Reading Challenge 2015

Challenge is probably too strong a word.  Maybe "plans."  Or "tentative plans."  Or wish list.

How to Respond to Eastern Religions -- finished Jan 7
Crunchy Cons, by Dreher

The Highly Sensitive Person: How to Thrive When the World Overwhelms You,  by Aron
Let's Roll, by Beamer
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
Light in the Dark Belt: The Story of Rosa Young
Wild Swans, by Chang
On Being a Theologian of the Cross, by Forde

Holy Housewifery (because somebody mentioned it jokingly on Jenny's FB page and I happen to have a copy)

Somewhere Safe with Somebody Good, by Karon 
Beyond the Mists, by Benchley
Cutting for Stone, by Verghese

Re-reads:
Narnia
Harry Potter
Hammer of God



With Maggie:
Anne of Ingleside
Rainbow Valley
Rilla of Ingleside

Penderwicks
Broken: 7 "Christian" Rules Every Christian Ought to Break

Swallows and Amazon series
or Little House series (again)
or Little Britches series
or Five Little Peppers

Kid's Choice: Mom-at-Home or Mom-at-Work

The story comes from many different families.  Kid says, "Mommy, don't go to work today.  Stay home with me."  Mommy says, "Well, I could quit my job and stay home with you.  But if I do, then we don't have money to buy the things you like.  Don't you like going to the go-kart track?  Don't you like going out for pizza?  Don't you like the toys we buy and the Buzz Lightyear sweatshirt you chose last week?  If I didn't have a job, I wouldn't have money to buy those things."  Kid thinks a bit.  Kid says, "Go to work, Mommy."

People laugh.
People think it's so cute.

I would be embarrassed to announce proudly that my kid would prefer material stuff from me than my company.  (That is, assuming that Mom's income is not buying necessities such as rent, groceries, and medicine.) 

My question:  WHY does a kid answer, "Go to work, Mommy"?  Because the child is accustomed to day-care, does he see only the loss of stuff and not the gain of his parents' attention?  Is it that the child naturally prefers indulgences to being with parents?  (I suspect not but may be wrong.)  Has the child learned that the parents think the toys and outings are a higher priority than copious time together as a family? 

Community -- Consumerism

Consumerists

find and express their personal identity through the consumption of products.  Its ultimate goal is the spread of happiness and well-being through the improvement of material conditions, and the creation of general increase of wealth.
There's nothing objectively wrong with material progress, and a great deal right with it.
The problem is the way we relate to our materials gains.

Crunchy Cons, page 29

A society built on consumerism must break down eventually for the same reason socialism did: because even though it is infinitely better than socialism at meeting our physical needs and gratifying our physical desires, consumerism also treats human beings as merely materialists, as ciphers on a spreadsheet.  It cannot, over time, serve the deepest needs of the human person for stability, spirituality, and authentic community.

Crunchy Cons, page 49

Community -- Technology

Americans naively accept new technologies, thinking only of what these technologies can do, but never what they can undo.

Crunchy Cons, page 33,

referring to Neil      

Postman's Technopoly

Yes.

TV.  Facebook.  Smart-phones.  Email lists. 

But they're here.

No undoing it.

How do we respond, 

using the technology wisely,

and yet preserving what that technology will undo?

Community -- Individualism

Free-market, technology-driven capitalism, for all its benefits, tends to pull families and communities apart by empowering individuals and encouraging --even mandating-- individualism.  Most Americans would say, "Hey, what's wrong with individualism?" not thinking about the social costs of strained and even broken familial and communal bonds.  

Crunchy Cons, page 41

Christmas Pictures: Time for Games

Big girls played "Ticket to Ride."

 

Younger set tried their hand at Battleship.

The fellas pulled out their Magic Cards.

Community -- A Book

Eight years ago, a bunch of my friends started a book-discussion group.  I wanted to join.  But I was still homeschooling three kids.  Somebody's artery was beginning to fail and surgery was being planned.  It was the wrong time for me to be reading for myself. 

So now I'm ready. 
Already.

The book was published in 2006.  Rod Dreher wrote Crunchy Cons. 

I think now is a much better time for me to be reading this book.  I've been struggling with questions that I didn't have eight years ago.  Moving to suburbia and starting a job-for-wages has brought with it an unsettledness.  An unsettledness which I haven't been able to make sense of.  And this book is helping.

The book is about how certain traditionalists can't stand the liberals because so much of what they're about is fulfilling their lusts, unrestrained.  And yet, these same traditionalists can't stand the conservatives because so much of what they're about is fulfilling their greed, unrestrained.   The book is about how this basic premise coincides with a plethora of topics: obesity, immigration policy, how everyone bemoans that we don't know our neighbors, the fussing betwixt our township and the nearby village, organic veggies and food co-ops, a new Meijer's or a new YMCA, the tremendous importance of stay-at-home moms, and so much more.

What I'm pondering most is the thesis that many who consider themselves conservatives, aren't.  They may be in the "conservative" political party.  They may be in favor of the free market.  But if they're still driven by the consumerism that dominates this culture, they're fooling themselves.  Getting more stuff and "growing the economy" isn't conservative.  Spending time with family, appreciating beauty, serving the neighbor, working hard, being in touch with the natural world -- that's what being conservative is really about.

More Christmas Pictures