7 Quick Takes (XXXIII)

1. I apologize for being a bad blogger. I was away last weekend, and haven't had much to write in the meantime. I need to produce at least one top-notch post by the end of the month, though, or else I won't have anything awesome to put on Elizabeth Esther's site. Which site, incidentally, has rapidly become one of my most-frequented. (Which begs the question, of course, of why I'm adding another Catholic mommy-blogger to the list. I thought I had that demographic covered.)

2. The reason I was away last weekend was that I went to Edmonton with the folks. It was my Mom's birthday. I bought way too many books, but then you knew I'd say that. We went to a GoodWill and a Value Village and a Chapter's. In total, I purchased 15 books (13 used, 2 new). It was atrocious. I wouldn't bother listing them all here.

In the morning, though, we went to the Art Gallery of Alberta (AGA). I like the idea of RAMs and ROMs and AGOs and AGAs. I wish there were more provincial cultural "chains" like that. Personally, I'd like to see a Museum of Religious Culture in every province, but I don't suppose that will happen.

So, at the AGA there was a Goya exhibit, a Degas exhibit (of his sculptures, not his painting), a Karsh exhibit, and some more avant-garde exhibits with whose creators I am unfamiliar. I would love some Karsh portraits to put up in my room: Jung, Einstein, Princess Elizabeth (now Queen the II--or I if you're Scottish), Castro, Hepburn, Luther King Jr. Karsh took such excellent portrait photography. Each of these photographs is so evocative. For the most part Karsh showed his subjects as icons, but with Castro's portrait he did something different. Castro appears far more personal, more human, more intimate, more vulnerable in Karsh' photograph. I generally think of Castro as an ambiguous villainous figure (for no real reason but cultural osmosis), and so it was amazing that this one picture managed to humanize him for me. Of course Castro believed in what he was doing. Somehow this concept never occured to me before now. I feel a little embarassed about that.

3. Obligatory weather-related take: for most of the past two weeks it has been mild. Temperatures have been around +13 degrees Celsius. This held true until Wednesday, during which it snowed. Now we have a layer of the sticky wet stuff on the ground again. For the first time in my life, at the sight of snowflakes I felt physical revulsion. Then again, we knew it would happen.

4. As I mentioned in a previous post, the virtual exhibit on which I have been working for some time is finally live. It is about the role that the Catholic mission played in Fort McMurray's development, including such fascinating things as health care, education, employment for single women, and housing for the homeless.

To prevent confusion, I did not code this site. The format is standard to the Community Memories program. I did the historical research, wrote the text, selected the pictures, and input all of the information into the template.

5. I seem to be sick again. Boo. My immune system seems to be even more lethargic than I am.

6. Oh, right. Almost forgot. So, I got accepted into some more grad schools, and made my final decision. I am attending a school on the Canadian west coast. On the one hand, this is terribly exciting. I have only been in the province of British Columbia once, and briefly at that.

On the other hand, this means being far from my peeps for two years. I will likely be unable to (afford to) visit Ontario during this time, so unless folks come over to visit me, I will not see any of them for quite some time. But this is a good program for me, and I will be happy to attend.

7. Last take. Right. Hmmm. What shall it be about?

Oh, I have been reading The Wayfinders. I'm almost done. It's a pretty solid book. I'll review it once I have finished.

You know what to do: Conversion Diary.

Over and out,

Christian H

aka English Clergyman