Memory, that winged host that flew above me

Have you heard about the book club Hayley at Carrots for Michaelmas is hosting about Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisited? I'm thrilled because Brideshead  is my favorite book. Ever since it was on my summer reading list senior year of high school, I've re-read it about once a year. On every return visit I've changed a little, and so I notice or enjoy new things. The notes my 17 year old self feverishly made in multi-colored pencil seem a little silly today.

Brideshead Revisted is a great novel becaue its decades-long story has something for everyone. Carefree college antics, coming-of-age angst, love affairs, guilt, religious identity, family drama, the place of Catholics in English society, and some great papist insider jokes. There a so many different facets to ponder, and I've added a page to this blog tracking some of my favorite recent commentary on it.

For me, BR continues to be an obsession because it's all about decorative arts, yo. Architecture and home furnishings are practically the star of the show. Like the Flyte family in Charles' life, BR passages kept popping into my head when I started my master's program at a "museum and country estate."

"Is the dome by Inigo Jones too? It looks later."
"Oh Charles, don't be such a tourist. What does it matter when it was built, if it's pretty?"
"It's the sort of thing I like to know."

All the descriptions of the Flyte family house make so much more sense now. On my first visit to Winterthur, I scoffed at its seemingly redundant acres of antique furniture. Gradually, as I learned to guide tourists through the corridors, I discovered the joy of paying close visual attention to the things around me. After all, historical context is the sort of thing I like to know too.

It was an aesthetic education to live within those walls, to wander from room to room, from the Soanesque library to the Chinese drawing-room, adazzle with gilt pagodas and nodding mandarins, painted paper and Chippendale fret-work, from the Pompeian parlor ... to sit, hour after hour, in the pillared shade looking out over the terrace.

The Chinese Parlor at Winterthur, full of painted paper and Chippendale fret-work.

Even though Charles Ryder is a total jerk sometimes, I do identify with his artistic journey. Eventually shedding his lazy undergrad ways, he soaks up all the art around him, tries his first big painting project, and eventually makes a career out of documenting historic architecture. As the existential trauma that is grad school fades, I tend to remember fondly my two years "in arcadia": with unlimited access to an eight-story mansion.

Most of the time I use my "looking at furniture" master's degree to make obnoxious comments about the background in Downton Abbey scenes (oh man, that William and Mary high chest in Mrs. Crawley's parlor), but I'm still obsessed with photographing architecture. Like Charles, I feel closer to the big truths in life when I'm pondering beautiful things. 

Welcome to the new blog!

As this blog celebrates its fourth birthday tomorrow, I've decided it's time to change things a bit. The old layout needed some jazzing up and my obscure literary reference title was too much of a tongue-twister. Writing museum newsletters is forcing me to learn to be concise! I also wanted to describe what inspires my writing - even if I'm not doing intense research anymore, I always think and observe like an historian. I want to know how things got the way they are today, and I can't get enough of contextual backstories. And if I come across really smart discussions of how America's crazy religious potpourri evolved, I'm basically like:

So A Beaten Copper Lamp of Deplorable Design is now Catholic History Nerd! (New URL coming soon.) Don't worry, I'll still keep referencing Brideshead Revisited as much as humanly possible. I'll also keep posting pictures of cool churches I visit. I'm working in a museum while my husband finishes his history dissertation, and we're doing our best to take lots of field trips around New Jersey and New York.The pew pictured in my header is from the Basilica of St. Louis, King of France aka the Old Cathedral of St. Louis, MO.

Standing at the gateway to the west since 1834

Over my past few years in the blogosphere, I've been blessed to meet some inspiring  people and take part in some exciting discussions about what it means to be a young adult Catholic in this post-post Vatican II era. Spiritual topics that are are on my mind a lot include: Catholic culture, liturgy, love and marriage, feminism, the Pope, what makes for good church architecture, how to be a person of faith engaged with the modern world.  There will also be gluten-free food, Sunday church outfits, and goofy pop culture references. Thanks so much for reading! 

The Morning Star

This week the Bright Maidens are considering the topic "Mary Our Guide." I've only got time for a quick post this week, but here's what that phrase immediately think of: Mary's title as the Morning Star

In astronomy, the morning star refers to Venus, a planet named for the goddess of love, fertility, and femininity. Venus travels close to the sun inside the earth's orbit, and so sometimes the planet is traveling ahead of the sun in earth's range of visibility. When that happens, the "morning star" appears very bright to us on earth just before the sunrise.

Christians adapted this mythological astronomy to describe Mary, the mother of God. It really makes perfect sense: the woman whose femininity and fertility are forever connected to God travels close to her Son; her bright sinless life heralding His arrival.

There's even a great line in the Mass propers for Mary's birthday on September 8.
"Your birth, O Virgin Mary, gives joy to the whole world, for from you arose the glorious Sun of Justice, Christ our Lord."

Mary always points to Christ, showing us the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

And like any friend's mom eager to tell stories about your friend's childhood, she also can help us understand her Son's life. Especially through the mysteries of the rosary, she can help us ponder things in our hearts just like she did. Pope John Paul II's letter Rosarium Virginis Mariae really helped me understand this. The rosary is not about tediously pronouncing 50+ prayers, it's about contemplating the face of Christ. "This is the task of every follower of Christ and therefore the task of each one of us."
May Mary the Morning Star help us to do that every day.

Shrine to Mary at St. Francis Xavier College Church, St. Louis University

You don't even know

So yesterday a professor had us over to her house for an end-of-semester shindig. Not only did she not make us talk about syllabus additions, she also provided tons of food - ham salad, cookies, tea in adorable tea pots, even GF biscuits and chocolate cake. A+, Professor H. I'm always touched when professors act like they want to spend time with their students and are interested in their lives. Prof. H especially wanted to hear all about us girls' love lives, which was fun. 

Everyone hung around for hours, long enough to quit talking about next year's courses and start telling interesting stories. Since my volunteer year was the last time I did anything uniquely exciting, I kept referring to that. When I started out "So my house in St. Louis was a former convent next to a school..." I saw Prof. H's religious-historian eyes get wide. Oh, Prof. H, you don't even know. 

You don't even know what hard, fun work it is for 8 strangers to live in a former convent and try to create a modern spiritual community together. You have no idea how it was the most adventurous, challenging, weird, random year of my life, and how I am still figuring out what it all meant. In fact, yesterday was the first time I've been able to talk about one my negative experiences that year and not relive its emotional impact. I miss the service focus my life had then, and I'm still not sure how to stay connected to that as a grad student.

What's really crazy about living in a former convent with 7 strangers-turned-friends is that you are just one year of the house's life. Other groups will keep making new histories after you're gone, and you'll never really know how their community functioned. The groups that came before you have left all sorts of random stuff lying around and you have no idea what it means. At your moment in the house, you just make the best of what you can find. 

Like making an Advent wreath out of plastic greens and candles stuck in sand-filled shot glasses. I don't think God minded.

Thanks for the shoutout!

A big thanks to D. aka Qandlequeen for giving me a shoutout on her blog! She was one of my co-workers in St. Louis last year, and definitely helped keep me sane as I adjusted to office life. Not only did she answer my near-constant tech questions, she kept a secret "vending machine" of candy in her desk drawers. And then there were the office pranks.... I'm her blog keeps me in touch with her adventures and sense of humor.

I'm also glad D. has photo documentation of my visit when I was in STL last month. After The Nicest Boss In the World had thanked me a dozen times for dropping by, he ran out and bought everyone in the office Ted Drewes frozen custard. Because, well, he's the Nicest Boss In The World. All that custard came with dry ice, which provided a fun distraction.

**Side note on Ted Drewes** If you are ever in St. Louis, their custard is a MUST. My mom went to St. Louis University, so all my life I've been hearing about their legendary "concretes" that are so thick you can turn them upside down. Ted's is honestly the only ice cream I have dared to eat in my 9 years of lactose intolerance, it's that crucial. After I could stomach not one but two servings last month, I'm considering loosening my dairy prejudices.

Modernist Monday

Since I was in St. Louis this weekend, today's installment has to be THE ARCH. Designed by modernist master Eero Saarinen in 1947, it wasn't completed until 1967, after his death. Today it stands as a symbol of the city that is the "Gateway to the West."


After living in STL for a year, I feel like I have a relationship with this structure. It was pretty much love at first sight. Sleek, shapely, and shiny, this silver fox will win you over with photogenic good looks. My roommates have been known to greet him/her/it with a "Heyyyy Arch, lookin' fine!"

The arch is hands down one of the finest public monuments I've ever seen. It truly belongs to everyone in the city. Even if you're not at the riverfront, you can catch glimpses from tall buildings and highway ramps. I've used it as a directional beacon on many drives around town. One of my favorite views is heading east on Market Street with the Arch beckoning in the distance. It's a loyal and sturdy friend, always offering a greeting and reminding you of what a great city you are in.