Catharsis Page

Books I’ve Read Most Recently (besides class materials):

Gilead by Marilynne Robinson (Pulitzer Prize, signed by author on April 22, 2006)

Born Again and Again: Surprising Gifts of a Fundamentalist Childhood by Jon M Sweeney

What Did Jesus Really Say? by Peter Cayce

Jane Kenyon: A Literary Life by John H. Timmerman

The Quantity of a Hazelnut by Fae Malania

The Truth about Hillary by Edward Klein

Callings ed. by William C. Placher

The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion

Misquoting Jesus by Bart D. Ehrman

The Best Day, The Worst Day by Donald Hall

The Truth Will Set You Free, But First It Will Make You Miserable by Jamie Buckingham

Various Short Stories by Mark Helprin

Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller

Crazy for God by Frank Schaeffer

Unchristian by David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons

A History of the End of the World by Jonathan Kirsch

Phrases I’d Like to NEVER Hear Again:

At the end of the day What goes around comes around Same old same old

Family values The American people Talk the talk/Walk the walk

Stay the course/Cut and run Day one My friends, Anything W says

Some Favorite Things:

Log fires Over-sized towels The first day of summer (or any) vacation

Cleveland Indians and Browns games Spring blooms and fall colors

Mexican Villa’s cheese enchiladas Thai Kitchen Spring Onion soup

Some Un-Favorite Things:

Telephone menu options and being put on hold E-mail spam Sweet gum tree seed balls

Slugs and other slimy things Indoor cigarette smoke Housework of any kind

Cruelty to animals and children Intolerance under the guise of religion Small talk

Meetings Pretension Ice storms Screaming children in restaurants

Four jobs I have had in my life: Christmas Gift Wrapper at Strouss-Hirschberg department store in high school, Produce Clerk at A & P during high school (this job convinced me to stay in college and complete my education, whatever the cost), Counselor for Camp Fire Girls one summer during college, English Teacher forever.

Four movies I watch over and over: The Four Seasons (love the ensemble cast), Radio Days (or most any Woody Allen vehicle for the Jewish humor), Fargo (for the accent), and Chicago (for the music and dancing).

Four places I have lived: Youngstown OH, Warren OH, Macomb IL, and Springfield MO. (Also worked out of Harrisburg PA for 17 months while traveling and singing with Hymntime Singers in the ‘60s)

Four TV shows I like: Once and Again (beautifully produced, I own seasons 1 and 2), Seinfeld (for obvious reasons, I own the complete set), ER/Grey’s Anatomy (except for the bloody scenes), and Monday Night Football (important tradition at our house). 

Four Places I have been on vacation: Six-country European tour (Switzerland, Italy, Austria, Germany, England, and France), Ivory Coast (West Africa), South Florida (the Keys, Biscayne Bay, Lauderdale, etc.), Rehoboth Beach DE, and visits on tour with Hymntime Singers to almost every state in the US and most Canadian provinces.

Four websites I visit daily: Cleveland Indians/Browns sites (must keep up with my man/boys), ebay, CNN (just in case the world has ended and I haven’t noticed), and, MLB.tv to watch all live Indians games.

Four of my favorite foods: Hungarian chicken paprika, stuffed cabbages, spaghetti and meatballs, and “dirty bread” (onions, tomatoes, green peppers, radishes, and cucumbers on rye bread dabbed with bacon drippings from an open wood fire).

Four places I would rather be right now: As long as I’m with someone I enjoy, it really doesn’t matter where I am, but Florence, Italy, would be a good choice. I’ve always liked being around water, but after watching the effects of the tsunami and the hurricanes, I might opt for the mountains. Hawaii also sounds like a good option. The Transcendentalists feel that “traveling is a fool’s paradise” because one carries one’s “giants” wherever one goes. Also, they remind us that “no exertion of the legs” can bring people closer together, so travel is perhaps not the most important factor. It’s more a spiritual issue. Philosophizing complete. As you were.