Category Archives: Republic of Letters

Republic of Letters

St. Brubeck and Time Changes

Time Changes, 1964

I’m sure that many of you well remember that jazz master, Dave Brubeck, died six years ago this month. I always liked him when I was alive, but I’ve certainly got to know him and his art much better since he passed onto the heavenly realm.

Given his extraordinary creativity and his equally extraordinary defense of the humane (especially against racism in the 1950s), I wonder if it’s time we start looking into the possible canonization of Brubeck.

While I have no idea if there are miracles associated with this life, I do know that the man lived and breathed a tangible grace in all that he did. And, not too surprisingly, he found his way into the Catholic Church, adding to an already stunning list of converts over the past century.

One of my single best purchases over the past year was of the boxed set of his five albums dealing with time, FOR ALL TIME, capturing his recordings from 1959 to 1965. It includes Time Out, Time Further Out, Time In, Countdown, and Time Changes. Unquestionably, his most famous album is the 1959, Time Out, fearing “Take Five.”

Yet, for me, the best album is his truly experimental, Time Changes. I suppose it’s the prog rock inside my soul, but the second side features only one song, the 16-plus minute “Elementals,” a piece that is equal parts classical composition and jazz. I simply can’t get enough of it.

When I listen to it, I feel as though I’m living inside a sacrament. It is just so utterly and deeply graceful.

God definitely touched the soul of Brubeck with something special, and I believe we would be fools to dismiss that gift to Brubeck and, ultimately, to ourselves.

St. Brubeck? Maybe. Let’s ask and find out.

Addendum (found after posting this piece). Brubeck’s agent tried to get him to replace Eugene Wright (a black American) with a white American. Brubeck who had been supporting black musicians since World War II adamantly refused. “Dave refused; the tour was cancelled at a great financial loss; but Dave’s message was clear“–reads a letter from his agent.

Republic of Letters

The Spirit of the Republic and Syria

I must admit, I’ve been a bit stunned by the negative reaction to President Trump’s announcement of troop withdrawal from Syria. I’ve never been a Trump supporter, but I also wish him and the country well. It’s quite possible that this withdrawal is a bad idea for all involved. Two men I respect immensely–John Zmirak and Eric Metaxas–have been writing this on twitter over the last 24 hours.

There are three terrible problems, though, that the United States has simply not come to grips with. First, we’ve not been in a constitutionally-sanctioned war since 1946, when Congress announced the end of our involvement in World War II. And, second, deeply related to the first, we’ve turned all of our war-making abilities over to the Executive, in direct violation of the letter and spirit of the Constitution. And, finally, third, we’ve been in almost constant war since President Bush’s invasion of Iraq in early 1991.

I’m no pacifist, and I believe war is often inevitable and necessary in this world. Yet, there’s a very good reason why the Founders placed the war-making ability in the hands of Congress, not in the hands of the Executive. If we go to war, it must be because the American people has a whole have decided that we must be at war. We should never take the killing of another–no matter how foreign–lightly. We must wrestle mightily with such decisions. We have avoided all such decisions since 1946.

I’m also aghast at how many people turned a blind eye to Obama’s atrocities abroad but now see Trump’s *reduction* of our presence abroad as a horror for all involved.

Zmirak and Metaxas might very well be right–that we should be in Syria.

If so, those who believe such should make the case to the entire American people, and declare it to the world. As it is, the pro-war forces have had their way for the past 27 years, and I’m tired of it. Very, very tired of it. The pro-war forces are, for all intents and purposes, the boy who cried wolf.

Republic of Letters

The Underground Shakespeare ~ The Imaginative Conservative

Despite their obscurity, “The Rape of Lucrece” and “Venus and Adonis” were Shakespeare’s best-sellers. But why were these poems so wildly popular? (essay by Dwight Longenecker)
— Read on theimaginativeconservative.org/2018/12/underground-shakespeare-clare-asquith-dwight-longenecker.html

Republic of Letters

My (current) keyboard: Vortex Race 3 – Six Colors

Six Colors by Jason Snell and Dan Moren
— Read on sixcolors.com/post/2018/12/my-current-keyboard-vortex-race-3/

One of my storage obsessions is finding a great keyboard. After all, it is to writers what a guitar is to rock bands. Nice review from one of my favorite tech writers, Jason Snell.–Brad

Republic of Letters

Light in the darkness | Kindred

It’s five a.m., and I’m wide awake. Again. Was it a dream that woke me or the Christmas lights shining in my window? Usually I can squeeze one more sleep cycle in before rising for the day. In fact, I haven’t consistently or voluntarily been up this early since high school, when my morning toilette…
— Read on kindredmag.com/2018/12/21/light-in-the-darkness/