sin
A Story of Sloth
When I heard that the Stoop Storytelling Series in Baltimore was presenting a show on the Seven Deadly Sins, I knew right away that I wanted to tell a story about my favorite Deadly Sin, Sloth. My two problems were (1) how to craft a compelling story about my lack of ability to complete or…
Sin and Sainthood on Valentine’s Day
This Valentine’s Day, the KtBniks have unearthed a gem (or, for the sake of terminological consistency, a bone, a shroud, a hair…) from the dusty shelves of the KtB reliquary. Check out “The Marquis de Sade and St. Valentine,” your one-stop source for Valentine’s Day sin and sanctity. Forgot to buy your loved one a…
Whither Thou, Reconciliation?
Maureen Dowd and NPR report on a new iPhone app which is supposed to provide a “cheat sheet” for confession. Ideally, this app will get Catholics back in the box. It asks you questions according to your gender, age and state of life: for example, if you are a woman, have you had an abortion…
Idiots with Wings
Bill Plympton’s animated Angel is a selfish and morally bankrupt man, a cartoon character who could give the Grinch a run for this money and probably scare the bejesus out of Tim Burton’s weirdest nightmare. As a haunting musical score weaves throughout the film’s stark gray images interspersed with specks of color, I could almost…
The Sin Racket
When I quit drinking, I went to some AA meetings for a while; it was the thing to do. I think I went to my first one at the age of nine or ten with one of my older brothers who was celebrating some kind of anniversary of not-drinking and was very proud. I sort…
Sex and Being Seen
Robert Wright (whom I recently interviewed in these pages) has an online essay at The New York Times today about what the world’s newfound Internetedness means for sexual infidelity. Some of the great sex scandals of the past year, including those of Tiger Woods and Mark Sanford, have been fueled by the discovery of emailed…
Counting Sins
JoAnn Wypijewski distills in one sentence what has been bothering me about the liberal response to Mark Sanford’s love troubles: “Christians thunder; liberals sneer, but it amounts to the same thing, counting sins.” Read the rest of JoAnn’s Nation column, “Carnal Knowledge,” for the most thoughtful response to the whole affair and what it reveals…
