Peony Moss: August 2007 Archives

There, did that grab your attention?

That title's worthy of an essay, isn't it? Or at least a really long, well-thought out, annotated post. Alas, I won't be serving one of those up; just some scattered thoughts. I wanted to write something short on Deathly Hallows, and then with Pansy's post....

First, Pansy's post. I'm not getting into the Harry = Evil Witchcraft!!!!! thing because there are plenty of other people who have responded to those concerns -- for example, Nancy Brown.

I read the first three books back in 2000. I didn't think they were The Greatest Thing Ever, but I thought they were clever and diverting and I could see why kids liked them. For myself, I enjoyed the funny stuff -- the dog-Latin, the details of the Wizarding word, the outrageous names -- and the satire. I was pleased to read a new book for kids in which evil was evil, good was good, and heroism was celebrated and not sneered at. And I enjoyed the mysteries, with the twists at the end.

My sister encouraged me to pick the series back up again, and I read Goblet of Fire and Order of the Phoenix in 2005. This time, I was hooked by the increasing complexity of the story -- and the increasing complexity of the characters.

And I think the characters are what I like best about the books. Good guys who act like bad guys; bad guys who act like good guys; bad guys who think they're good guys; good guys who are loving and giving and brave and still have very serious faults. I think it would be so much fun to read the books with a pre-teen or a teen -- what great discussions you could get into! "Was Harry being fair in that situation?" "Why do you think so-and-so's acting this way?"

Rowling has also laid her clues carefully. I'm rereading the books now with an eye toward all the clues I'd missed, the little details that seemed insignificant the first time around but have new meaning now that the series is complete. Again, I think you could have a lot of fun reading these books with teenagers and teaching them to read closely, paying attention to recurring phrases and themes and allusions. ("What do you think Argus Filch's name tells us about him? And the name of his cat?")

And yes, I'm very happy to read books aimed at teens in which dating couples sleep in separate bedrooms, in which babies are blessings, in which being open to life is presented as a sign of generosity.

So that's why I like the Potter books: clever puzzles, interesting characters, lots to talk about, and a world view that values duty, generosity, self-sacrifice.

Now for the other stuff, which will go in the extended entry because it's full of Deathly Hallows spoilers:

TSO links to a Catholic-oriented temperament quiz. It takes around ten minutes.

I took it and was told that I am a melancholic-sanguine (65%-35%). I could buy that. I like that this quiz takes a stab at seeing which temperament is dominant in us mixed types.

I heard Art Bennett on Catholic Answers last week; I think this is the web site he'd mentioned he was involved with.

Pansy's in a rut. Smock could also use some ideas as well.

Can you help? We're looking for recipes that...

-- are fairly simple to prepare
-- don't have a lot of "goo" (cream of mushroom soup, Velveeta, dried onion soup mix, etc)
-- have a chance of tempting picky children
-- and that feed at least eight people.

What are the crowd-pleasers at your house? Maybe we should have a contest or something!

UPDATE: Thanks, Danielle, for the link, and a big welcome and thanks to Danielle's readers!

The Summa Mamas are talking about the "alpha mom" and "beta mom" thing.

I know there's a lot of tongue-in-cheek going on, but I can only take about forty seconds of this "alpha mom" and "beta mom" thing before I just want to weep. Who pronounces the "alpha moms" to be "alpha moms"? And why are some self-described "beta moms" allowing the (perceived) skills of others to make them feel inadequate? And what standards are they measuring themselves against?

If I had more time maybe I'd be able to say something eloquent about this being another manifestation of our messed-up culture -- first feminism heaped scorn on the traditional domestic arts, so a lot of women didn't learn them, but then people started to miss them, so the commercial culture started selling them back to us. And how better to sell them back to us than by using advertising and magazines to foster a sense of inadequacy?

TSO has this cool post up in which he "plays the curmudgeon so [I] don't have to." He watched a bit of a recent Republican debate (a task I am more than happy to delegate) and came away with some quotes to make curmudgeonly remarks about (note that he only had to catch "a bit" of the debate to come away with enough material for a good-sized post.)

A sample of the curmudgeonly stuff:

[Governor Huckabee] said he feels the answer to our health care problems is (drumroll) - greater emphasis on wellness rather than sickness.

[which] completely ignores the root causes of the health care crisis by ignoring lack of insureds, the incredible expansion of what health care now entails, and the fact that it is a human-labor intensive industry. The wellness philosophy is great but it merely postpones the inevitable. Wellness programs don't elminate sickness and death but merely delay them. Second, it sounds suspiciously like a call for government to go into micro-managing our exercise routines or lack thereof as well as every thing we eat (fast food - no way!).

So now that TSO's got that curmudgeon stuff out of the way, all I have to do is highlight a section I particularly agree with

the incredible expansion of what health care now entails, and the fact that it is a human-labor intensive industry

and state my agreement:

I think TSO is correct in his diagnosis of the causes of the health care crisis. There's simply more health care to be had than there was in the past, and that health care still needs to be delivered by human beings, who have to be paid.

Then I add my own commentary:

And the costs of paying those human beings are proportionately higher. Once, most bedside care was given by nuns (who weren't paid much) and nursing students (who weren't paid at all.) And there was no need to pay MRI technologists and other allied-health specialists because there were no MRIs, interventional radiology suites, and so on.

But now very few nuns are giving direct nursing care (the few left in health care are in administration) Nursing students are in short supply, and will no longer work for free. Patient care is hard work -- it's physically hard work and requires 24-hour staffing. And thanks to Griswold and Roe, the labor pool is smaller. So wages have be high enough to make it worth it for qualified candidates to pass up other career paths, get the education, enter the health professions, and show up for work evenings, nights, weekends, and holidays.

Throw in a pop-culture reference:

Even advanced societies such as the late Republic in Star Wars would pay real people -- even highly educated Jedis -- to fly spacecraft, but could only afford to have androids at the bedside to give medical and nursing care.

And I'm done! All the drudgery of watching the debate and coming up with curmudgeon stuff has been taken care of for me. (Even though I still don't understand what a "poncer" is.) Thanks, TSO!

Karen Marie died last night in her sleep.

Karen Marie's death notice in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel (with guest book).

"As for me, my life is already being poured away as a libation, and the time has come for me to depart. I have fought the good fight to the end; I have run the race to the finish; I have kept the faith; all there is to come for me now is the crown of uprightness which the Lord, the upright Judge, will give to me on that Day; and not only to me but to all those who have longer for His appearing." -- 2 Tim 4:7