On the Dante Trail trail: Week 0.5
Before we dash off in full follow of our Dante follower's full metal quest to debase a milestone in Western Christian literature into a narcissistic pop-cultural self-help seltzer for the soul, I want to set the scene for all of us so that we can begin with the fullest flavor of our Italian vacation indulgence.
Just visualize me staring at my laptop screen, recalling one of my most beloved Italian memories. No, not Sophia. My Mom, smiling as she opens the Chef Boy-Ar-Dee can herself, microwaving it just right, then lovingly pouring the steaming reddish-brown-and-cream-colored whatever onto my plate before finalizing her devotion by tearing open the cheese packet with her own tiny fingertips and expertly sprinkling it so that every morsel of goodness receives at least one atom of cheesy insouciance. Believe you me, nothing will save you from any sort of lurking cloud of darkness around you like stinging flies like a taste of Italy.
Now that I think about it, though, I might have experienced that experience by watching a commercial on TV Land, but it hardly matters. In either case the important common denominator is that I would have been there.
Where were we? Oh, right. Vicariously off to Italy, the birthplace of Dante and the real Chef Boy-Ar-Dee.
At the bottom of a post longer than the Dante trail itself whose purpose is to inform us that our follower can still get in the door in New York City, we're confronted with a mystery even more profound than those of Orv or Ann and the possum we encountered back when we were reading that book I got at a garage sale together.
Who is "Casella"?
It can't be "the famous James C." unless the C stands for Casella, which would obviously be too easy and besides why would someone already identified need a code name?
No, this is a new mystery companion traveling with Rod as he follows in the footsteps of Dante through the sensuous, enveloping romance that is Italy.
Is Casella a man? A woman? A dog? A mutant combination of all three caused by a freakish industrial accident involving a radioactive spider which has left it with super Dante-following powers but also with a tragic, socially alienating dark side and that ennui that descends like a cloud of stinging flies when waiting too long in the DMV?
A ghost?
These days, as long as it's not some ball and chain making you second-guess your tell-all blogging, does it really matter?
And, so, the game afoot, we're off, following the follower on the trail of the Dante Trail with his mystery companion "Casella" through Italy, where sensuality and spirituality converge.
Oh, brother. I confess I didn't read the entire thing, that "Ghosts of Colson & Neuhaus" post. I don't know how the FT crowd puts up with Deneen, let alone Dreher.
ReplyDeleteAs soon as he mentioned that his presentation included the Benedict Option, I laughed out loud.
WRT George Weigel, here's the thing, I met him and for all his brilliance--and he is brilliant--he is a normal guy. He handed me his business card, like a normal guy, and talked to a group of us after his speech, like a normal guy. Maybe this is why his books are so readable and influential, unlike those of the elite we-know-better-than-you crowd. I'm convinced that all this talk in the Catholic blogosphere about how Weigel is part of some subversive cabal and some type of heretic is just born out of jealousy about what a superior communicator he is of ideas and actual history than scolds like Deneen who seem to have festered in university environments for too long to relate to normal people.
As soon as he mentioned that his presentation included the Benedict Option, I laughed out loud.
Delete"I’m beginning to get invitations to travel to elite forums to talk about the Benedict Option, an idea that I first aired here on this blog, and then in a TAC story."
Wait a minute...in Crunchyville, is it now a good thing to be in with the elites?
Regardless, Rodco won't be able to become the next big name in pseudointellectual tabula rasa memes and food chopping devices without your tax-deductible contribution to TAC. Before considering taking the RDBO plunge and withdrawing into your own inner convergence of sensuality and spirituality from whence you carp at the failings of others from a safe distance, won't you consider giving generously today?
It's so sad that the irony is lost on him. The B-Option is all about how we need to withdraw. Yet--as an elite philosopher king--he gets to travel around, sampling food and other worldly delights whilst talking about the obligatory fugit mundi which we all must undertake as true Christians.
DeleteThis would either be an example of (1) takin' one for the team or (2) "some animals are more equal than others" depending on the gullibility of the arbiter.
I'm not going to confess that I didn't read the entire Dreher post, I'm going to proudly say that I didn't waste what little time God has given me in this life reading the entire Dreher post. But from the bits I skimmed, two things stuck out:
ReplyDelete1) Razor-sharp subjective projected analysis like this: The magazine was the flagship intellectual journal for engaged religious conservatives in Neuhaus’s day, and if it hasn’t quite had that stature in the post-Neuhaus era, it is mostly, in my view, because the disaster of the Iraq War and the failed Bush administration, in both of which the magazine was implicated ... Meaning Dreher was mad at them about Iraq so he didn't read it for awhile.
2) Rod Dreher, Employee of the Month at an organ named "The" "American" "Conservative", doesn't vote, ostensibly to register some sort of lame protest but really to let the Democrat win : [NFR: ... I didn't poll the room, but I bet if I had, I would have found a few people who are like me: willing to withhold our votes at all. -- RD] Because Dreher was mad about Iraq so he hasn't voted for awhile.
But the post has a selfie! From Tuscany! With prosecco!
Pik, a ghost in a dream fleeing stinging flies just told me From Tuscany With Prosecco is already in pre-production as we speak, with a prominent celebrity already signed on to play our follower.
DeleteWhile using mostly stock B-roll footage of tiny Italian sports cars whizzing around hairpin coastal switchbacks to depict the following may admittedly confuse some viewers, given the star's food and drink riders I hear it's crucial if the film is to come in under budget.
Hairspin coastal switchbacks in Tuscany. Now that's something I'd like to see.
DeleteThat’s bistecca fiorentina, Tuscan white beans in olive oil, and a Brunello di Montalcino.
DeleteWell of course it is.
Max CASELLA the actor played Vinnie Salvatore Delpino, the best friend and bosom companion of Doogie Howser M.D., who in turn was played by Neil Patrick Harris, who is of course a seriously out homosexual.
ReplyDeleteHidden meaning? You be the judge.
-TMFKS