Friday Links
First Station Croagh Patrick
March 10, 2023
Hannah Long in Plough on John Wayne, The Quiet Man
Mary Grace Mangano on Helen Pinkerton
Zina Hitz in Commonweal
Jane Greer on the “dangerous and steep” Josephine Jacobsen
St. Patrick’s Day Public Service Announcement
Hannah Long in Plough on John Wayne, The Quiet Man
There are a few movies you can watch in honor for St. Patrick’s Day including, In America, In the Name of the Father, The Secret of Roan Inish, The Quiet Man, Some Mother’s Son. Obviously, The Quiet Man should be first on your list. Of course the film is filled with Irish-American wishful thinking about the old peat. Of course someone, somewhere is offended and complaining loudly that the film is “reactionary and unacceptable.” So what? None of that matters. It’s a magnificent film, though imperfect, as all human made things are. If you don’t understand what the great John Ford was doing in The Quiet Man, read this essay and then watch the movie again.
Mary Grace Mangano on Helen Pinkerton
Here’s a wonderful review from Mary Grace Mangano on the great Helen Pinkerton’s poetry, which “can best be understood as a collection of philosophical inquiries and dialogue with God in prayer.” A steadily growing appreciation of Pinkerton has been happening due the efforts of James Matthew Wilson, Cynthia Haven, and others. The release of her collected poems from Wiseblood Books allows readers to see the scope and depth of her work. Strongly influenced by Thomism and the notion of esse, Pinkerton’s work prompted her to write about “the physical world and questions of existence…” Pinkerton should not be forgotten. Mary Grace’s essay shows why.
Zina Hitz in Commonweal
Zina Hitz has a lovely essay in Commonweal on “wholeheartedness” and what it really means. This is an excellent essay to read and ponder over Lent, this season of renunciation. It is easy to get caught up in a Lenten discipline that relies on checking off our sacrifices and almsgiving and prayers, treating them as things to get through. Hitz explores how, as Christians, we can answer the higher call of love. “The contrast is not quite between getting and receiving, acting and suffering,” she reminds us, rather “Christian discipline involves the use of the will to choose to receive, and to choose to suffer, habitually and freely and out of love. The practice of total renunciation is an action, like the act of marriage, in which one holds one’s whole life in view.”
Jane Greer on the “dangerous and steep” Josephine Jacobsen
Apparently, it’s forgotten-poets-who-should-not-be-forgotten day here at Friday Links. “The swift disappearance of Josephine Jacobsen from the modern poetic landscape is a mystery and a shame. Her poetry is everything I hope for when I take a chance reading a poem: intelligent, confident; musical with meter, rhyme, and assonance; wry, rich with metaphor, filled with wonder and gratitude, and serving no agenda other than poetry’s. That’s a lot to hope for, and she never disappoints.” Read Jane’s excellent essay and then read Josephine Jacobsen's work.
And, finally, St. Patrick’s Day Prep News You Can Use
St. Patrick’s Day is next week and you can prepare for this high holy day by praying The Lorica of St. Patrick, making scone, and watching some good movies (see a few suggestions above). Many dioceses are giving St. Patrick’s Day dispensations from the Lenten requirement to abstain from meat on Fridays. Okay, whatever. Fish and chips is better than corned beef and cabbage, which is, frankly, not something Irish people eat and, more importantly, disgusting (this is a hill I will die on). Corned beef belongs between two slices of rye with sauerkraut and Swiss cheese, preferably eaten in a deli that hasn’t changed in 60 years. Shepherd’s Pie is great, especially this recipe, but that’s really a Sunday dinner sort of thing, if you ask me. (Also, you don’t need to use lamb or tomato paste in that recipe.) Ditch the Bailey’s and drink Five Farms Irish Cream instead. You can thank me later, preferably in person, with some Five Farms in hand. If you need a recipe for scone, DM me, and I’ll share my mother’s, which was the absolute best. May her memory be eternal.
