Quickly Commonplacing #7

Dante, NFP, Scapegoats, and Bookshelf organization

Lent has been a time of detaching myself from technology/the internet (read a bit in my last post about why). Hence, the length of time between posts. But never fear, I am still here; still reading, reflecting, and commonplacing. Enjoy today’s post!

Current Reads:

1. Reread: The Divine Comedy By: Dante Alighieri

   1. I decided to do something I’ve wanted to do for years and reread the entirety of Dante’s masterpiece over the course of Lent. I am supplementing my reread with Jason Baxter’s guide (many thanks to Jessica Risma for the recommendation) and have found it to be an excellent resource. Currently, I’m in the midst of Purgatorio and find it even more moving than when I first read it in college. So far, Purgatorio remains my favorite. Dante’s ability to blend the joy of souls saved with the pain of the redemptive suffering they must endure before they are “fit” for heaven is incredible. And his incarnation of scholastic philosophy in the words and actions of the poem’s characters is a powerful reminder of how storytelling can be salvific. Purgatorio also provides ample (and often uncomfortable) opportunities for an examination of conscience as we, like Dante the pilgrim, consider where we have loved God too little, and created things either too much, or in the wrong ways.

2. New Read: The Heart of the Matter By: Graham Greene

   1. This is the first Greene novel I’ve read since The Power and the Glory (which I adore) a few years back. It’s a very different read in terms of subject matter, describing the downfall of Major Scobie, a colonial official in British Sierra Leone during World War II. However, like The Power and the Glory, it focuses on Catholic characters struggling with their own sinfulness and corrupt government institutions. In both novels, there is no fully “good” character I can find myself getting behind, and that leads to a sense of destabilization that I think is purposeful. Greene’s writing is as masterful as ever, and he is able to make the world of British Sierra Leone come alive. It’s not an especially happy read, but it is a moving one.

Recent Commonplace Quotes

1. “Healthy female bodies, after all, are fertile. There is a troubling assumption at work here, underlying the designation of the pill as the fulcrum of women’s health: women, to be “healthy” and “free,” must function, biologically speaking, as much like men as possible…female fecundity is not natural and good, but pathological-a dangerous disease that needs to be treated and controlled. This view has become entrenched in our culture. Access to birth control and abortion are all but synonymous with “reproductive health,” a clever term that sounds pro-woman but actually pathologizes natural biological realities that are unique to women, namely, fertility, pregnancy, and childbirth.” (The Genesis of Gender By: Abigail Favale)

   1. This quote explains perfectly why, even if I wasn’t Catholic, I would continue to use NFP. I’ve always found the idea of using/taking medications that purposefully disrupts the thing my healthy female body is SUPPOSED to be doing uncomfortable, even before I was exposed to the full theological/moral teachings about birth control that are specific to my Catholic faith. It boggles my mind that we are actively teaching women to see healthy functioning bodies as nuisances at best, enemies to freedom/fulfillment at worst. Abigail Favale exposes this, and other troubling philosophical assumptions, behind the current zeitgeist in regards to sex/gender. Furthermore, she does so with nuance, clarity, and, most importantly, with charity. I cannot recommend her book enough.

2. “One of the great conditions of anger and hatred is that you must tell and believe lies against the hated object, in order, as we said, to be consistent.” (Vanity Fair William Makepeace Thackeray)

   1. One of the things I love about Vanity Fair is the way Thackeray combines humor with insight. The dry wit of this line, describing the deterioration of a close relationship between two men of business, can make it easy to miss the profound truth it states. Rereading Vanity Fair led to many moments where I found, underneath the humor, razor sharp and often devastating social and moral commentary. This quote, in particular, struck me as being painfully relevant. If you want to understand the increasing fragmentation of our society, this line would be an excellent place to start. We all (I’m including myself here) want to find someone or something to blame for the various evils we see in the world around us. We all want somewhere to direct our confusion, our anger, and our despair. And when we find a plausible scapegoat, it is very very difficult to give it up. So, as Thackeray points out, we tend to look for and believe the worst about our scapegoats, growing blind and deaf to alternative explanations or mitigating factors. Something worth reflecting on as we approach Easter, when the greatest scapegoat of all died to save us from our sins.

Excellent Earworms:

1. Music: Doodles by Rose Betts, Summer Call Skipinnish, 85 Andy Grammer

2. Podcasts: “Talking Trollope” episode of Old Books With Grace (and Grace Hamman’s excellent Substack), The Mystagogy Podcast did an excellent series on Dante a bit back and it is enriching my reading of The Divine Comedy SO MUCH

Substack Shares:

• This hilarious piece about bookshelf organization by Joy Marie Clarkson ☀️ (which also inspired this week’s poll)

  What I think about you based on how you organize your books

• A meditation on Phone use that haunted me and inspired my Lenten fasting

  Meditations for Phone Addicts

• An excellent reflection on a book I reread (and wrote about) last year by Maddie Dobrowski

  The Dignity of Duty

Polling the People:

Last poll I asked what your least favorite romantic tropes are. My personal least favorite (“Love Triangle”) won out, as it should, with “Insta-Love” and “Crisis caused by secrets” tying for second. This week, I want to know, how do you organize your bookshelves? Describe in more detail in the comments. We’re getting new bookshelves Friday and I’m open to new organizing ideas!

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