bierkergaard

Outside of the Peanuts comic/cartoon, no creative work has influenced me as much as the Underdog cartoon. Oh, maybe Jimi Hendrix. I watched Underdog when it was on television before syndication. During the 1960's as a child, Underdog had a profound influence on my psyche. The underdog archetype is powerful. In storytelling and myth, the underdog theme resonates deeply in the human soul. Films like "The Blind Side"  come out a playbook well-established in cultures universally, but particularly salient in America "rags to riches" Horatio Alger themes. I just received the complete DVD series of Underdog. I ordered it back in October while in production.  I wanted to make sure I had a chance to get this in my library. The best way to preserve such works is to lay down the dollars...money votes. I find it interesting that General Mills was behind the series. I have no preference for its breakfast cereals. In fact, I don't eat cereal at all because it is a g...

I have decided to observe a Lenten fast from snacking between the meals of lunch and dinner. Typically, I come home and try to bribe the beast in the belly by eating a varied collection of foodstuffs. I am not discriminating. Anything goes...down the chute. I am not trying to gain God's approval for this fast. I am already accepted and redeemed. I just need some of the fruits of  discipline. Or perhaps, vegetables would be a better outcome. Hunger is really not justified because I have a gut reserve, like a gas tank, with plenty of fuel ready. So, why am I hungry. Habit, loneliness, boredom? I have no clue. Yesterday I was at Books-A-Million at the former Borders in York--definitely down-scaled but I am glad a bookstore is back in that spot--and drank some coffee while flipping through a photo history of the Beatles. We had Parent/Teacher conferences at school last night and I typically don't drive back to Lancaster. So, get off campus for a spell. It is no fun to be a...

Lina and I celebrated Valentines last night. We were late, I know. But, why fight the crowds on Feb 14th? We had a fabulous dinner at the Belvedere Inn down in Lancaster City. Fine dining and a big improvement on the dives that have been in that building before, including the Harmony Inn. I stopped going there after someone was shot. Everything was great. About mid-meal, I ordered a glass of wine. It was delish. When we received the bill, I was chagrined to discover the glass of wine cost $ 14.00! Add, to this that I bought a beer last Friday night for what turned out to be $ 10.00 and I am thinking that I really need to ask before ordering. I had in the back of my mind to ask last night before the order, but I thought it gauche. In this Lenten season, we think of the sufferings of Christ. He asked for the cup to pass from him when facing death. He knew the cost. Yet, He still drank it. Matthew 26:39 He went on a little farther and bowed with his face to the ground, praying...

I was nominally raised a Catholic. A neighbor across the street, a mother of two, was more devout--at least officially--than my parents and operated somewhat as a pious parent proxy to see that I was kept to the official observances of the Catholic faith. I learned much later that she had a serious drinking problem. On Ash Wednesday, my parents ceded permission to her to take me, my older brother, and her two kids out of Elementary School to the local Catholic Church, St. Monica's in Berwyn, Pa., to observe Ash Wednesday. The service culminated with the rubbing of ash on our foreheads in the symbol of the Cross--signifying repentance--and then we headed back to school, ashes crosses still on our foreheads. There was a Catholic camaraderie in the Elementary School among the Catholic kids returning. Long gone were the days where the Protestant and Catholic kids would scrap, reliving the traditional animosities of those two spheres of Western Christendom. But, there was a demarc...

I have heard several times recently some variation on "Are we electing a Priest or a President?" That is the High Church variation. Low Church would be "Pastor or President?" This appears to be an appeal to not expect the presidency of the United States to have a religious character. It seems to be  mostly Liberals that are uttering this...it even sounds like parroting. Both Liberals and Conservatives place on the presidency almost religious zeal. Obama clearly courted messianic images when running his campaign. That rhetoric now has cooled and reality has set in. I don't think he is going to try a similar strategy the second time. He is better to present himself as a cool realist in the face of Republican campaign chaos. Although Obama is going to have to at some point soon stop blaming Bush for his own failed policies. Four years is more than enough time to clear the air.   It might surprise secularists to learn that the separation of powers among Pries...