these are enough distractions for today.
Comments most welcome!
Ellen
P.S. WWJD: back to Genesis: did giants like Finn McCool really live on the earth in antediluvian times? Maybe so....
Elvish! http://www.elvish.org/
This can provoke thought about whether Tolkien's stories about little people have any moral merit, whether it is a waste of time or a noble use of our speculative intellect to create alternative worlds, etc...
or Elvish can be used the way kids use it: as a secret language to speak in when you don't want the teacher, boss, party officials, etc to know what you're really talking about. I believe it sounds quite a lot like Latvian. Others claim Tolkien based it on Irish.
Analyzing how Grimm's Fairy Tales differ from pagan folk tales because of our Christian beliefs is an area of interest... My reservations about Tolkien, Lewis, MacDonald, etc, is that to my knowledge, in 20th century England people didn't really believe in witches [or did they?]. Was it an inauthentic device, kind of like our liturgies that involve faux folk music-- written in New York apartments?-- to whip up inauthentic emotions? Also a real caution for Catholics is the problem of focusing on magic-- a thing forbidden by the Lord our God. A complex topic-- certainly we are allowed to imagine; but how do we tell stories without swallowing the evil we are trying to smash? WWJD?
Gentle reader, I hope these are enough distractions for today.
Comments most welcome!
Ellen
P.S. WWJD: back to Genesis: did giants like Finn McCool really live on the earth in antediluvian times? Maybe so....
My favorite website on the Middle Ages
Dear Catholicwriters fan,
This website provides many hours of distraction, as well as edification.
http://www.monasticireland.com/index.htm
Learn all about the first Irish monastic settlements, and the beehive-shaped stone cells the ascetics lived in. Also fascinating: St. Brigid's Fire, lit for the poor to warm themselves at Kildare by this saint called "The Mary of Ireland." The fire has burned continuously and the nuns at Kildare tend the flame of hospitality to this day. Learn about Iona, St. Columba's home in the Outer Hebrides. Or Clonfert, the ruins on the Shannon, consisting of a door....
The thought has struck me again and again that the British Isles will not be reconverted to ardent faith while the holy places, where learning and faith were nourished, are left in ruins. We have no memory of what we cannot see, whether it is the battlefield of Manassas under a shopping mall, or four lands with silent monasteries destroyed by pagan Danes, or those lying wasted under manors built after the seizure of lands during King Henry's tenure. The British Isles once sent missions to Charlemagne's court which led to the reconversion of the continent ... if these halls of prayer, song and writing stand again, what could happen? Dream big dreams. God like big prayers, not little ones.
This website provides many hours of distraction, as well as edification.
http://www.monasticireland.com/index.htm
Learn all about the first Irish monastic settlements, and the beehive-shaped stone cells the ascetics lived in. Also fascinating: St. Brigid's Fire, lit for the poor to warm themselves at Kildare by this saint called "The Mary of Ireland." The fire has burned continuously and the nuns at Kildare tend the flame of hospitality to this day. Learn about Iona, St. Columba's home in the Outer Hebrides. Or Clonfert, the ruins on the Shannon, consisting of a door....
The thought has struck me again and again that the British Isles will not be reconverted to ardent faith while the holy places, where learning and faith were nourished, are left in ruins. We have no memory of what we cannot see, whether it is the battlefield of Manassas under a shopping mall, or four lands with silent monasteries destroyed by pagan Danes, or those lying wasted under manors built after the seizure of lands during King Henry's tenure. The British Isles once sent missions to Charlemagne's court which led to the reconversion of the continent ... if these halls of prayer, song and writing stand again, what could happen? Dream big dreams. God like big prayers, not little ones.
Never again have an unpublished thought!
Today a fan knee-deep in work wrote in and asked me to post some distracting updates. I think this update, "Never again have an unpublished thought," will, if properly pursued, lead to at least an entire week of distractions!
A bit of brainstorming and inspiration conspired to serve up the Big Rock Candy Mountain of writer's websites:
http://cfp.english.upenn.edu/cfp.html
That's right: a whole site devoted to "Calls for Papers in English and American Literature." Jump on the listserv, browse the archives of announcements, or join in a conversation on Brit Lit. Hours of entertainment, and a listserv subscription too!
If you yearn to deliver papers on Catholic writers such as Flannery O'Connor, Walker Percy, John Henry Cardinal Newman-- or examining how Catholicism influenced and haunted writers like Hemingway and Hawthorne... here is your site!
As well we must remember that to be Catholic does not always mean pursuing theology... Pursuing beauty for its own sake is good. After the VA Tech tragedy, the world could benefit from a sound paper on "Call me Ishmael," [not Ismail Ax] or an analysis of what George really meant when he showed Lucy Honeychurch the interrogation mark [another literary illusion possibly copied by the assassi, whose paper header one day replaced his name with a "?" Is this to be taken at face value? Or was this a bright loose cannon who was trying to flirt with the teacher, Brit lit style? Was a literary allusion mistaken by illiterate journalists as a sign of deep disturbance? Surely the eventual killer had read "A Room with a View."]
The disturbing VA Tech massacre, perpetrated by a student of English, causes us to pause and think about the real purpose of letters. Art and beauty can lead us to God, or we can distort the arts into an egoistic and meaningless pursuit. Catholic writing must serve our ultimate end and the glory of God.
A frivolous distraction has provoked some serious thought. We need good papers, hard-thought, courageous papers, to address the topic of literature's moral purpose, and we need good literature that honestly address free will, good and evil, our ultimate end of Heaven, and the like.
A bit of brainstorming and inspiration conspired to serve up the Big Rock Candy Mountain of writer's websites:
http://cfp.english.upenn.edu/cfp.html
That's right: a whole site devoted to "Calls for Papers in English and American Literature." Jump on the listserv, browse the archives of announcements, or join in a conversation on Brit Lit. Hours of entertainment, and a listserv subscription too!
If you yearn to deliver papers on Catholic writers such as Flannery O'Connor, Walker Percy, John Henry Cardinal Newman-- or examining how Catholicism influenced and haunted writers like Hemingway and Hawthorne... here is your site!
As well we must remember that to be Catholic does not always mean pursuing theology... Pursuing beauty for its own sake is good. After the VA Tech tragedy, the world could benefit from a sound paper on "Call me Ishmael," [not Ismail Ax] or an analysis of what George really meant when he showed Lucy Honeychurch the interrogation mark [another literary illusion possibly copied by the assassi, whose paper header one day replaced his name with a "?" Is this to be taken at face value? Or was this a bright loose cannon who was trying to flirt with the teacher, Brit lit style? Was a literary allusion mistaken by illiterate journalists as a sign of deep disturbance? Surely the eventual killer had read "A Room with a View."]
The disturbing VA Tech massacre, perpetrated by a student of English, causes us to pause and think about the real purpose of letters. Art and beauty can lead us to God, or we can distort the arts into an egoistic and meaningless pursuit. Catholic writing must serve our ultimate end and the glory of God.
A frivolous distraction has provoked some serious thought. We need good papers, hard-thought, courageous papers, to address the topic of literature's moral purpose, and we need good literature that honestly address free will, good and evil, our ultimate end of Heaven, and the like.
Thursday, April 26, 2007
Distance Ed for Catholic Writers
The founder of a Christian screenwriter's guild tipped me off to this distance ed resource:
http://www.uclaextension.edu/
UCLA has a prestigious Writer's Certificates program. You can take classes in creative writing, screenwriting, writing for TV, etc. Great basic training at a time when the market needs and demands Catholic content onscreen and in books! I hope to take a class this summer...
Lots of great Catholic distance ed programs exist, but the International Catholic University is singular in its versatility as well as its faculty. Started by Ralph McInerny in the 1990's, the ICU pairs audio/video material with a course syllabus. The courses are offered for M.A. degree credit, in either theology or philosophy, from Holy Apostles' Seminary in Cromwell, CT. Courses are also offered for self-study on DVD/audio or VHS, at a reasonable cost of $75 a course. Starving Catholic artists can purchase a course on, say, the Liberal Arts, Religious Art History, or Christology... and then when they sell their first novel and their budget for continuing education is greater, enroll in the M.A. program.
More on this topic later!
http://www.uclaextension.edu/
UCLA has a prestigious Writer's Certificates program. You can take classes in creative writing, screenwriting, writing for TV, etc. Great basic training at a time when the market needs and demands Catholic content onscreen and in books! I hope to take a class this summer...
Lots of great Catholic distance ed programs exist, but the International Catholic University is singular in its versatility as well as its faculty. Started by Ralph McInerny in the 1990's, the ICU pairs audio/video material with a course syllabus. The courses are offered for M.A. degree credit, in either theology or philosophy, from Holy Apostles' Seminary in Cromwell, CT. Courses are also offered for self-study on DVD/audio or VHS, at a reasonable cost of $75 a course. Starving Catholic artists can purchase a course on, say, the Liberal Arts, Religious Art History, or Christology... and then when they sell their first novel and their budget for continuing education is greater, enroll in the M.A. program.
More on this topic later!
Government Funding Deadlines May 1st
It is a little-known fact that the National Endowment for the Humanities offers research grants to independent scholars. Affiliation with a university or think-tank is not a requirement for receiving government funding for a worthy project.
While endorsements of a particular religion using government funds is prohibited, many humanistic topics that are faith-related could be researched, provided they are tied to the greater goals of the NEH guidelines. The current NEH head, Dana Gioia, is an accomplished writer with a sound mind.
Several deadlines are coming up on May 1st. Whether or not you intend to apply this year, bookmark this page:
http://www.neh.gov/grants/grantsbydivision.html
Who knows, maybe this year's winning research project could be the "Collected Works of St. Katherine Drexel"?
While endorsements of a particular religion using government funds is prohibited, many humanistic topics that are faith-related could be researched, provided they are tied to the greater goals of the NEH guidelines. The current NEH head, Dana Gioia, is an accomplished writer with a sound mind.
Several deadlines are coming up on May 1st. Whether or not you intend to apply this year, bookmark this page:
http://www.neh.gov/grants/grantsbydivision.html
Who knows, maybe this year's winning research project could be the "Collected Works of St. Katherine Drexel"?
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