Culture Wars

Someone on a social media site made the irrational statement that guns were part of the culture of death. I object. Inanimate objects have no power to act on their own behalf; thus, as inanimate objects, they are incapable of making the moral decisions necessary to join either the culture of death or the Culture of Life. Guns are not culture of death because an inanimate tool is incapable of making a moral decision in the same way a scalpel is, also, not part of the culture of death. Both these tools can be used to defend innocent life and … Continue reading

To Know Myself!

I realized this evening that I love ballads.  Songs like The Wreck of the Edmond Fitzgerald, and Bristlecone Pine.  I realized this when I heard the song, Bristlecone Pine, on an interview with Bryan Bowers and found myself obsessed.  I had to know what CD had the song, and it turns out the CD is named for that ballad.  Then I purchased that CD just for that one song! This caused me to wonder, am I ever so obsessed with a song that is not a ballad?  Truth is, generally NO.  I do love Church music of all kinds, especially … Continue reading

Finding Friends

Friendship is a rare and wonderful blessing. Most of us say “friend” when we mean acquaintance. To find and gain interesting new acquaintances is much easier than finding friends.  Acquaintances are fun to have but it is friendship that prevents burnout.  Shy, socially anxious, introverted– whatever the reason, for some persons the work of connecting and developing friendships is much more difficult than for others. Joining a group that shares an interest in common is a great way to expand your circle of acquaintances. Many people get involved up at Church, or make sure they get to all socials connected … Continue reading

Western-Eastern Fusion Music, or what I Learned when I asked if a Chinese Pipa could play American Folk Music

One of the good things about being American is that we tend  to explore elements of many other cultures, and add them to the many uniquely American elements that have grown up here. All the members of our family value the cultures of our ancestors.  My niece will likely do the same, after all, she is one of us. My niece is also musical and enjoys playing her piano and musical people often play more than one instrument. So I began to explore folk instruments from the culture of her ancestors. I wanted to find something interesting that might be … Continue reading

Home Education: Teaching History

Teaching History in a Home School setting can be a challenge, especially when we are faced with teaching ages 11 and up through High School. Most of us learned what little history we know from textbooks that sucked the life out of the stories and bored us nearly to death. A few of us were fortunate enough to run across writers of histories who are anything BUT boring. Historians like Dr. Warren Carroll whose books (like the very short 1917, Isabella, and Our Lady of Guadalupe and the Conquest of Darkness, and the heavy duty Christendom series) challenged and delighted … Continue reading