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Thursday, January 23, 2020

the shadow on the wall of the Holy Ghost

the shadow on the wall of the Holy Ghost

fiction
edward w pritchard

The most likely place to witness the Holy Ghost is stumbling to one's knees with thirst in the desert
being slowly and methodically pursued by a mirage of an imaginary wolf. Next most likely spot to experience the Holy Ghost is on the back wall of your cave flickering in the shadows of the fire as you sit with your back to the World.

The Holy ghost prefers small quiet rooms to castles or elaborate Gothic churches or cathedrals no matter how much gold or how many twisted marble statues of saints adorn the candled interior.

The Holy Ghost is no where and somewhere and cannot be experienced in real time or witnessed in
any organized grouping of persons. The Holy Ghost cannot be authentically read about  or remembered.

Friday, January 17, 2020

who's the waitress in the donut shop now

who's the waitress in the donut shop now

fiction
edward w pritchard

I been reading about which books make up the definitive Western Canon by Harold Bloom and others of late. You know so many thick old novels it's impossible to read or remember. Shakespeare, Plato, Homer and Aristotle are the foundation stones of western literature and thought and rightly so I suppose.

Still curious to understand why so few women authors are represented in the agreed upon Canonical books I went beyond Harold Bloom's Cannon and gnosis  and read some feminist, persons of color, and trans gender ideas on great books throughout History. Desiring a brief synopsis of the subject I settled on Lillian S. Robinson's "Treason our Text" Feminist challenges to the Literary challenges.

Stealing an idea from Lillian Robinson I thought perhaps the Black blues singer "big" Mamma Thorton's masterpiece which influenced modern American rock and roll, the memorable "You a'int nothing but a Hound dog" might classify somehow as an underground part of some body's Cannon of great authorship. Alas not so. And, incidentally the song Houndog was written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller.

Neither considered as worthy of being canonical the song "Sweetheart" better known as "waitress in a donut shop" which I came to find out was not written by Suzy Bogus or Maria Maldaur but a man Ken Burgan.

To my way of thinking "you ain't nothing but a hound dog" or "waitress in a donut shop" summarize a lot of wisdom in a few short words and I never forget or fail to understand such concepts once I hear them.

Why so few canonical women authors throughout history? In my opinion it has a lot to do with who takes care of the children and the low status of the job and the exhausting nature of the task. Besides it doesn't matter who is the waitress in the donut shop anymore when it comes to inter personal domestic matters, such as who cares for the children. The children just keep on coming onto the scene and it's always a challenge to care for and nurture them and no amount of IQ or creativity can substitute for the time and attention to detail necessary to do a competent job as a caregiver.

Thursday, January 16, 2020

Iris Murdoch's a bit hard to understand

Iris Murdoch's a bit hard to Understand

fiction
edward w pritchard

I have been reading Iris Murdoch's "Metaphysics as a Guide to Morals" and I must admit Iris Murdoch's a bit hard to understand.  As part of my quest to understand why women artists and philosophers are usually under represented I got interested in Murdoch's philosophical views but I have never read one of her novels.

After several months of reading guide to morals I found out that Murdoch who is a brilliant thinker died of dementia. That's very sad. Her grasp of  western philosophy is stunning but to repeat myself she is not easy to follow at times. Perhaps it's just the subject matter.

When I discovered that Iris had had dementia I went to the Lake at night by my house and had a fire
and lamented how the lights of civilization by my abode and my Country's advancing civilization had drowned out my ability to see the milky way as I sometimes did once see the Milky War near where I as a child lived not far from the Lake where I made the fire. [edit ] Sometimes we are hard to understand and sometimes it's more serious. Still it all passes quickly on a cosmic scale.