my take (such as it is) on 'the gift'...

...with a detour into other things that caught my eye

night pocket

All part of things I have read or thought about or seen in the past few days.



The fact of my unemployment is not much fun. This concert in a Paris apartment made me quite happy. It often does not take much.

tying some thoughts together

This past week I read both Stephen Fry and Tony Judt on their university days (well, a fictionalized version of Stephen's days).

Lin Yutang, the essayist and inventor of the Chinese typewriter, famously asked: what is patriotism but the love of the good things one ate in childhood? (from Alexander McCall Smith in The Guardian). That's a form 0f patriotism I can support. I made millionaire shortbread this week - every bite is like a wee time machine. A bit of an understatement to say that I have a very sweet tooth.

no laity

A few weeks ago, in the midst of a particularly taxing few days at work, I decided to re-read The River Why. I was looking for something that would not stress me out further, but would challenge me, as it does every time I turn its pages. (My previous read was Darkmans, which I love, but found almost unbearably disquieting - the characters' plights allied with my own, which was a very unhappy collusion.)

Having an end date for work puts me in a strange head space while there; difficult to ignite other thoughts in the midst of it all. So I am once again very glad for this novel and the journey the central character is on.

Another thing, which I meant to post a while ago is this, from the Slacktivist, one of the first blogs that I got really excited about:

'John Howard Yoder noted that that idea of the priesthood of all believers is often misunderstood as -- or is accused of being -- an attempt to abolish the clergy. Actually, he said, the opposite is true. The priesthood of all believers requires the abolition of the category of laity.'

I wish I had had the perspective to summarize this way when I was thinking about the same things.