I’ll blame Putin

Horrible for Daisy the Dog! Some of her favorite sniffing places at the little, angular park in our neighborhood are trapped behind chain link fencing and barbed wire. The park has no formal name, but its impossible to not call it Schevchenko, for the large monument to Taras Shevchenko, “bard of Ukraine” in the middle… Continue reading I’ll blame Putin

Don’t fill the meetinghouse with domestic bric-a-brac

I got so many nice comments from my post about not holding worship in the round, that I thought I’d press my luck by talking about how we decorate our worship space. A few months ago I attended a worship service — not in a Unitarian Universalist church, if it matters — where the candles… Continue reading Don’t fill the meetinghouse with domestic bric-a-brac

Public-domain off-center cross

With due respect to the designer of the off-center cross here, this one — with thinner lines and a smaller cross; I made it about as high as the circle radius — looks more like the ones I’ve seen used by mid-century post-Christian Universalists. Its later, and I think unintentionally ironic, adoption by Christians notwithstanding.… Continue reading Public-domain off-center cross

A visit — heck, let’s call it a pilgrimage — to Mt. Auburn Cemetery

Mt. Auburn Cemetery is well known as the nation’s first “garden cemetery” which, though now the norm, contrasted with the gloomy church yard or burial ground. But Mt. Auburn does it better than any I’ve seen and there lies the mortal remains of many a famous Universalist and Unitarian. I joined dear friends, also Unitarian… Continue reading A visit — heck, let’s call it a pilgrimage — to Mt. Auburn Cemetery

What else here has a Creative Commons license?

So, again on Facebook, a discussion about Creative Commons licensing and the problem (both real and imagined) of using another person’s copyrighted work without permission. As I’ve written before, this unauthorized, unlicensed use has a special place in our history (The 1811 “pirate edition” of the Treatise on Atonement), and that our forebears made a… Continue reading What else here has a Creative Commons license?

Accidental Google auto-complete liturgy

Google Poetics is a Tumblr that presents a series of auto-completed Google searches, and relishes the accidental poetry it creates. Sometimes in borders on the profound — the wisdom of the crowds manifest? — but often there’s a screwball punchline. I recommend it. I thought I’d try it, using a couple a well-worn Unitarian Universalist… Continue reading Accidental Google auto-complete liturgy

Bookmark this resource for better print publications

A couple of years ago I ordered a book called Typography for Lawyers in order to improve the quality of office communications. And it really helped, until I misplaced it. (I’m sure I’ll find it which behind a bookcase one day.) Bitstream Charter seems to do a decent job of keeping the layout of documents… Continue reading Bookmark this resource for better print publications

The lure of the bright lights…

So I was trolling for Universalism in digitized newspapers (as one does) and I found a short article from 1913, entitled with lurid lettering: “Clergyman Turns Actor.“ Frederick A. Wilmot, a Tufts grad and assisting (presumably licensed) minister at the Church of the Divine Paternity, New York (now called Fourth Universalist) gave notice and left… Continue reading The lure of the bright lights…