On the Dante Trail trail: Faking It to the Streets

With Danteworld Rod has given up pretending the Dante Trail has any real substantive connection to the hoped for Dante book-to-be and is instead basically just giving us Uncle Ed's and Aunt Sylvia's Kodak Carousel slide show of their retirement vacation in blog form.

This will not be a long post, because I can’t gather my thoughts now.

Hey, no kidding? Same thing happens to me. But when it does, I don't buttonhole strangers on the street to inform them, "This will not be a long sentence, because I can’t gather my thoughts now." I just don't say anything. But, then I'm not a writer. Come to think of it, isn't it a writer's job to be able to gather their thoughts? To be able to describe the Dante Trail in Sienna?

Of course, if the real payload is you - what you're eating, what your facial expression is at this exact moment, what you're wearing right now, the quality of lodging you demand, your tastes in music - then gathering your thoughts really doesn't matter, does it. As with the Pharaohs of old, whatever comes out the hole becomes valuable by virtue of its source.

Welcome to Rodworld...Unplugged.

Still smarting from Diane's smack down, today on the Dante Trail trail there is not one selfie, only one food pic, but eight picture postcards from Ravenna, bringing our score now to:

Total pics: 13 - 100%

Selfies: 7 - 26% of total

Things Rod Ate: 3 - 19% of total

One of the reasons I continue to refer to Diane's effect on Dreher's subsequent behavior is that his subsequent writing is clearly responsive to what we just previously have discussed here in EQE. Today's Important Message To All: (1) Rod's not gay; no, honest; and (2) no matter what passions Sidney Bechet may incite in two men vacationing together in romantic Tuscany,

We crossed the bridge over the Arno and bought gelato for dessert, and walked back to our place, glowing. We spoke of how much we loved our wives and our children, and how blessed we are to have families. As much as I have loved Florence, I really can’t wait to go back home to Julie and the children — and I am so very, very grateful to be able to rest in them, and in their love. This kind of inner peace is what I’ve been searching for all my life, and God has given it to me in them, and in my faith.

Got that? He wrote in down right there. I should interject at this point that one of the reasons I'm a bit late to this Dante Trail trail update is that I've been handing out crisp $100 bills all morning to what seems to be an endless line of underprivileged but adorable children as they file past my desk. Not only did I pray for each one individually as each smiled at me, eyes streaming with tears of gratitude, I also prudently instructed each one not to spend it all in one place. Oh, and in addition to praying over each child individually, I also stopped and prayed eleven other additional times this morning. I'm telling you all this so you can make a note of it about me and tell your friends as well.

Speaking of prayer, apparently Yahweh has loosened the no-others-before-Him policy since HR first posted it back in the day:

The hotel is close to Dante’s tomb, so that’s where we went. How strange it was to approach it for the first time! Casella knew what the moment meant to me, and let me go in alone. I kissed Dante’s tomb and went to my knees, touching my forehead to the cold marble floor in a gesture of honor. I stood and prayed to him, thanking him for what he has done for me, and asking his blessing on my writing.

Who knew?

So let's gather our thoughts and wrap it up, shall we? Today's Dante Trail Takeaway: writing is the Philosopher's Stone, man; you can use it to create any reality you desire out of whatever you have at hand, even nothing at all.

Bonus takeaway: how do you make something about Dante? Simple: attach his name to it. Turns out others have already beat Rod and me to it.

Billboard, driving to work today: "Big Dante Tire Sale. Buy 3, Get the 4th One Free!"

Radio: "Dante Night at the Ryman Auditorium, Nashville, Tennessee"

Lunch: "Have it Your Dante Way Today" That's right, dude: with prosciutto.

Do black people break the law more than white people?

Wait! Don't answer that question out loud. You might get in trouble.

Heather MacDonald asks a bunch of controversial questions which shouldn't be controversial in this article. We're also told that it is a good idea to ask questions, even though they might be rhetorical questions, about problems in our society. Don't you think? Liberals also like to question authority, they usually think "questioning the official statement" is a positive thing. Maybe they're right. I certainly like the questions that MacDonald asks with regard to the official preconceptions which we are told to have about Ferguson. Excerpt:

Example: Ferguson issues fines for traffic violations; 20 percent of its municipal budget comes from such receipts. If people with outstanding fines or summons don’t appear in court, a warrant for their arrest is issued. Conclusion: this is a racist system. The city is deliberately financing its operations on the backs of the black poor. The only reason that blacks are subject to fines and warrants, according to the media, is that they are being hounded by a racist police force. “A mostly white police force has targeted blacks for a disproportionate number of stops and searches,” declared Time on September 1. What is the evidence for such “targeting?” Time provides none. Might blacks be getting traffic fines for the same reason that whites get traffic fines—because they broke the law? The possibility is never contemplated. The most frequently summonsed traffic offense is driving without insurance, according to the New York Times’s “exposé” of Ferguson’s traffic-fine system. Perhaps the Times’s editors would be blasé about being hit by an uninsured driver, but most drivers would be grateful that the insurance requirement is being enforced. Might poor blacks have a higher rate of driving without insurance than other drivers? Not relevant to know, apparently.

The next highest categories of driving infraction are blasting loud music out your car and driving with tinted windows. Attend police-community meetings in poor areas and you will regularly hear complaints about cars with deafening sound systems. Should the police ignore such complaints? Are they ignoring similar complaints in white areas because they want to give whites a pass? Do Ferguson’s white and black drivers blast loud music from their cars at the same rate? We never learn. Tinted windows pose a possibly lethal threat to the police during traffic stops, since they prevent officers from assessing the situation inside the car before approaching. Ignoring this infraction puts officers’ lives at risk. Should the police nevertheless do so? Such is the implication, if doing so would mean fewer fines for black motorists. The New York Times quotes a victim of the racist Ferguson traffic-enforcement system, who was fined for driving without a license. Why was his license suspended—was he driving drunk? Did he hit someone? We will never know. What is the crime rate in the black areas of Ferguson? Also something that the mainstream press is not interested in finding out.

"Do Ferguson’s white and black drivers blast loud music from their cars at the same rate?" If you indignantly say "That's a stupid question," then, well, you've already sort of answered it.

But the most ubiquitous “Ferguson is racist” meme was the most familiar: the police force is too white. Four of Ferguson’s 53 officers are black. This imbalance must be the result of racism and must itself cause racist enforcement activity. How many qualified black applicants to the force applied and were rejected? Not an interesting question, apparently.

But interesting to me and other conservatives. Finding answers to these questions would be real journalism. We might even be able to coin a new term for that: Investigative Journalism. What a concept.

MacDonald's conclusion is chilling: "Whether or not an uncontested account of the incident will ever emerge, it is certain that the media spin on Ferguson itself has been driven by facile and ultimately dangerous preconceptions."

This is what real journalism looks like

Jason Mattera shows journalists how it's done. J-Carp, are you watching this?



"The disgraced bureaucrat Lois Lerner."

Hat tip Director Blue.

Two New Reviews

One of the casualties of the exciting Dante project which we are chronicling here is that the new proposed book will draw a lot of attention away from The Little Way of Ruthie Leming. This is really too bad; this monumental tome needs to be read and appreciated by all those interested in the life and times of Rod Dreher and will forever stand as an inadvertent exposé of his high self-regard, his vindictiveness against perceived enemies, his insufferable contempt for those not sharing his patchwork political ideology and his tendency to use other people as objects.

So it well to look at two recent reviews which are not meant to pan the book or dismiss it, and yet do not read like book-club cheerleader effervescence. They are also short and to the point, which is a positive feature in any review. The first was from August 13 by a reviewer named Kim Strong.

This book inspired me to want to love others more selflessly. Ruthie, though not perfect, was a good example of living the Christian life. I marked it down slightly for portraying her brother as a serious student of the Bible, but he didn't seem to grasp it well.

I suppose the author of the book might point out that, well, she has obviously bought into the idea that "there is no conflict between being a faithful Christian and living within the American system" unlike the enlightened Americans (of means) who are able to jet over to Florence for a cultural-political chinwag and have pictures taken of them putting food into their mouths. That's why Ms. Strong wouldn't recognize him as a student of the Bible as she (and practically all normal Christians) have understood it.

Here's the most recent one as of this moment, from September 12 by Bruce L. Taylor.

I know this is based on a true story so I wish the story of Ruthie's life would have told in more detail, emotions, etc. I wanted to know her better. We are told over and over what an amazing person she was but the personal touch was missing. I felt I never got to know her the way I wanted to so I could feel the difference she made in everyone's life. Something was missing in the story that I needed to draw me more personally into the story.

Something was missing. I agree; in fact, I'd point out that there was a lot missing from many of the episodes in the story that would have explained said episodes better. Oengus pointed that out about the bouillabaisse incident—that was the one about the time Rod made bouillabaisse at a family dinner and Ruthie not only refused to eat it, but persuaded everyone else in the family to abstain from it. Oengus spoke my thoughts in his comment:

I kept getting the feeling that RD had left out some critical piece of information which would have explained the motives that the other people had. It is easy for me to imagine that had I been there I would have come away with a different impression of why what happened happened.

I also remember pointing out somewhere that the first story in the book about Ruthie was missing something. This story—the first "proof" of her saintliness—was about how, when they were children, she wanted to take the punishment for something that her brother was about to be punished for. We're never told about the nature of the infraction because Dreher claims to have forgotten what it was. But I'm not so sure about this. It's nice to be the one to write history. Mr. Taylor's review received one comment.

I found that he was too wrapped up in his own experience which blocked his depicting Ruthie in a personal, real way. Perhaps that's what was missing?

Perhaps.

Nolen's Mosque Teaches "Jihad for the Sake of Allah"

From an eyewitness to Islam. You can't trump this.



You can deny the authenticity of it, of course. But it all rings true and fits everything else we know about the inherent violence of Islamic teaching.

Smite at their necks (47:4).

"So when you meet those who disbelieve [in battle], strike [their] necks until, when you have inflicted slaughter upon them, then secure their bonds, and either [confer] favor afterwards or ransom [them] until the war lays down its burdens. That [is the command]. And if Allah had willed, He could have taken vengeance upon them [Himself], but [He ordered armed struggle] to test some of you by means of others. And those who are killed in the cause of Allah - never will He waste their deeds."

He's not the only one who's unhappy

Speaking of "sad face"...

Gallup reports that voter opposition to Obama is at 16-year high.

On the Dante Trail trail: Shamed By Diane

After a quickie food pic revealing the sort of accommodations you're never going to enjoy in Italy, follower, as well as a coy tease of the mysterious Casella's slender right arm, finally a post not immediately wallowing in appetite and other narcissitic self-indulgence, one obviously a product of having been directly shamed into it by Diane. Which is only to say this, really: there were four pictures of art and architecture, allowing the tide of food and selfies to recede for the moment. For those who may be wagering in an office pool:

Total pics: 13 - 100%

Selfies: 7 - 39% of total

Things Rod Ate: 3 - 22% of total

Fear not. We are still following the same Rod. If you didn't know how devout he was, he's Johnny-on-the-spot  here ready to remind you he's one of the elect:

There were only about 30 people there in the side chapel; the cathedral only let people in who wanted to pray. I prayed before the relics of St. Zenobius (337-417), the first bishop of Florence, and again in front of the famed painting of Dante presenting the Commedia to Florence (it is much, much darker than the usual depictions).

But what's drehery devotion without the requisite intramural one-upmanship?

Earlier in the day we had been to mass. Casella and James C. are Catholic traditionalists. I couldn’t find an Orthodox liturgy around town, so I accompanied them. It was a beautiful mass, but it really made me feel how deeply Orthodox I have become liturgically.

Gee, what a shame Dante's Catholic Italy couldn't have been more appropriately Orthodox. But...oh, dear! Is Rod taking risks with his health as the price of taking us with him?

After a while, I began to feel a little dizzy, and had to step out for air. I walked around the block, looking to buy a bottle of water. I found one, then returned to the church and sat on the steps reading the Purgatorio, Canto 10.

Thank God he made it through that, and bless him for informing us of every beep in his health mood. Oh, he makes a brief comment about Dante, too. After the intestines are packed like sausages, that's what it's all about, you know.

And...here we go: like a Berkshire hog awkwardly tottering on his rear trotters, sheepishly trying to mumble his way through a Rosary while remnant slops dribble from his snout, Rod ensures we will not be bereft of a foodie peek:

We had lunch after mass, then gelato — fig and ricotta, black sesame, and pistachio for me — then picked up our tickets for the Uffizi.

But it's as a guide to the art he's experiencing for us, living the experience for us because we can't be there that he truly shines in this post. Here's the description, so richly nuanced with detail that only Rod can describe it this way:

The luminous genius of Botticelli and Michelangelo, in particular, defy my ability to describe. Eventually I just stopped trying to articulate to myself why these paintings were so great, and tried to allow myself to experience them directly....Eventually it’s too much. All that light and beauty is overwhelming.

Okay, sorry. I lied. Like most of the ideas he tries to take credit for articulating, he just fakes his way through this, too. Wouldn't "Wow!" have just been more honest and succinct?

And the takeaway from today's following of Rod following in Dante's footsteps on the Dante Trail trail: why, how Rod confronts his mid-life crisis head on, of course.

Heading toward 50, married to a woman who while she's aged tremendously from the post-teen he initially snagged is currently reveling in her biological prime, just having assumed another mortgage in a rural suburb whose locals forced him to delete his local blog - where, where can Peter escape to?

Back to youth, of course, back to the dreamy Never Never Land of all night college bull sessions:

Tonight James, Casella and I finished with dinner in our apartment. We ate good Italian food and drank good Italian wine and listened to Sidney Bechet, and then Louis Armstrong, and talked about God and Dante and Florence. Stepping into the kitchen to get more water for the table, I thought that this is the kind of moment I dreamed of when I was younger — a night like this, filled with friendship, music, food, and conversation about ideas.

We aren't really on the trail of Dante here at all, followers, we're on the trail of Rod's youth, fleeing him ever more rapidly with each passing month. Adulthood and its responsibilities will be left to Mrs. Dreher, back home where she belongs.

Oh, but he did give a beggar woman a few coins, so there's that.

Will that be enough to save our spiky-haired Pan once Italy is behind him, after he's back, marooned in rural Louisiana with a woman in her prime ten years younger and the kids' college depending on him selling the Dante book he'll still have to write? We'll just have to wait and see.

On the Dante Trail trail: Selfiepalooza

H/T to cailleachbhan for our latest beating: "Florence Diary", which has that journalistically important sound like Berlin Diary but in reality is more the sort of thing your great aunt with the enormous bosom used to abuse you with as a child.

Four, count em', four Rod selfies, each more oleaginously self-indulgent than the last.

This brings our filosofia di suini tote now to:

Total pics: 13 - 100%

Selfies: 7 - 54% of total

Things Rod Ate: 2 - 23% of total

More if anything worth reading breaks, like Rick Steves dropping a Twitter scolding on Rod for cutting in on his action.

(A correction to our previous tote: selfies were 38% of the total, not 25%.)