No. 17
CONTENTS
Essays
Showing Up Is Half the Work
A Writer's Life
Katherine Kellogg Towler
It would
be wonderful if all that it took to become a good
writer was inspiration. However, it takes
discipline, devotion, and most importantly, hard
work--in most cases, years of it. In this essay, an
author shares her thoughts about the writing
process and the need to cultivate a "holy space"
in which to create.
Virginity
David McGlynn
The concept of
purity isn't one that is held in very high esteem
these days. Our spiritual lives and emotions seem
to follow our bodies into a netherworld where
there is only isolation and the destruction of the
self. David McGlynn recounts the story of a brutal
crime that led to the loss of a treasured friend,
and how that loss has changed his view of the
body.
Back Rooms
Kevin Heath
"It should fill
us with joy, really, every time, this abundance of
hopeful detail in our lives, everywhere we turn."
In this memoir of vacations spent in the Deep
South, Kevin Heath describes the idiosyncrasies of
family and the myriad events and places of his
past in a world that "gives and gives, and will
never stop giving."
Studies
Nietzsche and Nihilism
The Humanity of the Good
Jay Trott
When Friedrich Nietzsche
declared "God is dead," he was attempting to
embrace nothingness as a solution to the problem
of good and evil. If there is no being, how can
there be any value judgments? The author points to
goodness, beauty, gentleness, and compassion as
arguments against Nietzsche's philosophy of
nihilism.
Recognizing the Holy
Kathleen M. Fisher
We know that Lassie was pretty good at getting
Timmy out of scrapes, but what can she teach us
about transcendence? Quite a bit, if one examines
the lives of the saints. In this study, Kathleen
Fisher recalls passages from the Bible and Celtic
mythology that reveal the relationships between
heroes or saints and animals that opened them to
"mystical, spiritual, transcendental, sacred, or
holy" experiences.
The Mars Hill Interview
Identity and Conversion
A Conversation with Julius Lester
Katherine Kellogg Towler
The son
of an African American Methodist minister in the
South, Julius Lester, a Jewish convert, has
written numerous books of fiction, poetry, and
nonfiction. In this revealing interview, he
discusses the civil rights movement of the '60s,
the Vietnamese War, and the role that Judaism is
playing in African American cultural life in the
present day.
Reminders of God
The Writing Life
Fiction
Line of Duty
Albert Haley
Poetry
Author's Prayer
Ilya Kaminsky
Marina Tsvetaeva
Ilya Kaminsky
de_anima.org
Randall VanderMey
Crack
Diane L. Tucker
From The King Juke Poems
David Church
Views and Reviews
Music
Interview: Somewhere Near Poetry
A Conversation with Richard Shindell
James A. Sparrell
Reviews:
MACHINA/The Machines of God, Smashing Pumpkins
Dave Urbanski
fold your hands child, you walk like a peasant, Belle & Sebastian
James A. Sparrell
Ballad Session, Mark Turner
Edward Gleason
Music Also Reviewed
Andrew Lee, Dave Urbanski, and James A. Sparrell
Books
Interview:
From Dawn to Decadence
A Conversation with Jacques Barzun
Gina Bria
Essay:
Between Earth and Sky
Gay Writers on Faith
Thom Mannarino
Reviews:
Peanuts: A Golden Celebration, Charles Schultz
David Frauenfelder
The Gospel According to Peanuts, Robert L. Short
David Frauenfelder
Film
Essay:
Consider the Sea
A Reflection on The Perfect Storm
Thomas Becknell
Reviews:
The Cup
Elizabeth Currier
Keeping the Faith
Joan Zwagerman Curbow
Hamlet
Barrett Fisher
Films Also Reviewed
Scott Emmert and Joey Earl Horstman
Risvolti
The Editors
Mars Hill Contributors
