bits and bants vol.29

how to get off the treadmill of constant media consumption

I was wondering this week if a symptom of my middle/old age is the desire to read old, classic, and thoughtful words. I don’t just mean the feeling of duty or obligation towards reading books that are largely well regarded from the past, but a deep yearning for them has finally made itself a priority to me. This really could just be me finally showing some maturity, or thick middle age making itself starkly apparent, or the result of the past four years, but I do think noticing this desire is important and has to be a good sign.

just me reading my old books, Old Woman Reading, Rembrandt

I’ve obviously always liked reading, and I always have had a love for the classics in varying degrees, and as someone who was homeschooled/homeschools now with high ideals I know the huge importance that reading and thinking about the classics and even modern classics brings to our lives. But what I’ve noticed lately is a craving for that wisdom that surpasses 140 characters, thoughts that have universal application and meaning even if written hundreds of years ago, and opinions that are just as true 100 years ago as they are today.

I know reading that which lasts and has value to others over the course of time is the antidote to a constant news cycle and addictive media consumption. But I think there’s also something working on the level of the soul that is found in reading words that have stood the test, or a test, of time in that it creates a sense of meaning and place within our broader sense of time and history. We are so disconnected from history as a culture that we don’t see history as a living thing, as playing our part within it, but also receiving its rich wisdom and knowledge. And I don’t simply mean history as a science, but history as meaning that gives our souls an understanding of connection to what has come before us.

I think there is so much to be understood and known by knowing and understanding what those very brilliant people who came before us understood and tried to communicate. Knowing Chesterton’s thoughts on evolution is valuable to me because he expresses what is important about evolution, not a hot take about a new discovery. I want to read novels that were lauded at the time they were written even if I struggle to understand them because it will help me understand not just a story, or even more about myself, but also the wider culture that it grew out of.

I want to read things that have meaning and value from the past precisely because it isn’t a current trend or narrative. We know what we see and consume in media is algorithmically driven and that the journalistic narratives are few and curated, but I think sometimes our brains are tricked into believing that’s all there is; that there is only that which we see right now on our screens.

I so want to know and think about that which truly matters, what will have significance fifty years from now, and to hold stories that have touched the hearts of readers in every generation that have read them. It feels so good to get off the treadmill of constant media consumption and viral posts. I’ll still read a viral post of course, but being able to reach back into the knowledge of the past has been such a balm.

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bits:

• firstly, if you haven’t yet had a chance to read

  Emily Stimpson Chapman
  ’s wonderful explainer on the Catholic teaching on IVF please do because it is done in a wonderfully kind and clear way. And if you don’t subscribe to her you really must, and especially because she lost a bunch of subscribers for writing on this topic. If you’re at all on Catholic media you are sure to not have seen many/any of the loudest social teaching voices talking about IVF because it is not a popular teaching.

• Ok, hear me out on this very niche topic: dahlia sales and the saps who fall into their web i.e. me. I love how this article richly details and describes the intensity that is dahlia growing and buying. It sounds crazy that there would be so much competition and heated feelings over acquiring specific flowers but let me tell you, there is. I have experienced years of dahlia tuber sales angst and spent so much money on the darn things that are truly a pain in the butt to grow, but they are so incredibly addictive they’re like a millennial woman’s Pokemon. Anyway, enjoy a weird look inside another of my weird hobbies.

• I think that Jimmy Akin is truly one of the smartest human beings and I could and do listen to him talk about anything for hours so I recommend this podcast with him as a guest. (I haven’t listened to all FIVE HOURS yet, but I’m a nerd so I probably will who are we kidding) And Sarah McKenzie’s interview from last week was really lovely.

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reading, watching, what have you:

• I finished The Road. I survived. What a wringer of a book! I’m so glad I read it because it really is one of the most intense books I’ve read, but also maybe one of the books that feels closest to the reality of what parenting is?? I’m still thinking about it. Probably will be thinking about it for a long time. Still a bit scared.

• Also finished The Novel, Who Needs It? by Joseph Epstein, a book of short essays exploring what the novel is and if it still has a place in culture and art. I liked a lot of his points about literature and its importance, didn’t like others, but overall a book that makes you think more intently on what is so great about novels.

• And after asking you all for recommendations on shows to watch and receiving so many good recommendations I naturally had no time to watch tv this week! I was either exhausted or dealing with kids stuff, but my husband and I did get to watch thirty minutes of Clarkson’s Farm which we’re catching up on and which is completely hilarious.

• I made sourdough focaccia this week and it looked as awful as every other focaccia I’ve ever made. Tastes fine, but looks horrendous. Like a lump of leftover dough someone forgot about for about two years then sprinkled some rosemary on top of. For some reason it really vexes me that I can’t make it look decent. I try once a year to make it and it keeps illuding me. It’s fine. I’ll totally get over it.

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  And I would love for you to come to Ireland withKatie Marquette

  and I this coming October! It’s going to be an amazing experience of the culture, faith, and beauty of Ireland.

  Here is the brochure for all the details.

  And here is a fun video with me and Katie talking about what we’re looking forward to on the trip, and the benefits of travelling with a tour!

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  And I think that’s it. Pretty quiet around here. I’m off to continue my multi-hour(!!) cleaning of my kitchen because apparently everything is covered in layers of grime from life(???) and I’m the only one who can conquer it. I did buy more dahlias on Monday, but that’s it, not this weekend.

still with the windchill,

Christy