Nothing New Under the Sun

I have read and seen a couple of literary books and movies in the past few weeks. Unless one is familiar, however, with a substantial number of plots, the intertextuality could easily escape one's notice. The first is David Wroblewski's The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, and the second is the film The Way starring Martin Sheen. One is the retelling of Shakespeare's Hamlet, and the other is another version of Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales. Again, we are reminded of Solomon's lament in the book of Ecclesiastes, there's "nothing new under the sun."

The Wrobelewski novel does offer some novelty in the retelling of the famous tale of Hamlet. In this case, the protagonist is a young boy who is mute, though he does have the gift of hearing. Ophelia is not a young woman who, at least as Hamlet perceives her, is disloyal but instead she is a pet dog. Horatio is not a peer but an old man who offers sage advice after the death of Polonius (a veterinarian in the novel). The ending, of course, is tragic as is the original piece.

The film features a group of pilgrims walking the road between El Camino and Santiago de Compostela in France and Spain. At the end of the walk, one finds the statue of St. James where spiritual peace is achieved. Like Chaucer's characters, they each need a physical or psychological healing which must take place, i. e. healing from physical abuse in a marriage, healing from grief over the loss of a son, healing from the abuses of the church, healing from obesity, and so on.

The book and the film were both well done, yet one yearns for originality still in art.

The Invasion of the Earthworms and the Caterpillars

Last week I heard a report from the Fayetteville, Arkansas, NPR station chronicling an invasion of some 100 plus earthworms into one of the campus building at the University. After several scientists were interviewed, they attributed this invasion to the recent 5.6 earthquake in central Oklahoma a few weeks ago. Their reasoning was logical--that a disruption in the underbelly of the earth would naturally cause these little beings to try to escape--much like all of us that Saturday night. I was sitting on the sofa in our house in Northwest Arkansas waiting on my son and grandchildren to return home from the football game. Since it was a windy night, I at first thought the rumbling in the house was a tornado since we are known for these in our part of the world. I soon, however, decided it was an earthquake and turned on the nightly news immediately for confirmation. They reporters were discussing the flickering lights in the studio caused by the shaking. I called my son, who was in Taco Bell with the family, who hadn't felt anything. The next morning the grandchildren asked my husband, already in bed at eleven, if he felt anything. He simply said that he felt the shaking but thought "it was Mom B. getting into bed."

The caterpillar invasion followed shortly after the earthquake as well. Again, the wind continued, and I attributed the downed baby caterpillars to being blown from the trees. My husband assured me, however, that there were no bag worms this time of year. The streets, as well as our living room, seemed to have many earthworms and caterpillars around.

Many of our states have been hit hard this year by the bizarre weather from last winter forward--unbelievably cold weather in the deep South (20 below zero), numerous spring floods deep enough to close Interstate 40 for a period of time, severe drought in the summer, tornadoes, hail, and now earthquakes. What's a person to do?

Guess Who's Coming to Thanksgiving Dinner

While taking my usual walk on the neighborhood paths this week, I heard music critic Milo Miles of NPR fame discuss his dream guests for Thanksgiving dinner. His choices were not unexpected and included Bach, Mendelssohn, and Leonard Bernstein. I begin to also think about possible guests of my own for a Thanksgiving dinner. Mine would be Jesus, Paul, and Mary Magdalene.

Jesus, of course, for Christians would be an obvious choice since we would all have so many questions to ask of Him. What, for example, does He think of the modern social issues which are the topics of our discussion in Protestant churches, i. e. abortion, homosexuality, divorce, and so on? I suspect that His answer would be that, if He thought them extremely important, He would have specifically addressed them in His teaching. It is enough perhaps to know of His suffering, His extreme patience with all who would be His followers, His sacrifice for humanity, and His unconditional love.

The apostle Paul, however, might be more of a challenge to those who have for years questioned his position on women in the New Testament. Was it, for example, only in the context of specific New Testament churches that he cautioned women not to speak? Or was it a universal, everlasting admonition? He has been labeled as a sexist for years by feminists.

Mary Magdalene has also suffered in reputation through the past two thousand years and has been labeled a prostitute, though she was one of Jesus' closest disciples. Is it true that the hierarchy of the Catholic Church simply developed this myth to shrink the role of women in the church?

The dinner would be an intimate gathering of just four people. We would skip the ham, of course, and serve turkey only to this Jewish crowd. By the end of the evening, I would hope to be far more enlightened on the mysteries of their lives and teachings. I would also hope to be a better person in the future because of it.

Killing Clyde

My extended family in rural Kansas is facing a dilemma common to many farm families every year--to kill or not to kill the pet turkey for Thanksgiving. The pet's name is Clyde and has been raised by my sister-in-law and her two daughters for the past few months. They vote to pardon Clyde, similar to the two turkeys set free each year at the White House. They believe it would be unconscionable to eat Clyde on the holiday. On the other hand, one of the alpha males in the family has volunteered to shoot Clyde and dress out the breast meat only since he considers working with the dark meat "too much trouble."

I know that the usual advice to farm families in similar situations is to simply suspend one's emotions and go ahead and sell an animal such as a steer at the auction. It's also not that hard to kill the chickens on the farm since one does not get so attached to them perhaps. The whole incident has led me to question whether there are famous birds in cartoons that we grow attached to. I know there is Foghorn Leghorn, but he's not exactly a lovable character since he's always pestering all the other animals in the barnyard.

I lean on the side of buying a fully-dressed turkey, unknown as a personality to the family, at the grocery store and allowing Clyde to live. Oh, by the way these girls are not small in the family, 23 and 27 respectively. More on the story will follow--after Thanksgiving.

"Baby is its own excuse for being."

My book club discussed John L'Heureux's short story "The Comedian" yesterday. The crux of the piece centers on a young couple, Corinne and Russ, who face an unwanted pregnancy. On the first page of the story, L'Heureux states, "Baby is its own excuse for being." Corrine is an upcoming comedian, and her husband owns a failing construction business. The story is complicated by the fact that Corinne thinks she hears her baby singing within her womb. She is the only one who can hear it. With the doctor's advice, she decides to abort her child and then changes her mind and decides to keep the baby after all. This "to abort or not to abort" decision also confronts many couples in today's society.

As we are aware, my home state of Mississippi is now in the process of adding a life-at-fertilization ballot initiative to their laws. It defines a fertilized egg as a person. The complicating factors here involve the possibility that the fertilized egg will be a result of cloning or some "functioning equivalent thereof," whatever that means.

My own values on this topic have evolved over the years. In the 1970's after the Roe vs. Wade decision legalizing abortion, I supported a woman's right to abort. My knowledge of the topic was very limited, but I was a feminist doctoral student who was convinced that women should make their own decisions on this topic. Later I became pro-life after reading a very convincing argument about the subject. My dilemma these days is whether I can be consistent in my position by continuing to say, "I don't think the law should be changed, but I personally do not support abortion."

At this point I am leaning more toward support for the Mississippi ballot initiative. This child is a person and should have the same rights and privileges as all citizens.

A Modern Day Prophet

I have been waiting for quite some time to see Arkansas director Jeff Nichols' latest film, Take Shelter. Although not set in Arkansas this time (after his Shotgun Stories), it certainly reflects the economic fears of the times. A young working class husband, Curtis, and his wife are rearing their daughter who is deaf when he begins to experience hallucinations regarding storms. The pattern of the dreams is very much the same night after night. The storm clouds appear, often accompanied by thousands of birds dropping from the sky, ushering in some type of harm. It seems that not only nature is causing harm but also those who are closest to Curtis--his dog, his co-worker, his wife even. The question is whether Curtis is actually a modern day prophet or simply one who has inherited his mother's mental disease. He attempts to warn the neighbors of impending doom, yet no one will listen. He is a Noah without an audience once again.

While the thriller is interesting in itself as a psychological study, for me the real importance of the film lay in its portrayal of modern day families. They work hard to pay their mortgages and house payments yet still struggle with the rising costs of health care, job retention, high gas prices, the lack of mental health facilities in a rural environment, etc. The drop of the stock market by some 500+ plus points in two days does not even enter into their thinking. They are not the 1% in America. They live from paycheck to paycheck. It's enough to make anyone somewhat paranoid as he or she reflects upon the future.

Personally, I seem to move from place to place in my thinking. Normally, I am optimistic regarding the future, yet the storm clouds on the horizon do seem to be growing as we watch from afar (like Curtis). Greece's monetary crisis continues to grow, the unemployment stays over 9% month after month, the housing markets continue to decline, and debt both personally and in the country rises to fourteen trillion dollars. The prophet we need will have to possess supernatural powers to help us. Let's hope to see that one on the horizon soon.

Nothingness Without End

I have been a fan of actor Ryan Gosling in recent years and believe him to be one of the finest young actors in Hollywood today. His versatility extends to playing a Jewish Neo-Nazi to a buff young man who sleeps with a different woman every night to a man in a troubled marriage to a political staffer to a mentally challenged man in love with an inflatable doll. Yesterday I watched The Believer about the Jewish Neo-Nazi. The plot resolves around a hater who is searching for a theology in which he can believe.

The problem, as Dan Balint sees it, is that the Jews as a culture were too docile and unmanly from the beginning. When Abraham is asked to sacrifice his son Isaac, he obeys God's voice without question. When the Jews suffered atrocities in World War II, they do not fight back against the Germans. Dan is rebelling against his religious heritage that asks him to obey the laws of the faith and to do good for others. There is no promise of eternal life after this one, just "nothingness without end." He longs for a faith he can understand, and he believes he finds it in the far right group to which he becomes attached. As the movie progresses, however, he finds his childhood teaching cannot be so easily shed.

I too have longed for some freedom through the years regarding the faith of my childhood, Southern Baptist theology, which like Judaism demands strict adherence to a set of do's and don'ts. While we give lip service to the idea that Jesus replaced the law with grace, we live as if we don't really believe it. In my search for more freedom I have moved to the Episcopal faith. I have found all the freedom I could ever want there, but it is a stretch to say there is a set of beliefs I can adhere to. Some have even joked that "Episcopal theology" is an oxymoron. Once more I find myself like my mother who continued to refine her faith until her death. I am now re-evaluating my membership in the Episcopal faith since I find it perhaps too intellectual--too much in the realm of the scientific, humanistic, and atheistic. The final straw could be the promotion of a concert Sunday night at the church which will feature witches and warlocks. I am still too much of a Southern Baptist to believe in the appropriateness of such an event within the church.

Can I too believe in "nothingness without end"? Thankfully not.