Thursday, June 25, 2009

Farrah Fawcett Received Last Rites

A Catholic priest was summoned to administer the Last Rites to Farrah Fawcett before she passed away.

May her soul rest in peace...

Goodbye, Michael...

Friday, June 19, 2009

Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

Lord Jesus, let my heart never rest until it finds You, who are its center, its love, and its happiness. By the wound in Your heart, pardon the sins that I have committed whether out of malice or out of evil desires. Place my weak heart in Your own divine Heart, continually under Your protection and guidance, so that I may persevere in doing good and in fleeing evil until my last breath. Amen.
St. Margaret Mary Alacoque

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

My Favourite Atheist

This evening I heard Camille Paglia speak at the Royal Ontario Museum. The Dead Sea Scrolls will soon be on display at the ROM, and Camille's talk was the final segment of a three part Signature Series, a preamble to the Scrolls display. Her topic was "Hollywood and the Bible".

I like Camille Paglia because, although she's a social commentator who frequently discusses politics, she's more interested in Truth than she is in politics. Although she's an atheist, she sincerely respects those who believe in God, and she sees how vitally important religion is to society and culture. Although she has sometimes described herself as "openly lesbian", she respects the beliefs and freedom of those with same-sex attraction who choose not to build an identity around homosexuality.

Camille shared that her Italian-Catholic upbringing is deeply ingrained in her psyche. It comes through in many ways, and I enjoyed her passionate story-telling this evening and her enthusiasm about her topic. I especially enjoyed the selected clips from The Ten Commandments, along with her commentary. Some elements of her talk even seemed prophetic to me.

There's so much more I could say, but it's getting late and I have work tomorrow. Anyway, I'm grateful for an interesting evening - thank you, Camille, and thank you, God! :)

Sunday, June 14, 2009

The Solemnity of Corpus Christi

“Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day.”
(John 6:53-54)

Saturday, June 13, 2009

Pies

A short animated film by Sheldon Cohen, 2004 - National Film Board of Canada

Camille is coming to town!

Camille Paglia will be speaking at the Royal Ontario Museum this Tuesday, June 16th, at 7:00 p.m. Her topic: Hollywood and the Bible.

I've bought my ticket! :)

Monday, June 1, 2009

Scarborough Campus Revisited

I visited Scarborough Campus this past Sunday. There were a number of alumni at this reunion event, which included a barbecue, music, speeches, friendly people, games for kids, student-led tours and various University of Toronto memorabilia. It's not something I would normally be interested in, because I only knew a few people well when I was in University and I didn't think any of them would be attending this event; however, S. wanted to go, and I was a little curious to see the old campus. So off I went on Sunday afternoon. It turned out that S. and K. and their kids were indeed the only faces I recognized...

It was interesting to see what was the same, to see what had changed, and to remember old times. I always loved the valleys and trees that surrounded the campus - those are still there in abundance.

There have been a lot of additions, and some renovations. The library looks great - it's been reconstructed and it has a completely different layout now, with lots of computers. There's also a new Arts & Administration building right where the drive to the front of the buildings used to be. An extension has been added to the end of the Science wing, the Leigha Lee Browne theatre has been completely renovated, and the portables at the end of the Science wing have been removed. Instead, they've put a few portables right smack in the middle of the stretch of grass between the S-wing and the north residences. I'm glad that's a temporary measure because that area looks too crowded now. There's a new Management building south of the Humanities wing. It looks quite nice.

There are also a LOT more places to eat on campus now!

We walked floor by floor through the Humanities wing and remembered the offices and classrooms where our favourite Professors and courses used to be. The only nameplate I recognized from years gone by was Garry Leonard - I took his American Lit classes many years ago.

S. and I talked about Professor Jim Howard, one of our favourites, who passed away in 2007. We would like the University to honour his memory in some way. I have to think about that...

It would've been nice to see some of our other classmates from our English program there, but at least we're still in touch with some of them. There'll be other opportunities for us all to get together again.
(The photo above is from the University of Toronto Career Centre site.)