Catholic | Mostly Bright Ideas

Browsing All posts tagged under »Catholic«

Related by Blood

May 17, 2014

When we were young, my cousins and I got together at least once a week. We all grew up in big, Italian-Catholic families that were in a constant state of competition — the fathers vying to see who could smoke the most cigarettes, and the mothers to see who could have the most babies. Holidays […]

Afterthoughts (Part 1)

September 9, 2013

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I think about the afterlife a lot, mostly because I no longer accept that there is such a thing. The wish is still there, but the conviction has vanished. This process of changing context, of moving from faith to doubt to skepticism, has been long and gradual. There was a time when I was thoroughly […]

Literally Confused

August 31, 2013

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One day, when I was old enough to comprehend the words, but still young enough to be impressionable and immune to sarcasm, my mother made a startling announcement to me. “I don’t have eyes in the back of my head,” she said. She may have been washing the dishes at the time, or ironing shirts, […]

On Being Neurotic (Part 1) (Will I Have Enough for Two Parts?) (Who Am I Kidding?)

May 27, 2012

I’ve been neurotic for a long time, at least since I was four, when my mother had to cut the feet off my pajamas because they were worn down to bits of thin, rubbery fabric hanging on by threads. I nearly lost my mind. It wasn’t so much an issue of fashion, but safety. A […]

Dancing, and Related Lessons

December 5, 2011

During a recent car trip up and down the East Coast of the United States, I found myself sitting in frequent bumper-to-bumper traffic. Much of it seemed to be caused by nervous drivers who no longer trusted their own reflexes, and who kept one foot on the brake at all times. Often accompanying these hours […]

Bland is Beautiful

October 17, 2011

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I’ve always been intrigued by boring things. I know that’s odd, because humans are wired for excitement. Our brains can stand to be uninterested for just so long, and then they go looking for adventure. If we’re in school and watching a film about the harvesting of soybeans, or if we live in Canada and […]

Paradise Cost

February 1, 2011

I was five when I first learned about Heaven. Or maybe I was younger, I’m not really sure. I tried to take notes, but I was writing with crayons and my penmanship wasn’t the greatest. All I know is, by the time I turned ten I had completely wrecked the concept. Most of my hard […]

Choked Up At Christmas

December 24, 2010

The day before Christmas break at our Catholic school was the best day of the year. Not only did we get to leave at twelve o’clock, but our teacher would give everyone in the class a special box to take home. The boxes were filled with colorful hard candy, some in the shape of swirly […]

Then One Year, The Show Was Over

September 9, 2010

“The sixties are back, and better than ever!” Or so says a radio spot promoting Hairspray, the musical my wife and I saw last night at a local theater. I’m not one of those men who dread going to these shows; I like the singing and dancing and the music of a live orchestra. It’s […]