December 24, 2008

Where Do You Turn When You're Down on Christmas Eve?

It's Christmas Eve and I'm feeling homicidal. It's been less than three months since my closest friend, Loren, has died and I've been reduced to a life of bare necessity--a slow walk with the dead. I actually want to kill something. My cat irritates me. I shove the cat with my foot. I throw a full glass of water in his face and run out of the apartment. Shit, I've lost it. Despite the freezing temperatures and my seriously out-of-shape body, I run along the river, desperate to release some of this violence in my veins. Soon I am standing on the steps of Saints Peter and Paul, a small church by the Hudson River in Hoboken, N.J. It seems the obvious choice...

Read Ondine Galsworth's Christmas Eve Blues.

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December 23, 2008

What the Cratchit Family Can Teach Us About Christmas

The other night I watched "A Christmas Carol" on TV for the zillionth time. And, as usual, I discovered something new to think about. In the past, I'd always felt sorry for the Cratchits, who were so desperately poor even though they were rich in love. I mean, it's great to take the Tiny Tim approach to life, but while you're at it God, couldn't you make that goose a little fatter, so the kids wouldn't have to pick the bones? And throw in enough eggs and flour so that Mrs. Cratchitýs famous Christmas pudding would be big enough for seconds?

This time, though, I was struck by how happy the Cratchits really were, and how, precisely because they had so little, everything meant so much.

Read Mary Beth Crain's Christmas Gifts of Long Ago.

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December 24, 2008

Christmas Eve Blues
By Ondine Galsworth
Your best friend is dead. Your mother is bi-polar. And you've lived your life as a fake Catholic. Where do you go from here?

December 23, 2008

Christmas Gifts of Long Ago
By Mary Beth Crain
What would it be like if today's techno-spoiled kids were forced to have a good old-fashioned Victorian Christmas?

November 25, 2008

Giving Thanks in Thankless Times
By Mary Beth Crain
In times of fear and despair, gratitude is sometimes all we've got left.

November 16, 2008

Seeing Red
By Stephanie Hunt
Obama's presidential victory is a huge step forward for our nation. But in the Carolinas, it's still North versus South.

October 29, 2008

Ghost Writer
By Mary Beth Crain
Our senior editor talks about her new book, "Haunted U.S. Battelfields," the perfect read for a creepy and kooky, mysterious and spooky, altogether ooky All Hallows Eve.

October 26, 2008

The Poison Seeds Spread by Dying Congregations
By Matthew Streib
Just as a certain presidential candidate has gone to the extremes of negativity in a desperate attempt to keep his campaign alive, so parallels can be seen on the religious front.

October 11, 2008

Palin Watch V: Troopergate, Poopergate!
By Mary Beth Crain
Confronted with a scathing indictment of abuse of power, Governor Palin thumbs her nose at the "Troopergate" report.

October 4, 2008

Palin Watch IV: Post-Debate Musings
By Mary Beth Crain
This hockey mom belongs in the penalty box.

September 25, 2008

Palin Watch III: Dumb and Getting Dumber
By Mary Beth Crain
As she faced the formidable Katie Couric in her second big time interview, Sarah Palin was palin'.

September 23, 2008

Holy Crap
By Billy Frolick
Joe Eszterhas turns his rapture into a purpose-driven pitch.

September 20, 2008

Palin Watch, II: Secrets and Lies
By Mary Beth Crain
In the Sarah Palin Archives of Deception, "Troopergate" is front and center.

September 14, 2008

Palin Watch, I
By Mary Beth Crain
Have we really turned the country over to C students?

September 5, 2008

Backward, Christian Soldiers
By Mary Beth Crain
The Republicans are touting Sarah Palin as the new symbol of change. They're right--she's busy changing the clock back, way back.

August 22, 2008

A Sheep in Sheep's Clothing?
By John Fea
Eight years ago, John McCain locked horns with the Christian Right. Now he's one of them?

July 11, 2008

Jesse Jackson's Gaffe: Oh, Those Annoying Men of God
By Mary Beth Crain
Bothersome preachers have been a highlight of the 2008 presidential campaign. Where are these bigoted egomaniacs coming from, and how can they be stopped?