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The Saturday Soundtrack 2023 top ten

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Saturday Soundtrack began as a diversion. Or perhaps pandemic therapy. But as I’ve written before, it has become a real labor of love.* 2023 was the fourth full year of my commitment to focus more on the music in my life and share those explorations with the readers of More to Come.

At this time of reflection and “best of” lists, we once again turn to see what you — the readers and listeners — enjoyed by highlighting the ten posts with the most views from this year’s Saturday Soundtrack series. I did not list them in countdown order, working instead off a thematic framework, but I did save the post with the most views for the last.

Thanks for reading and commenting on these posts throughout the year. Your choices are outstanding!

Rest in Peace

Three of this year’s top Soundtrack posts are remembrances of past musical lives that continue to grace our world.

An incredibly rare event is often described as coming along “once in a Blue Moon.” On August 30/31 we experienced the second full moon within the span of one month, which had me thinking about the late and beloved singer-songwriter Nanci Griffith and her song, Once in a very blue moon.

Gordon Lightfoot

Gordon Lightfoot, R.I.P. is my remembrance for the Canadian singer and songwriter, who passed away on May 1st. Lightfoot was a consistent voice in my world during my 20s and 30s.

George Winston

The self-described folk pianist George Winston, who sold millions of albums over a long career, passed away on June 4th after a 10-year battle with cancer. Like many, I came to Winston’s melodic, quiet, and thoughtful playing in the 1980s, and I celebrate his legacy in the remembrance George Winson, R.I.P.

Holy music

Two of the top-ten posts this year had connections to the spiritual and holy.

Music for Holy Week was a repeat of a 2020 post that was curated by my son, Andrew Bearden Brown (more on him later). The haunting music and exceptionally talented singers Andrew selected held up well, as readers once again made it a top Soundtrack post of the year.

The Delta Rhythm Boys rattle those dry bones is tied to one of the most evocative stories in the Old Testament: Ezekiel’s encounter with God in the valley of the dry bones. The Delta Rhythm Boys put down the definitive version of the classic song Dry Bones, which I highlight (along with their other work) in this post which became a reader favorite.

Folk and bluegrass

Four of our top posts came from artists in the folk, acoustic music, and bluegrass field.

Watchhouse Duo: Andrew Marlin and Emily Frantz (credit: Charlie Boss)

Watchhouse Duo goes back to the basics is a look at the most recent project by Andrew Marlin and Emily Frantz. They are back on the road as they began: two individuals “with profound chemistry, performing earnest yet masterfully crafted songs that encompass the unknowable mysteries, existential heartbreak, and communal joys of modern life.”

Alison Brown

Alison Brown doesn’t play the banjo; she plays music on the banjo. On banjo with Alison Brown shows the range of musical skill and interests of this progressive banjo player. In her newest album, a tour de force, Alison includes “forays into bluegrass, Brazilian choro music, classical and swing era jazz” with collaborators including musician, actor, and comedian Steve Martin; virtuoso mandolinist Sierra Hull; Israeli clarinetist Anat Cohen; multicultural chamber group Kronos Quartet; classical guitarist Sharon Isbin; and fiddle stalwart Stuart Duncan.

Molly Tuttle and Golden Highway

The Grammy-winning artist Molly Tuttle and her band Golden Highway released their new record City of Gold in July. I highlight this terrific new work that showcases the versatility of the band and the expansiveness of Tuttle’s musical interests. 

Carrie Newcomer

Coming in at #2 on the annual Soundtrack top-ten list of reader views is A Great Wild Mercy, singer-songwriter Carrie Newcomer’s newest project. Newcomer has always explored “the intersection of the spiritual and the daily, the sacred and the ordinary,” and this album continues that search. Over the course of her career she has become a prominent voice for progressive spirituality, social justice and interfaith dialogue. Author Barbara Kingsolver has written of Newcomer, “She’s a poet, storyteller, snake-charmer, good neighbor, friend and lover, minister of the wide-eyed gospel of hope and grace.”

Soundtrack favorite

And #1 on the list of reader views is:

This year’s prize winners in the Handel Aria Competition were: Emily Donato, soprano, first prize; Andrew Bearden Brown (right) tenor, second prize; and Fran Daniel Laucerica, tenor, third prize.

Our son — the tenor Andrew Bearden Brown — was a finalist in the 10th annual Handel Aria Competition held at historic Grace Episcopal Church on the capitol square in Madison, Wisconsin. The Handel Aria Competition was established in 2013 and the finalists for this year’s competition were selected out of 125 auditions from around the world. Andrew took second prize, and in the #1 Saturday Soundtrack post for 2023 — A memorable evening of Handel — I post the videos of his two arias. All of the finalists sang beautifully in this wonderful historic setting. Needless to say, we are so proud of Andrew’s performance. I shared it with the readers of More to Come, who responded enthusiastically!

Enjoy!

More to come . . .

DJB

*I enjoy all types of music but realized in 2019 as More to Come passed the ten-year mark that I was seldom finding time to really listen to new music, much less highlight musicians I loved through the newsletter. Announcing a weekly commitment to showcase some of the work of those who caught my ear was a way to push me out of my typical posts. The reaction? Well, I have one family member who confesses to “never reading the music posts.” Others — friends, business colleagues, and family members — regularly comment or send emails with thoughts and suggestions only about the Soundtrack features. Suffice it to say that enough people read them that I’ll continue to feed my soul though these explorations and highlights.

NOTE: Here’s the 2022 top ten list.

Photo of albums and headphones by blocks on Unsplash

Don’t mess with the septuagenarian sleuths

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When I began my year of reading dangerously™ I had no idea what would result from a mystery-novel-a-month habit, having never given the genre much attention. Now that I’ve worked my way through the twelfth such book this year, I can honestly say that the final installment may have been the biggest surprise of all.

Who knew there was such a thing as a light, witty, and — most surprising of all — big-hearted mystery novel? Well, I do now.

The Thursday Murder Club (2020) by Richard Osman is centered around Coopers Chase, a high-end peaceful British retirement village on the grounds of a former convent. We soon discover that Coopers Chase was built with drug money by the “loathsome” Ian Ventham and maintained by his dangerous associate, Tony Curran. Only the chapel and cemetery still suggest their original use, as the rest of the facility has been repurposed into living spaces, a restaurant, and meeting facilities, including the Jigsaw Room. There four residents turned septuagenarian sleuths meet weekly to discuss unsolved crimes in “a two-hour slot free between Art History and Conversational French. They book the room under the name ‘Japanese Opera: A Discussion’, which ensures they were always left in peace.” Together they call themselves the Thursday Murder Club.

The four club members could not be more different. The leader, Elizabeth Best, is secretive about her background as an ex-spy. Very no-nonsense, Elizabeth can always call-in favors from around the world when needed. Joyce Meadowcroft, the most recent member, is a widow who was a career nurse. She was asked to join the club after accurately estimating how long it would take someone to bleed to death from a particular type of stab wound. Ron Ritchie is the tattooed former union organizer who is not afraid to mix-it-up with anyone, and who doesn’t believe a single word anyone ever tells him. It is a surprisingly good skill to have when reading police reports. Ron’s son Jason is a well-known former boxer now resigned to working on celebrity ice-skating shows. Ibrahim Arif, an Egyptian-born semi-retired psychiatrist, is the fourth member, bringing very useful organizational and observational skills to the club.

The four are discussing old murder cases culled from the files of Elizabeth’s friend Penny Gray, a former police officer who’s now comatose in the village’s nursing home. But that routine’s about to be disrupted. First, we learn that Ventham has big plans for the future just as soon as he’s removed the nuns’ bodies from the cemetery. Ventham also fires the combustible Tony Curren and replaces him with Bogdan Jankowski, who is a willing but wary associate for Ventham.

When Curren turns up murdered in the kitchen of his nearby home with a strange photo that includes Jason Ritchie lying beside his head, the Thursday Murder Club suddenly has a very real murder mystery with real-life consequences on their hands.

About this time Elizabeth spots a new member of the local police force who, having just moved to the area from South London, meets the group after giving a home security talk that Ron and Elizabeth immediately disrupt. They all like the ambitious officer, who in turn recognizes their sharp mental and observational skills, so Elizabeth pulls strings to get PC Donna De Freitas placed on the local murder team. She is partnered with team leader Detective Chief Inspector Chris Hudson, and although they differ in age (she is 26 and he’s 51) and background, they hit it off and soon trust each other and — more importantly — see the value the Thursday Murder Club can bring to the case.

Soon more bodies begin to turn up, including Ventham who is poisoned while arguing with the residents as they try to save the cemetery. Not all the deaths are murders, and there are poignant moments as the retirees navigate aging and end-of-life decisions. Osman is a very good writer with clear affection for these retirees who maintain their spark for life. There are twists and turns throughout that are as surprising as the final outcome. The Thursday Murder Club is a book that will lead you to laugh, tear up, think, and ultimately compel you to turn page-after-page until you’ve reached the satisfying conclusion.

Recommended by my friend and former colleague, Barbara O’Reilly, The Thursday Murder Club was a very rewarding end to my year of reading mystery novels. I’m now hooked but won’t be so rigorous as to include one each month. However . . . I suspect we’ll be seeing many more in the coming months.

More to come . . .

DJB

The Weekly Reader links to the works of other writers I’ve enjoyed. I hope you find something that makes you laugh, think, or cry. 

Image by Angelo Giordano from Pixabay

Talking with writers

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Over the course of 2023 I’ve been privileged to have seven different writers accept my invitation to discuss their recently published works. The readers of More to Come have been the beneficiary of their generosity. For this year-end roundup, I have pulled these conversations together in a salute to these thoughtful and perceptive authors.

As is appropriate for MTC, the subject matter is all over the map. Scan these short blurbs (the links take you to the full post and conversation) to find history, preservation, memoirs, spirituality, community revitalization, the uncovering of untold stories, career and life advice, and authorship. You’ll find all that below, listed alphabetically by author.

A Long Way from Iowa: From the Heartland to the Heart of France (2023) by Janet Hulstrand takes the reader from her grandmother’s hometown in Iowa to the author’s home in the French countryside. Janet’s adventures recounted in this delightful memoir include working as Caroline Kennedy’s editorial assistant and living in a gypsy caravan outside Paris. In the interview, we discover much about Janet’s journey, including the complicated relationship with the two women who fueled her love for learning, exploration, and writing.

Sleeping With the Ancestors: How I Followed the Footprints of Slavery (2023) by Joseph McGill, Jr. and Herb Frazier is a compelling work about a crusading effort to draw attention to the preservation of dwellings where enslaved people lived, worked, and raised their families. McGill — who founded and leads The Slave Dwelling Project — and his co-author Herb Frazier have compiled a captivating account of his years working to “change the narrative, one slave dwelling at a time.” In it, the authors recount the broadening of a modest regional effort into a national force. For this post, Joe — a former colleague at the National Trust — graciously agreed to chat with me about the book and his work.

Never Say Whatever: How Small Decisions Make a Big Difference (2023) by Dr. Richard A. Moran reveals how the W-word is a career — and life — killer. We have a chance to make a big impact in both, but to do so we have to make the numerous daily decisions that everyone faces. The choices we make, even the small ones, help us pivot toward the life and career we want. But that becomes much harder if we tend to rely on “whatever” as a substitute for decision-making. Rich shared insights he’s uncovered with readers of More to Come in this author interview.

Books and Our Town: The History of the Rutherford County Library System (2023) by Lisa R. Ramsay is a wonderful addition to the story of America’s love affair with public libraries. After a newspaper editorial encouraged the citizens of Murfreesboro, Tennessee, to create a public library, Henry T. Linebaugh answered the call. For its 75th anniversary, Ramsay has gathered a rich array of stories that tell how Linebaugh Library and its branches became essential parts of my hometown. I interview Lisa about civic engagement, strong female leadership, and more.

AMEN? Questions for a God I Hope Exists (2022) by Julia Rocchi is full of wisdom, vulnerability, and questions asked in an open and seeking spirit. Essays, quotations, poems, and prayers probe the mysteries that make up life in what one reviewer sees as, “a psalter for the post-modern, exhausted age.” Julia writes of a God who is imminently approachable and ready to answer our deepest questions. When we “ask questions of God, the Universe, whatever it is that we believe to be bigger than ourselves,” Julia notes, “we do so not to arrive at answers, but to inspire still more questions.” In this post she answers some of mine.

Playing Authors: An Anthology (2023) is a collection by 18 writers asked to consider the question of authorship. The creative act of writing in today’s world is at the heart of this newest release from Old Iron Press, a female-led, small independent press in Indianapolis. “Literary mashups, personal essays, alternative history, and other disobedient forms” are included in this work, which begins with the sad and insightful and laugh-out-loud funny “Hemingway Goes on Book Tour.” In this post, I chat with that story’s author, Robyn Ryle, about the inspiration for this piece, the challenges of modern publishing, the need for more diverse voices, and imagining other famous authors beyond Hemingway in the rat race of today’s world of the book tour.

Your City is Sick (2023) by Jeff Siegler takes a deep dive into how the various causes of community malaise — poor planning decisions, neglect, disregard for current residents, and more — have led to the dysfunction we see today. Like a blunt yet perceptive doctor, Siegler first helps us understand the disease and then — in straightforward, no-holds-barred language — he prescribes treatments to push his readers to transform their cities through relentless, incremental improvements. In this post, Jeff talks with me about one of the worst diseases a city can face — Silverbulletitis — and why it is important to focus on the community you have and those who live there.

Thanks to each of these perceptive and thoughtful authors for taking the time to grace the More to Come newsletter with their experiences and insights. It was truly a delight to highlight their creativity and these important works.

More to come . . .

DJB

Author photos clockwise from top left: Joseph McGill, Jr., Jeff Siegler, Robyn Ryle, Julia Rocchi, Lisa Ramsay, Janet Hulstrand, Richard Moran

Sunset in Maine

Love as the divine energy

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When I don’t find a book especially illuminating or enjoyable, I recognize that the fault may well be with the reader and not the writer. I’m fully prepared to accept that as the case with a book I just finished reading with my Third Stage book group. My friends all found portions of this work meaningful and illuminating, and in our discussions they helped me uncover truths I had missed. However, I found it a slog to read, in part because it is such a piece “of its time.” I have recently written a positive review of another work by this writer, and I reference his quotes on occasion. But this particular work is one I don’t expect to pick up again.

The Four Loves (1960) by C.S. Lewis is sometimes described as a “classic” of the British writer, scholar, lay theologian, broadcaster, Christian apologist, and bestselling author. In this work, Lewis takes the reader through a description of four different types of love: “affection, the most basic form; friendship, the rarest and perhaps most insightful; Eros, passionate love; charity, the greatest and least selfish.” There was something of value in each, but for a short, 190-page work, it certainly seemed to take forever to read.

While it has very little to do with Christian or God-like love, I very much appreciated his perspective in the early chapter entitled “Likings and Loves for the Sub-Human.” Here Lewis considers things such as a “love of home” or a “love of country.” The latter brought forth for me some of his most direct and useful — in the context of today’s battles over history — observations.

The actual history of every country is full of shabby and even shameful doings. The heroic stories, if taken to be typical, give a false impression of it and are often themselves open to serious historical criticism.

“I think it is possible,” he writes, “to be strengthened by the image of the past without being either deceived or puffed up . . . The stories are best when they are handed on and accepted as stories.” And perhaps there is a relationship to the divine when he scolds those who have a firm belief that their own nation “has long been, and still is markedly superior to all others.” He relates a story about an old clergyman who. when told that all nations felt this way, responded with “Yes, but in England it’s true.” He isn’t a villain, Lewis asserts, only an “extremely lovable old ass.” But he warns that the lunatic fringe can take this approach to a radicalism “which Christianity and science equally forbid.” We are seeing that in today’s so-called “Christian nationalism.”

Lewis also notes that there needs to be “a full confession by Christendom of Christendom’s specific contribution to the sum of human cruelty and treachery.”

I am not going to delve into the four different loves. There are a multitude of reviews by writers who engage much more thoughtfully with this work — from both a positive and negative perspective — that are easily found online. But in the final chapter on “Charity,” Lewis reminds us that God is love, and that love is the divine energy. But because none of us has direct knowledge about the ultimate Being, we are forced to use analogies. “We cannot see light, though by light we see things.” So is it with love.

No one can describe with certainty that divine energy. It is similar to death, in that no one still alive has fully experienced it. No one can say what happens to the dead but, as Madeleine L’Engle notes in words that could just as easily apply to Charity, “The important thing is that we do not know. It is not in the realm of proof. It is in the realm of love.”

More to come . . .

DJB

Picture of sunset in Maine by DJB

A Celtic celebration

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Through the years, the Washington region has always welcomed Celtic celebrations of the holidays. An upcoming one featuring Karen Ashbrook and Paul Oorts joined by Grammy-nominated fiddler Andrea Hoag and the extraordinary voice of Eileen Estes captured my attention, and I want to highlight it for area readers. The venue is Church of the Ascension in Silver Spring, where Ascension and The Folklore Society of Greater Washington are sponsoring this concert on Tuesday, December 19th.

As I wrote when I first heard Ashbrook on Thanksgiving Day in 2008, Church of the Ascension is a small Gothic church that is acoustically alive, providing a nice setting for “the sparkling strings of hammered dulcimer, cittern, and harp guitar” blending with “rich harmonies and driving melodies on fiddle and accordion.” The program promises to include “toe-tapping dance tunes and haunting vocals of seasonal ballads and meditative airs from the shores of the many Celtic nations.”

Ashbrook “has been an international pioneer and advocate in the revival of the hammered dulcimer” for more than four decades. In addition, she plays the Irish wooden flute and pennywhistle and performs frequently as KA/PO with her husband Paul Oorts, a multi-instrumentalist from Belgium. 

There are a number of videos of the duo playing Celtic music, if not necessarily holiday selections, on YouTube. I’ll showcase a few to whet the appetite, beginning with Fallen Heroes of Waterloo from their Celtic Cafe project.

Ashbrook plays the wonderfully titled Good Morning to Your Nightcap from the Hills of Erin album.

One of our favorite tunes is The Water is Wide, which Ashbrook performs on her Starry Starry album.

Oorts accompanies Karen on a Sedgwick harp guitar in concert at the 5th Annual Harp Guitar Gathering on October 28, 2007. They title this set The Belle & the Butler and it includes the tunes Sandy River Belle and the Butlers of Glen Avenue.

During the pandemic, KA/PO recorded a concert for the Washington Free Public Library in Western Maryland for the library’s “Noteworthy Sundays” series. It captures some the range of their musical interests.

Finally, the Kennedy Center recorded the duo’s Millennium Stage concert in May of 2013 as they represented Belgium at the European Union Showcase. This is another concert-length video you may find of interest.

In addition to the Silver Spring venue, the quartet will perform this show in Shepherdstown, WV on December 16th and in Burke, VA on the 17th.

Enjoy!

More to come . . .

DJB

Photo of Karen Ashbrook and Paul Oorts credit KarenAshbrook.com (copyright 2014 Michael G. Stewart)

Who gets to tell the stories?

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The question of authorship has been around for centuries. Who gets to tell stories, and how, is certainly a fundamental — some would say existential — issue for our time.

Playing Authors: An Anthology (2023) is a collection by 18 writers asked to consider this question of authorship. The creative act of writing in today’s world is at the heart of this newest release from Old Iron Press, a female-led, small independent press in Indianapolis. The description of the project as “literary mashups, personal essays, alternative history, and other disobedient forms” shows the range and imagination of this work.

The historian in me connected with Amy Halloran‘s “The Author of Nature” about the erasing of the history of Jesse Hawley’s “authorship” of the Erie Canal by powerful politicians. I also loved the odd modern fable, as told by Mary Christine Delea, of the Ford Motor Company contacting Marianne Moore, wanting her help in naming their new car. They turned down Thundercrest, among others, and instead chose Edsel. We know how well that turned out. Marianne Moore, on the other hand, got to throw out the first ball at a Yankees game. Don’t mess with the poets.

The anthology’s opening story, “Hemingway Goes on Book Tour” is sad and insightful and laugh-out-loud funny. Here’s a small slice:

“Cranky old white dude is not a brand,” the marketing director said. “You’re no Bernie Sanders, Ernest.”

The story’s author, Robyn Ryle, writes the Substack newsletter You Think Too Much and is also the author of Throw Like a Girl, Cheer Like a Boy as well as the young adult novel Fair Game. Robyn graciously agreed to chat with me about her story and the anthology.

DJB: Robyn, what inspired you to think about the great Ernest Hemingway going on a book tour?

Robyn Ryle

RR: I’d been thinking a lot about what it means to be an author today. It doesn’t matter if you’re traditionally published or an indie author — you’re expected to be your own marketer and publicist. I’m not very good at that public face of writing and I suspect a lot of writers feel the same way. One day I found myself wondering, rather resentfully, “Did Hemingway have to do this? Did Hemingway go on book tour?”

The answer is, not really. I think the idea of authors as promoters of their own work not coincidentally became prominent at the same time more women became authors. Promoting yourself is, after all, emotional labor. I was contemplating an essay about these dynamics when I saw the call for pieces on the playing authors theme for Old Iron Press. I decided writing a story that imagines Hemingway on book tour was more fun than writing the essay. I was right.

When the marketing director pushes Hemingway to consider his “brand,” your story ― like others in the anthology ― grapples with the challenges of the modern publishing industry. What important voices are we missing today because of the commercial focus of that industry?

It’s interesting that this was a theme that developed in the anthology. I guess it’s something that’s very much on writers’ minds today.

As to what voices we’re missing, still and always the voices of people in marginalized groups. Even with publishing’s dedication to diversity in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement, 66-75% of the books published in 2021 were by white authors. Statistics about books by LGBTQ+ authors or authors with disabilities or working class authors are harder to come by. I’ve heard some Black, indigenous and people of color already seeing signs that even that small window in publishing is closing again now.

Also in today’s publishing world, there’s less patience with allowing authors to develop their craft over time. If your first book doesn’t sell well, you’re less likely to get the opportunity to publish a second (sort of like pitchers not being allowed to go through the lineup more than two times in today’s MLB). There are a lot of classics that we’d be missing now if the authors had been dropped by their publisher after their first novel.

It reads as if you had a great deal of fun in writing this story. Did other “famous authors on book tours” come to mind, and if so, which ones would you like to imagine in a sequel?

What a great question! I’m a little obsessed with Hemingway. For better or worse, he’s the model against which a lot of American writers measure themselves. Plus, he really did create his own larger-than-life brand.

Even as it was fun imagining Hemingway on book tour, there’s a sadness there, too. Book tours make you question your whole existence as a writer and a person. When I think of other writers on book tour, the sadness wins out over the humor. Virginia Woolf? Book tours would have been a nightmare for her. I like to think she would have stolidly refused to do any such thing. Maybe today’s authors should do the same. Jane Austen’s interesting with her wry sense of humor. I could imagine her getting into it, having a YouTube channel, a podcast, and thousands of Instagram followers.

As someone who writes regularly on Substack, in books, and for magazines, could you highlight one or two pieces in the anthology that especially spoke to you?

I love Barbara Shoup’s essay, “Author, Author,” so much. Writers’ conferences and workshops are fraught places. She perfectly captures the energy there. The desperation. A lot of people are there to GET PUBLISHED at all costs. It’s hard to be in those spaces when you’ve seen how the sausage gets made, so to speak. It’s hard not to be the oracle of doom, telling people that publishing a book doesn’t really change much about your life for most writers. People don’t really want to hear that.

I also loved Corey Michael Dalton’s story, “Cinderella,” for the sheer fun and humor.

In a recent Substack newsletter, you wrote of your need to hear more diverse voices in the books you read. What recent books by diverse authors would you recommend to our readers?

So many to choose from as there are so many in so many different genres, but I’ll focus on the books with which I’ve been finishing up my reading year. These are also books I haven’t seen on a lot of the big end-of-year lists. Temple Folk by Aaliyah Bilal is a collection of short stories about the lives of Black Muslims in the U.S. I knew a lot about the Nation of Islam during the 1960s, but not about what’s happened to that community in the intervening years. If you like mysteries, A Disappearance in Fiji, by Nilima Rao is the beginning of a new series that features a Sikh police sergeant stationed in Fiji. The series explores the British empire in early 20th century. There have been so many novels that are retellings of Greek myths, so I was happy to see Every Rising Sun, by Jamila Ahmed, a retelling of the story of Shaherazade and the One Thousand and One Nights, which centers Shaherazade’s story.

Thank you, Robyn.

Thanks so much for doing this.

More to come . . .

DJB

From the bookshelf: November 2023

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Each month my goal is to read a minimum of five books on a variety of topics and from different genres. Here are the books I read in November 2023. If you click on the title, you’ll go to the longer post on More to Come. Enjoy.

Democracy Awakening: Notes on the State of America (2023) by Heather Cox Richardson is an accessible and engaging work that tells how America got to this difficult moment in time. The author of the Letters from an American newsletter, Richardson’s newest volume takes us back through our past to see precedents that led to our most recent authoritarian experiment in the ascendancy of Donald Trump. As Richardson shows, there has always been a small group of wealthy people who have made war on American ideals, using language and false history as their tools of choice as they fight against the liberal consensus. But we also have a history of those on the margins — women, people of color, immigrants — who have fought equally hard to push America to live up to its ideals. Their work shows us pathways out of the current moment.

Small Things Like These (2021) by Claire Keegan is a short yet deeply moving novel set in small-town Ireland during the Christmas season of 1985. Bill Furlong is a coal and timber merchant who, while delivering a load of coal to the local convent, makes a discovery that forces him to consider his past and the choices he must make. This little gem of a book brings us face-to-face, in a simple yet memorable story, with how we confront our past and with the evils of a community’s complicit, self-interested silence. It is also a deeply moving story of “hope, quiet heroism, and empathy.”

The Church of Baseball: The Making of Bull Durham (2022) by Ron Shelton is a delightful book on multiple levels. Full disclosure: I love the movie. Bull Durham is not only the best baseball movie ever but also the best sports movie ever. It’s not even close. Shelton, a former minor league baseball player turned writer and director, has a passion for this multi-faceted story that still shines through 35 years after the film was released. And the tale of how Shelton — along with Kevin Costner and Susan Sarandon — pursued every angle to make this film in spite of great odds and with challenges arising around every corner, is worth knowing as well.

Blue Iris: Poems and Essays (2004) by Mary Oliver is a collection of ten new poems at the time of publication, two dozen of her poems written over the prior two decades, and two previously unpublished essays on the beauty and wonder of plants. Nature is full of mystery and miracle. Oliver believes our response, if we are paying attention, should be one of astonishment and gratitude. Understanding the true enchantment and mysterious spell of nature, she found ways to hear music in her world, even when there was nothing playing, and convey that to her readers.

The Book of Charlie: Wisdom from the Remarkable American Life of a 109-year-old Man (2023) by David Von Drehle is the story of Charlie White, a man born before radio who lived to use a smartphone. Upon moving to Kansas City, Von Drehle meets White — at the time his 102-year-old neighbor — and strikes up a friendship. Over seven years he learns that Charlie lost his father at an early age, the victim of a freak accident. But it was in his response to that tragedy that Charlie learned how to live. This parable of persistence and durability points the way toward a happy and useful life.

The Murder on the Links (1923) by Agatha Christie begins with the famous Belgian detective Hercule Poirot rushing to northern France after receiving an urgent request from a client, Paul Renauld, who fears his life may be in danger. Unfortunately, by the time Poirot arrives the local police have found Renauld stabbed to death, lying in a shallow grave on a golf course, wearing only an overcoat and his underwear. This curious turn of events is made even stranger when another well-dressed man is found on the estate murdered in an identical way. Poirot has a nagging suspicion that he’s seen this crime before. As is true with many of Christie’s novels, these characters are not always who they seem to be.

What’s on the nightstand for December (subject to change at the whims of the reader):

Keep reading!

More to come…

DJB

NOTE: Click to see the books I read in October of 2023 and to see the books I read in 2022. Also check out Ten tips for reading five books a month.

The Weekly Reader links to the works of other writers I’ve enjoyed. I hope you find something that makes you laugh, think, or cry. 

Photo from Unsplash

Corporate churches and freedom of religion

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I was raised by a “Roger Williams” Baptist.

My father was a staunch believer in the separation of church and state. He passed that gene along to me. When a friend recently loaned me a book on the topic by a scholar of religion and the law, I was intrigued. It is important to note that I am not a lawyer and a full understanding of all the legal issues at play here is beyond my area of expertise. However, I came away from reading this work with impressions to help flesh out my understanding of our difficulties in maintaining true religious freedom in the context of the church-state relationship in America.

Church State Corporation: Construing Religion in US Law (2020) by Winnifred Fallers Sullivan takes a deep dive into several Supreme Court decisions and other legal texts to argue that “American law has shown that it cannot think religion without the church — that the space for religion in the U.S. law is a church-shaped space.” This, in spite of the fact that there is no mention of church or churches in the Constitution. This is more important than I realized, as the Supreme Court — especially under Chief Justice John Roberts — has favored “the Church” over individuals with religious beliefs. Sullivan asks, “is it constitutional for the U.S. Supreme Court to use the definite article in referring to church?” This bias towards “the Church” is carried even further in that the decisions by the Roberts Court to preference corporations over individuals in a variety of areas of law extends to the corporations that are also churches.

One enduring challenge, writes Sullivan . . .

. . . has been whether and how the religious exercise of groups or organizations, rather than just that of individuals, is given special constitutional protection. Religion is said to be disestablished — but what exactly does that mean? . . . This book tries to think through the terms of this challenge by focusing on the church-in-law . . . as one corporate body among others, but one that has had a surprisingly specific endurance in the American legal imagination.

I was not surprised to read that this particular court has a rather loose interpretation of the history on this question, with the Chief Justice taking center stage in one opinion by cherry picking writings of James Madison.

In Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church & School v. EEOC, decided in 2012 in a unanimous opinion (!) written by Chief Justice Roberts, the Supreme Court agrees with the church’s rather remarkable claim “that a federal district court lacked the authority to hear a federal employment discrimination suit with respect to the employment relationship between a corporation created by state law and one of its employees.”

How does Roberts get there? By going all the way back to 1215 and the struggle between popes and kings over the selection of bishops. When he writes that “the Church” has the power to choose its own ministers, he would have us believe that the church — which has no standing in the Constitution and whose relationship to the state in medieval times was rejected by the founding fathers — now has the right to break federal laws about discrimination as a protected class of corporation. Also, he inaccurately interprets James Madison’s presidential veto of a Congressionally approved bill incorporating the Protestant Episcopal Church in Alexandria to support his opinion. Madison, as Sullivan points out, saw church governance as existing wholly apart from civil law. Roberts, on the other hand, is fine with churches being corporations — and even corporations with special liberties — because the Chief Justice has never seen a corporation he didn’t like (and privileged above individual citizens).

The problem with churches that cannot be controlled — even as they stand as corporations with special privileges and federal tax benefits — comes out in other ways, especially around how the ownership of property and what, exactly, makes up the church. When a local congregation splits in two and opposing sides go to court to control “their” property, courts have to decide which one is “the church” and thus gets the building (and gets to choose its ministers) and which side is not “the church” and gets neither property nor the right to choose its own minister. You can see the slippery slope we’re on with the incorporation and privileging of churches.

The famous Burwell v. Hobby Lobby decision was an especially hot mess, where a for-profit business corporation set up under U.S. law gets to play church. Sullivan quotes Bethany Moreton, author of To Serve God and Wal-Mart: The Making of Christian Free Enterprise, who wrote, “The corporation entered the twentieth century as an immortal super-citizen.” Roberts and this Supreme Court granted that immortality to Hobby Lobby, a for-profit corporation, “giving preference to the corporation’s views on contraception over that of the employees.”

So much of this issue boils down, in my mind, to the fact that conservatives on the court too often rule as if they only want to protect one particular set of religious interests: those of other conservative Christians. There is less support for the rights of the progressive person of faith who favors equality because it aligns with their religious beliefs, or for other non-Christian religions. And if your views are decidedly nonreligious, you may have trouble breaking into the conversation. 

In Church State Corporation, Sullivan also delves into disputes over the legal exploitation of the black church in the criminal justice system and the recent case of Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission. I found this scholarly work a tour de force, as Sullivan makes the strong case that the Court “has misinterpreted the separation of church and state to mean that the state must cede sovereignty to any corporate body claiming exemption from generally applicable laws for reasons of faith.”  Some reviewers complained that the book raised more questions than it answered, but I actually saw that as a strength. We have a Supreme Court that seems all too willing to put forth answers . . . even when it is clear the justices have not considered the relevant questions. Not having answers for every question shows a curious mind at work.

More to come . . .

DJB

Image of U.S. Supreme Court from Pixabay.

Observations from . . . November 2023

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A summary of the November posts from the MORE TO COME newsletter.

“November always seemed to me the Norway of the year.” Neither, apparently, was the favorite of the poet Emily Dickinson, who wrote these words in an 1865 letter to a friend.

Thankfully we’ve avoided Norwegian-like temperatures for the most part while experiencing — and giving thanks for — arresting displays of autumn beauty. Because there is both a wonder and fragility to life, my recent Moments of resonance essay included Maria Popova’s reminder that “to live wonder-smitten with reality is the gladdest way to live.” When things are going sweetly and peacefully Kurt Vonnegut suggests we recognize those moments by following the practice of his Uncle Alex, who would pause and say out loud, “If this isn’t nice, what is?”

Let’s jump in and see what was nice during November in the MORE TO COME newsletter.

FAMILY PHOTOS TOP READER VIEWS

For the past 16 years I have included an annual posting of family pictures from throughout the year.

Each November that collection is far-and-away the most-viewed post. Once again both things are true, as you can see in Our year in photos — 2023. Just a reminder: I think my family is terrific. I am not an unbiased observer, but if this isn’t nice, what is?

OTHER TOP READER VIEWS IN NOVEMBER

Three other essays — on very different topics — were also at the top of the list of reader views this month.

  • Regulars know that I am a devoted follower of Heather Cox Richardson’s Letters from an American. When Democracy Awakening: Notes on the State of America was released, I quickly picked up a copy at Richardson’s Politics & Prose book event and then read her most recent gift. Adding clarity and perspective to our tumultuous news feeds is my review, and it includes three bonus features: HCR’s interview from Berkeley with Rebecca Solnit, her eleven-minute PBS News Hour interview with Judy Woodruff, and a podcast with historian Claire Potter. This excellent book helps add historical context to today’s chaotic news reports.
  • I often get two questions about this newsletter. The top query is around how I read five books a month, and I answered that one last year. The second most frequent asks why I write. Letter to the world answers the “why” question, along with a few others such as do you have an editor (nope), how do you choose your topics (it’s a mystery), and what other writers inspire you at the moment (it is a diverse list).
  • And for some reason unbeknownst to me, a lot of readers decided to take in the most recent update from my year of reading dangerously.™ The girl with the troubled eyes returns to the writer ― Agatha Christie ― who started me down this pathway of reading one crime story a month. In this book, Christie brings together a shallow grave on a golf course, characters who are not what they seem, and memories of some similar, but long-forgotten crime.

MORE FROM THE BOOKSHELF

In addition to the two books at the top of the reader views, I also discovered several other works worthy of notice.

  • I love the movie Bull Durham, so I was delighted to see the writer and director Ron Shelton’s book Church of Baseball on the making of the film. The title of my (somewhat biased) review — The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom — borrows a line from the movie.
  • Claire Keegan’s little gem of a book — Small Things Like These — brings us face-to-face with how we confront our past and with the evils of a community’s complicit, self-interested silence. It is also a simple yet deeply moving story of “hope, quiet heroism, and empathy.” I review it in the post Confronting complicit silence.
  • The Book of Charlie, which I discuss in A gospel of grit, is full of lessons about how to live a happy and useful life.

MUSIC AND MORE

In the “everything else that tickled my fancy” category this month . . .

  • “The most exciting vocal group in a generation” — Windborne — is returning to the Washington area this December. I preview this upcoming concert in Bringing old songs into the present.
  • Simple but not easy takes a song by Carrie Newcomer that is about asking questions to grow into your next becoming, which I then pair with two writers I admire: poet Mary Oliver and my friend Frank Wade.
  • November 11th is my post in honor of Veterans Day/Armistice Day. It is an especially good time to remember the fight for peace.
  • And, of course, as baseball wraps up for the year, End of the season is almost inevitable for readers of MORE TO COME.

CONCLUSION

Thanks, as always, for reading. Your support and feedback mean more than I can ever express.

As you travel life’s highways be open to love, thirst for wonder, undertake some mindful walking every day, recognize the incredible privilege that most of us have, and think about how to put that privilege to use for good. Women, people of color, LGBTQ+ individuals, immigrants, and others can feel especially vulnerable . . . because they are. Work hard for justice and democracy as the fight never ends.

Bash into some joy along the way.

And finally, try to be nice. Always be kind.

More to come . . .

DJB

For the October 2023 summary, click here.

You can follow MORE TO COME by going to the small “Follow” box that is on the right-hand column of the site (on the desktop version) or at the bottom right on your mobile device. It is great to hear from readers, and if you like them feel free to share these posts on your own social media platforms.

Image of autumn by rihaij from Pixabay

The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom

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My personal spring training regimen consists of reading a baseball book and watching Bull Durham. After the season is over, I’ll watch the movie again, to help put what’s just ended in perspective.

You can never have too much of a classic.

Bull Durham is not only the best baseball movie ever but also the best sports movie ever. It’s not even close. Alyssa Rosenberg‘s review helpfully summarizes the plot while noting that Bull Durham is well deserving of the moniker of a film classic.

“Bull Durham” takes place over a single summer, or more precisely, over a season for the Durham Bulls minor league baseball team. It concerns a love triangle among the team’s biggest fan and part-time English professor Annie Savoy (Susan Sarandon), rookie pitcher Ebby Calvin LaLoosh (Tim Robbins) and aging catcher Crash Davis (Kevin Costner), assigned to prepare LaLoosh for the majors. Annie, who takes a new player as a lover each summer, identifies the two as “the most promising prospects of the season so far.” And though she ends up with LaLoosh, whom she nicknames “Nuke,” when Crash explains that “after 12 years in the minor leagues, I don’t try out,” she can’t get the older man out of her head — not least because he sees baseball the same way she does: as the encapsulation of a certain American idea and a particular approach to life.

When a friend recommended a new book by the writer and director of the movie, I had it in my hands within days.

The Church of Baseball: The Making of Bull Durham (2022) by Ron Shelton is a gem on multiple levels. Shelton, a former minor league baseball player turned writer and director, has a passion for this multi-faceted story that still shines through 35 years after the film was released. And the tale of how Shelton — along with Kevin Costner and Susan Sarandon — pursued every angle to make this film in spite of great odds and with challenges arising around every corner, is worth knowing as well.

Let’s begin with the fact that no one wanted to finance a movie about minor league baseball from a first-time director.

Shelton grew up in an evangelical tradition that frowned on movies since they would probably lead to sex. And like many a young person, the lure of forbidden fruit was too strong to resist. After scratching his itch to play professional baseball, Shelton goes to school and ends up in LA searching for a job making movies. He can’t, however, get this baseball story out of his head.

Shelton notes that it has been said that directing is “fifty percent the cast and fifty percent the script.” The book begins by showing us how each was constructed, sometimes against significant pushback from the studio that eventually agreed to finance the project.

Early on he tells how he found the perfect names for the three main characters. Lawrence “Crash” Davis was a real person who once led the Carolina League in doubles. Shelton assumed he was dead. (He wasn’t.) Annie Savoy is a composite of a number of women from his past. Annie is the name baseball players give to female groupies and Savoy came from a matchbook cover, to provide a balance of “big city sophistication” with the first name’s “girl-next-door” vibe. And a waiter at a hotel dining room in Columbia, South Carolina, introduced himself as “Ebby Calvin LaRoosh, but you can call me ‘Nuke'”. LaRoosh became LaLoosh and the rest is history.

One sees Shelton’s life’s trajectory in Annie’s opening monologue, a script he began while driving in his car in the backroads of North Carolina.

I believe in the Church of Baseball.

I’ve worshipped all the major religions and most of the minor ones. I’ve worshipped Buddha, Allah, Vishnu, Siva, trees, mushrooms, and Isadora Duncan. I know things . . .

A few lines later Annie says,

I prefer metaphysics to theology. You see, there’s no guilt in baseball and it’s never boring, which makes it like sex . . . Making love is like hitting a baseball. You gotta relax and concentrate.

Over the course of the book’s first 100 pages we learn how Shelton conceived and wrote the story. Then he begins sharing the draft script, and Kevin Costner — whose leading-man potential was being questioned by some in the studio — quickly became a fan and wanted to play Crash. The story of how the two of them shopped the project to studio-after-studio shows both Shelton’s and Crash’s perseverance. Susan Sarandon is another early believer, but the studio feels she is already past her prime. She finally pays her own way to Los Angeles from Italy to audition, where she nails the part and makes a stop by the studio to show all the “suits” how fabulous she looks. Tim Robbins is the hardest sell of all, as the studio wanted someone else in the role and kept second-guessing Shelton’s casting decision well into filming.

The chemistry between the three leads takes the film to another level. We see that in the scene where Annie — pissed that Crash has told Nuke he should continue his abstinence from sex while on a winning streak — barges into his boarding house to confront him, still in the skirt and heels she wore to seduce Nuke a few minutes earlier.

Crash challenges her. “Who dresses you? I mean, isn’t this a little excessive for the Carolina League?”

ANNIE:

“The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom” — William Blake.

CRASH:

William Blake?

ANNIE:

William Blake!

If you like books about making things, then The Church of Baseball is also for you. In development, preproduction, production, and postproduction Shelton takes us through the countless decisions needed to shape this project. For instance, the “suits” wanted to cut the mound visit, which became so iconic — with Larry’s “candlesticks always make a nice gift” line — that it made Joe Posnanski’s Why We Love Baseball.

After finishing The Church of Baseball, I watched the movie once more. Thanks to Shelton’s funny and insightful book with its pitch-perfect tone, I saw it again but with fresh eyes.

Highly recommended.

More to come . . .

DJB

The Weekly Reader links to the works of other writers I’ve enjoyed.