Two Blogs and a Play

My 501st post was about Thanksgiving, not, as I had promised, about a couple of blogs I like. So here's what I wanted to say, plus a bit about my doings.

One of the blogs I'd recommend taking a look at is Spiritual Friendship. It is a group effort, with two editors and twelve additional contributors. Some of their names are familiar to me and others are not. But I think well of those I know, and I suppose the others are comparably good. They say that they "believe that marriage is not the only way of life God calls us to, and so we seek to explore different ways of serving God in celibacy. And Christ-centered friendship is, we believe, essential to that task." The idea that friendship is important is not new, and I expect that the thoughtful essays they present can be helpful.

They sometimes expand their scope beyond matters of friendship strictly speaking to include other topics related to gay people. For example, there was an article about Tom Daley's "coming out."

Their description of the blog includes this as well. "In trying to create a new approach to homosexuality, we have drawn on the wisdom found in the broader Christian tradition. We explore God's calling, the nature of the Church,celibacy, our nature as embodied souls, and related topics. Thus, what began as questions addressed to our situation as celibate gay Christians has led to answers which may be of interest to a much larger Christian audience."

So I see this blog as something which can encourage those among us who want to be celibate, can demonstrate the reasonableness as well as the possibility of celibacy for those who are wondering if it what they are called to — those who are asking themselves what kind of life they ought to lead, what kind of life they can lead — and can provide any who may consider "Side B" somehow homophobic a clear example of non-homophobic upholders of the "Side B" view.

As I've been writing this, I was drawn into reading a few of the articles and, in addition to the recent one on Tom Daley and this more recent one about romantic love, I highly recommend looking at this one from last August about C.S. Lewis's very balanced take on homosexuality. Those should give you some idea of what the blog is about, and I hope you'll find it worth reading.

The other blog is Mudblood Catholic. The blogger is a young man named Gabriel Blanchard, "a gay Catholic bookworm (incorporated into the Anglican Use in 2013). Huge fan of indie and electronica, as well as Mediaeval, Renaissance, and Baroque music. I have a degree in Classics, and get paid to snark across an espresso bar. I can be reached by Nigerian princes who need my assistance at gabrielblanchard25@gmail.com.." In his first post, he explains the word "Mudblood," for the benefit of those of us who haven't read the Harry Potter books. In his case, he means that he is a convert to Catholicism. But his choice of such a striking word gives you an idea of how visceral his approach is.

That first post gives a glimpse of his thinking and his original intent for the blog. I haven't read through the whole thing, even though it is still less than a year old, but based on what I have read, I think I'd do well to take the time for it. I'd suggest looking at a couple of posts — almost any will do — to get an idea of what he's about. His ideas are in some ways very unusual and striking,  and his writing is visceral, as I said, and personally revealing. Don't let the intensity scare you off.

Each blog in its own way does some of what I wanted this blog to do, and I'll probably find myself occasionally recommending posts from them here and/or on Twitter. But don't wait for me. Look for yourselves.


Wednesday evening, I trekked in to Boston to see a play presented by the Huntington Theatre Company, "The Cocktail Hour," by A. R. Gurney. Just in case the page I've linked goes unavailable after the run is over, here's how they describe it: "The pre-dinner cocktail is a revered ritual in John's parents' elegant home, but when he returns to announce that he has written a play about them, their calm demeanor dissolves. As the martinis flow, so do the revelations and recriminations, both funny and poignant, in this heartfelt comedy about the ties that bind."

While we may not have had the official designation in my home as I was growing up — and we didn't have hired help in the kitchen to allow everybody to relax in the living room — a pre-dinner drink was part of the daily routine.* Some of our friends and neighbors may even have had the more formalized version represented in the play. In other words, the play brought me to a setting reminiscent of my earlier years, and it was interesting to see what the author did with his characters in that setting. But the author regards that setting as one that is fading away. While the parents cling to the lifestyle that included it and made it possible, the next generation are moving away from it — it is a way of life that is fading away.

Into that milieu, the author places his characters with a drama exploring the author/son's relationships with his parents and siblings. He feels somehow excluded from the rest of the family, rejected from infancy by his parents (going so far as to suspect he was not his father's son). He comes to understand himself and his family more clearly by the end of the play. In a way, it's almost a play within a play. The play itself is semi-autobiographical, and the play which the protagonist has written is also semi-autobiographical and titled "The Cocktail Hour."

I enjoyed it a lot — so much so that I'm actually thinking of trying to get in to see it again.

* At one point I came up with a parody of the opening lines of Longfellow's "The Children's Hour."
Between the dark and the daylight
When the night is beginning to lower
There comes a pause in the day's occupation
That is known as the cocktail hour.