Whoops

A book, a poem, a concert.

            Dear Scriptor,

            As you can see, I’m violating the plans I laid out in my last letter. I’m writing to you all in April. You see — What I’d planned to do was to break up the older, longer letters so you could get two easily-digestible parts of one long, ponderous letter over two weeks instead of that one and ponderous letter entire.

            This did not work out. The letters may have been long and ponderous, but they were also cohesive, and I can find no way to break them apart which does not make them hopelessly uneven. I could, of course, send you the Flowerbed and Amphitheater parts of the letter this week and the other 3,000+ words next week. But why not have a break inside that beast?

            So instead I’m going to write about a book, a poem, and a concert. All very briefly and not in that order.

Hortus Proprius

            I will one day (probably in about two years, though, as things are going now, maybe five) piece together a poetry collection for children. As we are about to have our third, I’ve been looking back over some of those poems. And I stumbled upon this one, which I’d wholly forgotten. I’d say this is a good time to remember.

A Little Fellow Follows Me
Anon

A careful man I want to be —
a little fellow follows me.
I do not dare to go astray,
for fear he’ll go the self-same way.
I cannot once escape his eyes.
Whatever he sees me do he tries.
Like me he says he’s going to be —
that little chap who follows me…
He knows that I am big and fine —
And believes in every word of mine.
The base in me he must not see —
that little chap who follows me…
But after all it’s easier,
that brighter road to climb,
With little hands behind me —
to push me all the time.
And I reckon I’m a better man
than what I used to be…
Because I have this lad at home
who thinks the world of me.

The Amphitheater

            This is a “concert” I stumbled across on YouTube of Polyphonic music from the 15th to the 20th Centuries. It’s form the 1989 Album Splendori della polifonia - Mottetti e madrigali per coro a quattro voci miste. The choir is Cappella Musicale Basilica di San Marco, with Giovanni Vianini directing.

The Hammock

            I wrote online that I tended to side with Lewis on the debate about whether there was or was not a Renaissance. An acquaintance of mine (a professor at a University in the Northeast) send me an article of his arguing that there was, in fact, a Renaissance. More than that, he says that Lewis’s idea there wasn’t really a Renaissance is a bit of an embarrassment for him in The Academy. I have several Lewis articles and chapters yet to read (and my friend’s essay to re-read) before I make up my mind about it all. Among that reading is a chapter of Jason Baxter’s The Medieval Mind of C.S. Lewis.

            The book feels to be almost the perfect combination of quotations, explanations, and elaborations. If you have been too scared to read The Discarded Image, if you have read The Discarded Image but can make neither heads nor tails of it, or even if you feel you wade through The Discarded Image well enough but would like delve deeper into its refreshing waters, this book can help. At the very least, it’s certainly helped me. I was re-reading it by happenstance right now anyway, and so I shall soon re-read it, particularly Chapter 3, “From Symphony to Machine”, by design for my response to the good professor.

            I found it on Hoopla before I bought it, for those who are uncertain about it or who cannot spare the money for yet another book right now. That last mode almost always describes me.

The Shed

            Next week you shall have that ponderous letter of mine.

Reviso et Peroratio

            See you next week.

            Thank you

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            I asked this question on Twitter, but got no response. Perhaps you all will equip yourselves better. In a world of HVAC, why do we give children Summer off and not either Spring or Fall? At least in the South and Southwest, it’s often too hot to use most of the day in Summer; whereas now, in April, it’s a chill fifty-five in the morning & a hot but easy eighty-five in the afternoon. Perfect! So why don’t we give students a Spring (or Fall) break and make them work in cool AC through the summer? If you have thoughts, please

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            And you’d be doing me a favor if you would, on any social media available to you,

           Until next we meet, I remain your fellow,

Scriptor horti scriptorii,
Judd Baroff