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9 years ago @ This Side Of Glory - 50 Shades of Wrong · 0 replies · +1 points

And now the Gospel choir will lead us in "When the Saints Go Marching In" while Brother Jerome passes the plate.

9 years ago @ This Side Of Glory - What are we doing to t... · 0 replies · +1 points

By the way, I came across another example of what I'm talking about -- toddler in diapers doin' moves to "You Shoulda Put a Ring on It". This is old stuff, by this time (first posted in 2009 -- has over 6.6M views to date), but ... honestly! The song is cute (if repetitive), but if I ever saw my little baby moving to it in that way, I'd ban it from the house.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mk42wSXXGq8

9 years ago @ This Side Of Glory - My problem with celebr... · 0 replies · +1 points

Amen to that! Poor Facebook. They've grown so big that they're having to institute draconian policies and censor some people just to mollify other people. I suppose if my blog ever grew to have 30 million followers (which is too bizarre to contemplate), I'd probably have to do the same thing.

9 years ago @ This Side Of Glory - 10 books that spoke vo... · 0 replies · +1 points

".. enjoy other people's lists." -- me too! I thought I would love the chance to dive in and get my top 10, but I overthought it and kept wanting to add or subtract items, let alone comment the way I did here.

The inclusion of books like Catcher in the Rye led to an interesting discussion on the Facebook post. I wanted people to be clear that I can't endorse them unconditionally. They're very depressing and tend to present a godless universe that Orthodox Christians reject. It seemed honest to give them their place in my personal history, but I was much happier when I could be putting up good stuff from C. S. Lewis and Orthodox writers. I don't know if that's pride, but it certainly feels like 'Do unto others ...' I hate when someone recommends a book to me and doesn't tell me that its worldview is deeply disturbing.

9 years ago @ This Side Of Glory - Fiction-writing from o... · 0 replies · +1 points

I'm sorry I didn't see your comment earlier -- it's a goodie in a lot of ways. I totally agree with whoever said that relying on Dostoyevsky wasn't enough. I think the same thing about sharing pictures of icons, snippets from the Desert Fathers or excerpts from church services. (And I've done all three, so I'm just as guilty as anyone else) Any Orthodox person has access to these beautiful and otherworldly things. But if we continue to limit ourselves in our creative energies, we will get left even further behind in the world we live in. I don't mind that happening when the world is plunging over a cliff, and a lot of what passes for high culture these days is execrable. But for us to draw a gigantic circle around everything that necessitates building a narrative other than the ones given to us by the Bible or the lives of the saints isn't us taking a brave stand. Quite the opposite, it seems to me that we're being cowardly and lazy.

But I do understand about not having the time to get down the ideas you've got. I am blessed by a life that gives me a lot of time and a very supportive husband, and I still find that life gets in the way a lot more than I wish it would.

9 years ago @ This Side Of Glory - Being trolled and goin... · 0 replies · +1 points

Apologies for a very belated response. I have thought some about self-publishing. At present, I'm working on a different book -- an Orthodox children's fiction -- and I'm about half done. That one I'd like to be traditionally published if I can swing it, because I think it'll reach a bigger audience. But the assortment of blog posts I'm talking about will likely be self-published. That's partly out of embarrassment, I think -- I'm not certain the whole idea isn't just self-indulgent.

But in both cases, I'm thinking I'll do the illustration/layout work. That's part of the fun!

9 years ago @ This Side Of Glory - The science of sciences · 0 replies · +1 points

Oona:
Apologies for the very delayed response. Yes, you're right on both points. The Orthodox Church canonizes saints, and yes, the saints that pre-date the Great Schism are held as saints to us both. So St. Augustine, yes; St. Joan of Arc, no -- just for a couple examples.

I like that we have some "friends" in common. :-)

9 years ago @ This Side Of Glory - The good Orthodox girl... · 0 replies · +1 points

The soil isn't contaminated, because all of this happens indoors.

And even if my two tablespoons of Borax were washed straight into the dirt, we're talking a close-to-nil effect. Borax was over-hyped at first as a green wonder-cleaner, and while some are walking that back now, in the words of Crunchy Betty: "Borax is wholly natural. It doesn’t cause cancer, accumulate in the body, or absorb through the skin. It is not harmful to the environment."

Worth noting, for the record, that Borax isn't boric acid, as sometimes gets reported online. It's sodium borate: a naturally occurring alkaline mineral salt.

9 years ago @ This Side Of Glory - Do we all have a secre... · 0 replies · +1 points

Boy, can I sympathize. My family wasn't that big -- 3 siblings -- but I think my love affair with alone-time began there. I feel almost guilty these days about the slow, quiet start I get to make most days. My secret garden is definitely heavy on the "secret."

9 years ago @ This Side Of Glory - The Daily Lives etc. C... · 0 replies · +1 points

OOooo. Who knew? I love starting my day with these readings. So cool they've gone high-tech.

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