Friday Links, March 19, 2021
PBS American Masters: Flannery; mapping the Church's resources for the greatest good; a trailblazing black, woman physician for life; how artificial intelligence will change us—from a Catholic point of view.
Flannery
Coming March 23, "Flannery," on PBS' American Masters. Premiere: at 5pm PST (check local listings).
Explore the life of Flannery O’Connor whose provocative fiction was unlike anything published before. Featuring never-before-seen archival footage, newly discovered journals and interviews with Mary Karr, Tommy Lee Jones, Hilton Als and more."
Dr. Mildred Jefferson Trailblazer for Justice
On Facebook, Ryan Scott Bomberger supplied the above link and wrote the following introduction:
“She may never (inexplicably) be in your child's history books, but Dr. Mildred Jefferson made history that should never be forgotten. The first black woman to graduate from Harvard Medical School, earn 28 honorary degrees, counter the vile racism and elitism of PlannedParenthood, and helped found the National Right to Life, Dr. Jefferson declared passionately: 'I became a physician in order to help save lives. I am at once a physician, a citizen, and a woman, and I am not willing to stand aside and allow the concept of expendable human lives to turn this great land of ours into just another exclusive reservation where only the perfect, the privileged, and the planned have the right to live.'“
American Gothic
Natalie Morrill, Dappled Things Fiction Editor, recommends the review as "A really good read on why Netflix fails to do gothic stories well," and Josh Nadeau, DT Associate Editor, and Katy Carl, DT Editor in Chief, like the idea.B. D. McClay at "The Baffler" critiques three adaptations of classic haunted house novels by Netflix: Hill House (The Haunting of Hill House), Henry James’s The Turn of the Screw (as The Haunting of Bly Manor), and, finally, Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca (actually more of a psychological haunting).
“It’s hard to get people today to admit they really do want what’s bad for them, unless that thing comes in the form of drugs or alcohol."
How a Young Activist Is Helping Pope Francis Battle Climate Change
Katy Carl recommends this New Yorker article by David Owen. It's about Molly Burhans, a zealous young Catholic cartographer who lives almost like a monk, dedicating herself to mapping things that no one has mapped before. She has mastered the powerful cartographic and data-management tools known as geographic information systems (G.I.S.)—to create a land-classification plan that could be used in managing the Church’s global property holdings. The headline is misleading because Burnhans is not helping Pope Francis, not yet. Read the article to learn the complicated history why.
“Molly Burhans wants the Catholic Church to put its assets—which include farms, forests, oil wells, and millions of acres of land—to better use. But, first, she has to map them. . . . Burhans’s ultimate goal is to reform the Church’s entire mode of operation: 'They could save billions if they embraced this, as well as improving the world in every single ministry they do.'”
How Artificial Intelligence Will Change Us
Bernardo Aparicio Garcia, DT Founder and publisher, recommended the livestream of this talk a while back, "Thought this would be of interest to many here." When I didn't get it posted in time, Bernardo wrote, "Here's the YouTube version of it that can be accessed now."
