Easter in Ordinary

As customary, I post four articles that I found significant and a poem. Our lives are enriched by seeing better. Each week, one article comes from the world of photography, a discipline that is about seeing. Another article comes from the world of technology, hence seeing something of the future. Another article takes up an aspect of our life together, seeing more clearly the other. Another article refers to faith, seeing the unseen. Finally, the weekly post concludes with a poem, because poetry is about seeing words whose arrangement allows us to see anew. Today is the Feast of St. James the Great, Apostle. I was privileged to be able to walk the Camino de Santiago twice with my father, in 2010 and 2014. It was just over a year ago that we completed our second pilgrimage . Santiago, Apóstol, ruega por nosotros. This week, I recommend the following articles: The best camera is the one you have with you . Mike Moats daily provides insights into the world of macro photog...

A democratic society requires mature, public conversation about issues of importance. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has convoked " A Year of Books " to offer such an opportunity. This commentary is part of a series of commentaries on each of the readings proposed by Zuckerberg. As an 8th grade student, back in 1983, in the run up to the year of the book's title, I read for the first time George Orwell's 1984 . That reading began a series of readings in dystopian and utopian visions, including Aldous Huxley's Brave New World  as well as a then unsuccessful foray into Thomas More's Utopia . Those darker visions, especially Orwell's, were vivid and haunting. Later, as a freshman in college, I believe, I read Orwell's " Politics and the English Language ," and I found a new mission in attempting to be a clear writer and thinker. Over time, my political vision has been driven more by hopeful visions of what we may become than by Orwell's h...