Got mixed emotions about these PenPal appeal for cash on some Catholic blogger sites. On the one hand, one feels the urge to contribute since they are allies in the culture wars, bedfellows for truth. And heck even Subway sandwich 'artists' have tip jars. (Why not McDonald's grill cooks?) On the other hand, and I'm obviously flamboyantly jealous, but it seems an outrage that they should be paid to pontificate. Certainly blogging is child's play compared to writing a book. Let them get paid for their books (that sounds like 'let them eat cake'), although admittedly in a culture that is skewed and somewhat not ready for truth their books don't get their due. Still, I like Amy Welborn's decision to use her blog to point to them. In a recent column Jonah Goldberg hinted that with blogs you pretty much get what you pay for. Which is why they are (say it with me)....free!
Current Reading
Theology and/or "deep" books are the crack cocaine of my reading world; likely to keep me wired tightly and up at night. Since I am more comfortable than afflicted, theology tends to afflict more than comfort. I can't read Chyrsostom and feel good about myself. A recent example: Jesus said that those who error or lead others astray in small matters will be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven. This would seem to imply good news. That those who are imperfect or who might lead people astray will at least go to heaven. But nooo, Chrysostom & Augustine say that the "least in the kingdom" could still refer to hell (I forget why, I can find the exact wording if anyone wants to know). Part of the reason is Jesus' making the smallest sins large (i.e. equating lust with adultery). Perhaps this is another way of them saying what Jesus said about the rich - the impossibility of being good without God, how it's impossible to earn heaven. And if so, that is a good thing. But it's not for the scrupulous.
The best antidote to theological reading is something earthy, funny and slightly irreverent (and/or a cold dark beer). And David Lodge is fitting that bill perfectly in "Small World". He makes marvelous fun of clueless academics. I'm also reading Harry Stein's surprisingly engaging "How I Accidentally Joined the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy and Found Inner Peace". I'm almost done with Jean Baudrillard's pompous, look-down-my-French-nose review of America. These books you don't have to take too seriously - Baudrillard because he's such an elitist know it all, Stein because he's funny and sticks to uncontroversial topics (for me) and Lodge because he can flat out write. I used to read Kinky Friedman and/or Mark Leyner but now find them a little too...too...scatalogically childish?
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