Laughing With

With audacious curiousity and simplicity, Spektor plunges into the heart of the taboo that Americans paradoxically fear most and dread least; that which they simultaneously refuse to discuss in the public sphere but, if polls are any indication, have settled for themselves privately and with certitude: the existence and nature of God.

The sorrowful chords and opening lines of "Laughing With" call to mind the great problem of evil, which posits that an all-good and all-powerful creator that evidently tolerates great evils cannot be all-good or all-powerful, by definition. Yet, in an original and startling move, Spektor considers the problem from our perspective, not God's, and not after the disasters we encounter in life occur, but before they do. Both believers and non-believers, Spektor reminds us, tend to treat God rather neutrally when our lives are comfortable. Yet, this sensitive Jewish emigrant from Soviet Russia knows well that for a man or woman who loses everything they have and love, "and they don't know what for," God is no laughing matter, whether he's there or not.

Yet, through the prism of the problem of evil, Spektor, with a soaring and playful falsetto and a supreme sense of irony, sings in the chorus about just how funny God is, not in and of Himself, but again in how his creation talks about Him. To laugh off God at cocktail parties and peddle an anthropomorphized genie whose only real function is wish-granting is what is truly laughable. And, as evidenced in the change in preposition in the title, it's something Spektor feels we can do "with" God, not in spite of him. In this way, Spektor has brilliantly attributed a common source to the two issues at hand; laughing off God comes from an addiction to ignorance and self-concern, but so do many great evils of the world that stop that laughter dead in its tracks.

Read the rest of this reflection at 'By Way of Beauty', and check out the rest of blog which examines art and culture.

Via another great blog I was just introduced to (thanks Brigitta): A Catholic UNapologist.

Another beautiful photo!

Photograph by Maruf Hossain. Also via NG.

Boy with Balloons

Photograph by Kamala Kannan, via National Geographic.

Very good, isn't it? ' Keep your eyes open and notice what’s all around you—the primary subject may not actually make the most interesting photo.'

The Emerald Isle

Gimme hope, Jo'anna

I heard this on the radio recently. Catchy song and a lyrics that are full of meaning. Have a listen. :)



Well Jo'anna she runs a country
She runs in Durban and the Transvaal
She makes a few of her people happy, oh
She don't care about the rest at all
She's got a system they call apartheid
It keeps a brother in a subjection
But maybe pressure can make Jo'anna see
How everybody could a live as one

[chorus:]
Gimme hope, Jo'anna
Hope, Jo'anna
Gimme hope, Jo'anna
'Fore the morning come
Gimme hope, Jo'anna
Hope, Jo'anna
Hope before the morning come

I hear she make all the golden money
To buy new weapons, any shape of guns
While every mother in black Soweto fears
The killing of another son
Sneakin' across all the neighbours' borders
Now and again having little fun
She doesn't care if the fun and games she play
Is dang'rous to ev'ryone

[chorus]

She's got supporters in high up places
Who turn their heads to the city sun
Jo'anna give them the fancy money
Oh to tempt anyone who'd come
She even knows how to swing opinion
In every magazine and the journals
For every bad move that this Jo'anna makes
They got a good explanation

[chorus]

Even the preacher who works for Jesus
The Archbishop who's a peaceful man
Together say that the freedom fighters
Will overcome the very strong
I wanna know if you're blind Jo'anna
If you wanna hear the sound of drums
Can't you see that the tide is turning
Oh don't make me wait till the morning come

[chorus]

Pocketful of Sunshine

2001-2011

I remember a classmate of mine telling me to switch on the TV on the evening of September 11 2001. What scenes. The next day we talked about it at school. I have the Time and Newsweek magazines on the attacks.



I'm watching the Pope's visit to Ground Zero. Listen to the beautiful prayer. And watch the people who get to greet the Pope. How moving it is to see them genuflect before the Pope.

O God of love, compassion, and healing,
look on us, people of many different faiths
and traditions,
who gather today at this site,
the scene of incredible violence and pain.
We ask you in your goodness
to give eternal light and peace
to all who died here—
the heroic first-responders:
our fire fighters, police officers,
emergency service workers, and
Port Authority personnel,
along with all the innocent men and women
who were victims of this tragedy
simply because their work or service
brought them here on September 11, 2001.

We ask you, in your compassion
to bring healing to those
who, because of their presence here that day,
suffer from injuries and illness.
Heal, too, the pain of still-grieving families
and all who lost loved ones in this tragedy.
Give them strength to continue their lives
with courage and hope.

We are mindful as well
of those who suffered death, injury, and loss
on the same day at the Pentagon and in
Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
Our hearts are one with theirs
as our prayer embraces their pain and suffering.

God of peace, bring your peace to our violent world:
peace in the hearts of all men and women
and peace among the nations of the earth.
Turn to your way of love
those whose hearts and minds
are consumed with hatred.
God of understanding,
overwhelmed by the magnitude of this tragedy,
we seek your light and guidance
as we confront such terrible events.
Grant that those whose lives were spared
may live so that the lives lost here
may not have been lost in vain.

Comfort and console us,
strengthen us in hope,
and give us the wisdom and courage
to work tirelessly for a world
where true peace and love reign
among nations and in the hearts of all.


Pope Benedict XVI
Prayer at Ground Zero
New York, 20 April 2008

A nice list :)

I love the Creed

It's one of my favourite parts of the Mass. And the new translation is even better.



These are words that literally are reverberating from the earliest days of the Church into our times, our ears.When I utter these words -  credo, I believe - I unite myself to men and women of all ages in the greatest formula of faith ever. I believe in one God. I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, who became incarnate, died and rose; he will come again to judge. I believe in the Holy Spirit and his action throughout history. I believe in the one, holy, catholic, apostolic Church and one baptism. I look forward to eternity.

I believe in one God,
the Father almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all things visible and invisible.

I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ,
the Only Begotten Son of God,
born of the Father before all ages.
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father;
through him all things were made.
For us men and for our salvation
he came down from heaven,

                                 At the words that follow up to and including and became man, all bow.

and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary,
and became man.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate,
he suffered death and was buried,
and rose again on the third day
in accordance with the Scriptures.
He ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory
to judge the living and the dead
and his kingdom will have no end.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son,
who with the Father and the Son is adored and glorified,
who has spoken through the prophets.

I believe in one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church.
I confess one Baptism for the forgiveness of sins
and I look forward to the resurrection of the dead
and the life of the world to come. Amen.

Confitemini Domino

My favourite Taize chant - with some very beautiful artwork.

Praise ye the Lord, for He is good.