A major find in Western Cypress, in an already-looted tomb near the village of Kouklia, in the coastal Paphos area. The area contained several ancient cemeteries that belonged to the town of Palaepaphos, site of a temple to Aphrodite (goddess of beauty and love, believed to have risen from the waves of the nearby sea). The sarcophagus is 2500 years old, and its ornate illustrations are painted in red, black, and blue on a white background. Experts believe that some…
I witnessed a disturbing thing. It was late morning near the Pier on Flagler Beach in Florida on Sunday the 19th. It’s not uncommon to see small planes pulling banners across the sky, although it’s certainly not as common as at the typical “spring break” beaches such as Daytona. Perhaps this one came from there and just continued up the coast. I didn’t notice anything special about the plane itself. The banner was shorter than the typical ad banner. It…
It is an extraordinary time. We borrow money from other countries so that rich people don’t have to pay taxes. We borrow money from other countries and let private corporations steal it. And somehow, the American people seem to be all right with that.
Slavoj Žižek makes a very interesting defense of atheism in the editorial “Defenders of the Faith” (New York Times, 3/12/06). Certainly atheism deserves the restoration of the inherent dignity of its position. But his overall argument, at least in the context of our current realities, is flawed. It could be a readerly effect, since the article looks as though it might have been chopped up. (Boo-hiss to the editor if that is the case – Žižek deserves better.) Still, I…
The Roving Ellipsis hosts the Progressive Faith Blog carnival this week. Great job weaving the various strands together! Are you a progressive faith blogger? Join here. The Carnival will be hosted next week by Velveteen Rabbi.
Jean Baudrillard, one of my all-time fave thinkers, has written a short piece on the torched cars and ransacked schools of France. "The Pyres of Autumn" argues that these events (among other things) call attention to the actual lack of a meanful social culture. He describes the ideological bankruptcy of the West as a "banalized, technized, upholstered way of life, carefully shielded from self-questioning." What does national belonging really mean, and how does one have a sense of it today?…