Parenting Pet Peeves


Cindy in her jolly, winsome way entreated us to join her in listing the things that really bother us about the parenting skills/methods of others.

Now I hestitated to comment on her post, but somehow Cindy has power over me and I did.




I agreed with her on everything :)

Actually, I didnt stick my neck out as far as I should/could because I thought *Surely you will offend people. And remember, Dana, there IS (read “IS” as defined by Mr. Clinton) more than one way to skin a cat. ha ha!*

But here I am, fragmenting myself from the group and obsessing over my own vocational skills, being the egotist that I am, and posting my comments on my own site. After all, negativity garners attention. It sells. Cindy says so! Think the Simpsons will get me some comments?

At any rate, here’s my list based on some vocabulary in Richard Weaver’s Ideas Have Consequences, which a few of us area reading together.

IDEAS - It really bugs me that most parent have no idea where they are going and what they are doing. Having no (or low) expectations of themselves, they cant possibly project positive expectations of their offspring.

CONSEQUENCES - Parents conveniently overlook the consequences of the actions of their children creating a never-ending ripple effect of (perhaps more serious) consequences for a single easily corrected action/idea.

SENTIMENT - Most parents today lack the correct sentiment. I’ll extrapolate Weaver’s cold logic and let you know exactly what I mean: many parents dont see themselves the way God sees them.

DISTINCTION - Distinction, differences, discrimination are all healthy skills that parents should teach their children. These all are easily identified within the family unit and can be modeled simply in every day life. Higher educational degrees are not required. It is common sense, as Cindy decries. I claim that we do our children a disservice when we dont make things perfectly clear.

HIERARCHY - Stopping short of addressing parents as His Highness and Her Highness, I believe in delineating the roles of male/female, mother/father, parent/child, teacher/student, et cetera with a clear authority structure. Whether parents like it or not, this is the way the world functions because God set it up that way.

FRAGMENTATION - Here I see a lack of emphasis on the family as a single unit taking precedence over the fragments (individual children). There are some (many) things which we do together as a family because we are a family. That means that not everyone gets to do what s/he wants all the time. And furthermore, there may be lots of things we choose not to do because it fragments the family. Like not worshipping together at the same church (or even divided services) or like the preppy trend to enroll a child in the school which suits him/her best, even if that means the mother is driving to several schools.


OBSESSION - Here the idea follows that the parent is so over involved in the details and micromanagement of a child’s life that s/he cannot see the bigger picture and make wise decisions. It’s just crazy. Quit racing forward, acting as if you are progressing. Take two or three steps backwards and assess the situation from a wider perspective that doesnt just focus on the needs of one child. Balance is Cindy’s word and moderation is Carmon’s, if I remember correctly.

EGOTISM - Oh.my.goodness. Aren’t we all so stuck on ourselves that we can’t see clearly. It’s even worse when we can’t see our children clearly, and therefore, can‘t be exemplary models. EGO, ID, whatever you want to call it, it’s just plain distasteful, especially in mothers who stroke this inner monster and stunt growth.

WORK - This word makes me think of mothers who do everything, unable to enforce her own rules and afraid to delegate tasks. She works hard, seven days a week, but for some reason this ethic is not transferable (or transferring) to her children. So much more could be said here, but I’ll leave you with a favorite phrase of mine: God said “Six days shall you labor and do all your work.” And that command is addressed to all His creatures.

ART - Aesthetics doesnt have to be high brow. Here I will simply refer my readers to one of my favorite books - The Hidden ART of Homemaking by Edith Schaeffer. She addresses the ways in which we overlook this area in every day living and makes valid suggestions for incorporating drawing, writing, and music into family life.


Let me know if you're looking for more specific information. I have more examples than you want to hear or than I should tell.

Art and Truth


We all know that Art is not truth. Art is a lie that makes us realize the truth, at least the truth that is given to us to understand.

Pablo Picasso


Researching for my FAF entry, I stopped by Artcyclopedia for some details and noticed that topping the list of favorite searches is Mr. Picasso. Not one of my favorites at all, in fact I eschew him, today I highlight the phrase at the top of his Artcyclopedia page and entreat you to read a longer quote at the end of my entry.

While I might warm up to some of Picasso's art by visiting the museum in Madison, GA to see a signed print, I cannot seem to erase from my mind Picasso's political persuasions. I guess I should be glad I dont know too much about the backgrounds of other artists or I would like none.

As many of you know I'm reading (slowly) Ideas Have Consequences by Richard Weaver. It is very thought-provoking. It was published in 1948. The following Picasso quote dates from 1952. The two have a connection.

From the moment that art ceases to be food that feeds the best minds, the artist can use his talents to perform all the tricks of the intellectual charlatan. Most people can today no longer expect to receive consolation and exaltation from art. The refined, the rich, the professional 'do-nothings,' the distillers of quintessence desire only the peculiar, the sensational, the eccentric, the scandalous in today's art.

I myself since the advent of Cubism, have fed these fellows what they wanted and satisfied these critics with all the ridiculous ideas that have passed through my mind. The less they understood them, the more they admired me. Through amusing myself with all these absurd farces, I became celebrated, and very rapidly. For a painter, celebrity means sales and consequent affluence. Today, as you know, I am celebrated, I am rich. But when I am alone, I do not have the effrontery to consider myself an artist at all, not in the grand old meaning of the world: Giotto, Titian, Rembrandt, Goya were great painters.

I am only a public clown - a mountebank.


I have understood my time and have exploited the imbecility, the vanity, the greed of my contemporaries.

It is a bitter confession,

this confession of mine,

more painful than it may seem.
But at least and at last it does have the merit of being honest.

For sources-nazis like myself, this quote is clipped from the publisher's letter page of Plein Air magazine, Oct 2005 issue. The comments were titled "Weapon of Indifference."

Plant Identification















Still contemplating the beauty of nature seen on my Saturday hike and wonder if any readers recognize this plant and can identify it.

No prizes awarded for correct answers, like some bloggers do.

Although I might be persuaded to change my mind.

Fragmentation and Obsession

Here's where the synopsis of this chapter belongs.

Fall Hike















This photo is my favorite of the two dozen I took while hiking this past Saturday.

I took a *long explore in the woods* and enjoyed myself immensely. The drive there and back was beautiful as I think the leaves are at their peak right now in north Georgia.

Carter's Lake is only an hour's drive from my home and there are at least five more trails I could walk without repeating Amadahy's and Tumbling Water's. And those alone are worth multiple visits this year and in the future.

Comment and leave your email, if you want to see the album.

Carters Lake












Here's a sunset view of the lake I hope to circumambulate today. Thankfully, I located a trail which is not open to hunters, so I wont have to worry about getting shot. My faithful readers expressed their concern and I heeded their advice by looking for another site to explore.

Hope to post more pictures next week.

Blessings on your Saturday.

Fashion Find Friday

Orange

peach, cinnamon

and the like

qualify as

my favorite colors.









So, this jacket/scarf combination are perfect for my wardrobe.

It's hardly cold enough here in GA to wear this jacket routinely, but on the days when it is chilly, I am prepared. :) Furthermore, I get good use of it when I travel to Michigan, where three of my daughters are.

I may even wear it on my Saturday walk, since the trail I'm planning to explore requires *hunters orange*.

Think it will qualify?

Hierarchy and Distinction

Chapter Two of Richard's Weaver's Ideas Have Consequences is just too chock full of references unfamiliar to me to ignore. So, today I will reveal some of my ignorances and tell you what I have been researching.

First, my query at the end of my first post about Richard Hertz.

Mr. Hertz is the author of a book, Man on a Rock: Why the World is the Way It is - Resentment. It was published in 1946, by the UNC Press, Chapel Hill, NC and readily available for purchase (used copies) at A Libris. The author contends that universal resentment was the cause of the mid 20th century's barbarism and that the responsiblity for it was shared by the whole of Western Civilization. Remember our Weaver was North Carolina born.


Second, I was intrigued by the word *hierarchy* and read about Maslow's Hierarchy of Design. I have contended in comments section of our book club discussion that Weaver is reacting to scientific rationalism, so it was interesting to me (born after 1948) to find this image:















Today (11/23/07) I include a link to an Jay Adam's essay about being *overly critical* I was tickled to note his reference to Maslow's pyramid.

Third, the phrase *ladder to high design* was not one I used routinely, but I understand the meaning in the context of the chapter. Nevertheless, Weaver uses it so freely, I'm thinking where did he get that?

It is a quote of Ulysses' from Triolus and Cressida, in which the Hero explains the mishaps of the Greeks before Troy as resulting from their neglect of "order" in plan and attack.

O' when degree is shak'd
Which is the ladder of all high designs,
The enterprise is sick. How could communities,

There is more the that last sentence, but isnt that cool? There's our reference.

I've never read that story. Have you?

Last but not least (and not really the last one I investigated, but the last one I'll write about) is *The Thomas Jefferson Education*. Funny how this guy who penned the *all men are created equal* spent so much time and energy denying it in his educational methodology.

Do you own or have you read Oliver Van Demille's 2006 book?

Well, Cindy? Are we moving ahead to reviewing Chapter Three: Fragmentation and Obsession?

Set the date.

I'll be ready.

Pork Chop and Rice

In a very large roasting pan, spread out uncooked brown rice.

Use whatever amount of rice you need to complement the number of pork chops you're serving.

I used 2 cups uncooked.


This photo was taken before baking.







After having browned the chops in a frying pan, place each on top of rice. Then *decorate* each with 1)thinly sliced sweet onion, 2)green pepper ring, and 3)stewed tomato.

Pour piping hot beef bouillon over casserole. Cover tightly (very) with aluminum foil. Bake at 350 for one hour. Turn down to 200 for one hour. Remember that the baking time is governed by the thickness of the chops. Mine were thick. I left this pan in the oven while we were at church, having set the time bake function to warm the dish for 30 mins prior to our arrival.

There are all kinds of tricks to preparing this easy recipe ahead, from preparing and baking the day before and reheating to getting up earlier on Sunday morning. The total prep time for this dish is 30 mins.



More on this menu in the menu section of my Xanga

This picture was taken after baking, when I prepared the recipe on another day.

Hint: see that there are more chops in the dish :)

Ideas Have Consequences

Chapter Two: Distinction and Hierarchy

Offensive is the adjective I would use to describe Weaver’s message in this second chapter of his famous book, Ideas Have Consequences. By that I mean that many of the concepts he describes are repugnant to the average American, especially women, which explains the reason that this book no longer enjoys the popularity it once did. For example, its Amazon.com sales rank is #233,595.

"Uniformity and without distinction"

seems like a fitting title
to this picture of an
outdoor sculpture
found in Kansas City.







The phrase is taken from the Athanasius quote which opens the essay. The full quote can be found in Chapter One ("The Creation and the Fall") of The Incarnation of the Word of God.

Not only did the author deconstruct the idea that all men are created equal, but also he debunks the notion that the French Revolution (liberty, equality, fraternity) was a good thing. He actually discusses the positive aspects of “superior” and “inferior” roles in society. Do you read anyone else who does that?

Furthermore, Weaver points to the writings of America’s Founding Fathers to substantiate their reservations about democratic rule, placing his point of view squarely in opposition to just about every public school teacher today because most believe the United States is a democracy instead of a republic.

Now we are at the point of discovering the purpose for reading IHC. It’s education! And exercising one’s privilege to avoid (or refute) that misinformed public school teacher mentioned in the previous paragraph. Mr. Weaver states on pg 49,

It has been said countless times in this country that democracy cannot exist without education. The truth concealed in this observation is that only education can be depended on to bring men to see the hierarchy of values.

We are all in this boat called education. Some see it more realistically than others. Either way it is crucial. While there are many aspects to education, the best results are achieved with consistency in the application of the blueprints in all areas of construction (of the boat called *education*). This author is throwing you a life preserver.

Read this chapter again and again.

It is the best thing you can do today to help your child (student) tomorrow.



PS
There is an alternate definition of my summarizing adjective, “offensive,” and in tomorrow’s post I will try and list some applications of Weaver’s essays as they might manifest themselves in my family life where we live on the offensive, as opposed to the defensive.

PPS Did you figure out who Richard Hertz is?

Athanasian Creed

Whoever wants to be saved should above all cling to the catholic faith.
Whoever does not guard it whole and inviolable will doubtless perish eternally.
Now this is the catholic faith: We worship one God in trinity and the Trinity in unity, neither confusing the persons nor dividing the divine being.
For the Father is one person, the Son is another, and the Spirit is still another.
But the deity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is one, equal in glory, coeternal in majesty.
What the Father is, the Son is, and so is the Holy Spirit.
Uncreated is the Father; uncreated is the Son; uncreated is the Spirit.
The Father is infinite; the Son is infinite; the Holy Spirit is infinite.
Eternal is the Father; eternal is the Son; eternal is the Spirit:
And yet there are not three eternal beings, but one who is eternal;
as there are not three uncreated and unlimited beings, but one who is uncreated and unlimited.
Almighty is the Father; almighty is the Son; almighty is the Spirit:
And yet there are not three almighty beings, but one who is almighty.
Thus the Father is God; the Son is God; the Holy Spirit is God:
And yet there are not three gods, but one God.
Thus the Father is Lord; the Son is Lord; the Holy Spirit is Lord:
And yet there are not three lords, but one Lord.
As Christian truth compels us to acknowledge each distinct person as God and Lord, so catholic religion forbids us to say that there are three gods or lords.
The Father was neither made nor created nor begotten;
the Son was neither made nor created, but was alone begotten of the Father;
the Spirit was neither made nor created, but is proceeding from the Father and the Son.
Thus there is one Father, not three fathers; one Son, not three sons; one Holy Spirit, not three spirits.
And in this Trinity, no one is before or after, greater or less than the other;
but all three persons are in themselves, coeternal and coequal; and so we must worship the Trinity in unity and the one God in three persons.
Whoever wants to be saved should think thus about the Trinity.
It is necessary for eternal salvation that one also faithfully believe that our Lord Jesus Christ became flesh.
For this is the true faith that we believe and confess: That our Lord Jesus Christ, God's Son, is both God and man.
He is God, begotten before all worlds from the being of the Father, and he is man, born in the world from the being of his mother --
existing fully as God, and fully as man with a rational soul and a human body;
equal to the Father in divinity, subordinate to the Father in humanity.
Although he is God and man, he is not divided, but is one Christ.
He is united because God has taken humanity into himself; he does not transform deity into humanity.
He is completely one in the unity of his person, without confusing his natures.
For as the rational soul and body are one person, so the one Christ is God and man.
He suffered death for our salvation.
He descended into hell and rose again from the dead.
He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again to judge the living and the dead.
At his coming all people shall rise bodily to give an account of their own deeds.
Those who have done good will enter eternal life,
those who have done evil will enter eternal fire.
This is the catholic faith.
One cannot be saved without believing this firmly and faithfully.

Birthday Celebration















The Menu

Baked Pork Chops w/Brown Rice
Turnip Greens
Butternut Squash

Bread Ring

Iced Tea

Banana Pudding

Margaret Ann






















Baby picture of my mother whose birthday is today.

I figured out how to scan the picture, but have run out of discretionary time as far as figuring out how to photoshop it.

Better call Donna for help.

Update: After treating DM to Sunday lunch, she kindly shared with me the secrets of cropping a scanned picture :)

History and Hope

A passage from the writings of Robert E Lee, first made public by Colonel Charles Marshall in 1887, in Southern Historical Papers published in 1889, and used as an example in Richard Weaver's essay on the Christian warrior, found in The Southern Tradition at Bay, pg 209.

My experience of men has neither disposed me to think worse of them, nor
indisposed me to serve them; nor, in spite of failures, which I lament, of
errors, which I now see and acknowledge, or, of the present state of affairs, do
I despair of the future.

The march of providence is so slow, and our desires so impatient, the work
of progress is so immense, and our means of aiding it so feeble, the life
of humanity is so long, and that of the individual so brief, that we often see
only the ebb of the advancing wave, and are thus discouraged.

It is history that teaches us to hope.

Happy Fall Y'all
















Cutest jack-o-lantern I have ever seen.

Such creativity! I never would have thought to use the stem for the nose. I probably wouldnt have even bought that pumpkin because it looks like it would not sit up straight. Oh well.

Kudos to the artist.

See some of her photography here.

Fall is an identifiable season in my neck of the woods and I always enjoy it: the colors, the leaves, the food. Except I don't like it when it gets dark really early. And so, that's why I think I'll say I like Spring better.

Halloween can put a damper on the season, too. Without being a total stick-in-the-mud, I tried assiduously to avoid celebrating this holiday. When my children were very small, they were truly frightened by the constant doorbell ringing and the people dressed up in costumes. Because they attended a Christian elementary school, we didnt have too much trouble avoiding trick or treating. There were Fall Festivals or Reformation Day Fairs which provided good alternate activities.

But in the neighborhood if we were at home, I would buy candy and hand it out to the few visitors who came by. Mostly I would try and schedule a night away from home. It became traditional to see a movie, nothing scary. And horror is totally off limits. Something historical like Luther or Cromwell.

Here's the whole pumpkin family...on Fall Break.

Ideas Have Consequences

Chapter One : The Unsentimental Sentiment

Quoting Scottish essayist, Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) at the outset, Mr. Weaver frames the ensuing essay with these words:

“the thing a man believes determines the rest.”

I distilled the 66-word quote from the book into the above eight-word one and not only does the title to the book become obvious, but also the treasure of chapter one. If you use this phrase as a filter when reading the wealth of information presented in this 15-page chapter, there will be less confusion.


Weaver launches immediately into a deductive-reasoning style of writing using “words as hard as canonballs” in order to prove his point. First, he defines sentiment, then unsentimental, discussing the pros and cons of both only to declare that the correct approach to all of life is espousing this catch-phrase “the unsentimental sentiment.”

Rational faculty will be in the service of a vision which can preserve sentiment from sentimentality. Pg 20

While Weaver never uses the term “presuppositional thinking,” it appears to me that that is what he is describing when he talks about the metaphysical dream binding man to the spiritual community. Neither does he use the currently popular word “worldview” but he plainly recognizes its value when he tells us that of paramount importance is “one’s attitude toward the world.”

Common answers to the “big” questions of life (religious or metaphysical) have the power to integrate and makes ones sentiments toward the world rational. Pg 22 This is called refinement, when our sentiments pass from feelings to illumined concepts (of what one ought to feel) and man is relieved to become “self-controlled” through this wisdom.

Weaver continues debating the pros and cons of his arguement by comparing and contrasting of the self-controlled man (man of correct sentiments last seen in the 18th century) with the barbarian or Philistine (exemplified in the American frontiersman). Finally, he laments that

“Today over the entire world there are dangerous signs that culture, as such, is marked for attack because its formal requirements stand in the way of expression of the natural man.” Pg 25

At so many things/objects am I (who is “cultural” in Weaver’s sense only by the grace of God) speechless and embarassed when forms and conventions are torn aside, trampled, and mocked by the emancipated libertines. Weaver explains to me with a quote from Burke (pg 27) why the French Revolution and its results are so indicting and incriminatory of our moderns.

Here is the crux of the matter and why I perceive that Cindy is so up in arms about the state of the world and desperate to rear/educate her children with the correct sentiment.

Weaver states:

No education is worthy of the name which fails to make the point that the world is best understood from a certain distance or that the most elementary understanding requires a degree of abstraction. “ pg 27

Only one who understands Burke’s comment on the French Revolution and Weaver's worldview can teach history properly. (You go, Cindy!) Never mind the fact that it is our privilege and duty before God to do so.

Faithful to his logical approach in an effort to persuade others, Weaver does not blatantly mention God, but that is what is meant by “understood from a distance” or “requiring a degree of abstraction”. These are phrases which signify a worldview or a lens or presuppositions which we (Christians) know must be applied consistently to the teaching of our offspring in order to achieve the most profitable results.

Weaver winds down his pummeling by giving four examples of the ravages of the barbarians (those seeking immediacy, i.e. the “real thing”) on our current society (1948):

1) the failure of the modern mind to recognize obscenity;
2) the deterioration of human relationships;
3) the decline of the belief in the hero;
4) and the growth of commericalism.

These obviously hold true for today, 2007.

By the way, I cant help but draw attention to Weaver's implicit plug for the teaching of vocabulary, derivations, and ancient theater when he intends the original sense of the word *obscenity* to make his point. As Magsitramater would say, "I get the reference."

In conclusion, Weaver pleads with us to reclaim the dream or vision that will save us from the sins/consequences of sentimentality and brutality.

He proposes “restraint imposed by idea.”

Ideas Have Consequences

The Introduction

Broadly painted brushstrokes paint the introductory canvas to Richard Weaver's masterpiece, Ideas Have Consequences, as the author/artist jumps feet first into the cold water of post war society. He readily states that he wants to talk about the decline of the West and propose a solution.


Sounds depressing as looks this 1966 Renee Radell painting, The Tide.

Weaver rapidly covers the philosophical landscapes of six centuries by describing nominalism (14th), then the new doctrine of nature (science vs unintelligibility); then rationalism (deism and materialism); Darwinism; pyschological behaviorism; and finally the abysmality of the 20th century. To wit, he lists the various the methods of education where logic was grammaticized (from vere loqui to recte loqui); definitions (denotations) were assaulted; and the Renaissance pattern was developed, adapting the course of study to produce a successful man. With amazing insight Weaver covers the 17th, 18th, 19th, and 20th century educational disciplines and cites the dominant type of leader from each of these epochs as proofs of the changes.

Declaring that there is a split in the 20th century camps, Mr Weaver labels one sentimental humanitarians and the other remorseless theorists.

"Nothing is more disturbing to modern men of the West than the logical clarity with which the Communists face all problems."

Yet Mr Weaver feels that it is extremely difficult to get people in any number to admit that our society is decadent.

Yet my blogging buddy Cindy is ready to tackle the world's problems and that's why we're all reading IHC.

Modern man has fallen prey to hysterical optimism, becoming insensible and apathetic. Stuck in that position until ready to distinguish between good and evil again, society will continue to spiral downward.

Nevertheless Richard Weaver plods along


laying the groundwork for his argument,

indicting society, making comments,

asking questions, and demanding answers.






He's searching for intellectual integrity.


Name his companion with the lantern.

Ideas Have Consequences

By the time I was 17 yrs old I had a solid grip on what I believed about the world/people/things because my parents had done a good job. I understood even then that I was *philosophically-driven*, but I wasnt good at explaining to others why I believed what I did. Somehow the explanation *that's what my father says* didnt seem like the proper way to defend my positions. Pursuing a college degree filled in those gaps for me.



At Hillsdale College I was exposed to leaders/thinkers/writers who explained the reasons behind what my parents had taught me to be true and right. I read their books, listened to their lectures, and conversed personally with movers and shakers of Conservatism. That was my first introduction to Weaver's Ideas Have Consequences and a host of other authors and their books. Weaver had had an enormous influence on the post-war Intellectual Right and Hillsdale was a bastion of those young conservative intellectuals who were trying to champion freedom and tradition.



The edition of IHC in my library was printed in 1971, and published by The University of Chicago Press. I probably bought it at Hillsdale College (bookstore), where I attended from 1975 to 1978, graduating with a BA in History with French and German minors.

This morning I've re-read the Forward which Mr Weaver wrote over a decade after the initial publication in 1948. He does not feel compelled to make revisions, which I think is a good sign. I find it interesting that Mr Weaver was an English professor since the book is classified as *philosophy.* He does not feel that it is such.

It is an intuition of a situation.

He intended to challenge the forces which threaten civilization.

Sounds revolutionary, huh?

For those of you who are following our internet discussion, I post the Table of Contents. And because it's something I pay attention to.

Introduction (never, ever skip reading the introduction, forward, preface, or such)
I. The Unsentimental Sentiment
II. Distinction and Hierarchy
III. Fragmentation and Obession
IV. Egotism in Work and Art
V. The Great Steropticon
VI. The Spoiled-Child Psychology
VII. The Last Metaphysical Right
VIII.The Power of the Word
IX. Piety and Justice
Acknowledgments

How do you know about Ideas Have Consequences?

Richard Weaver













1910-1963

This is what Kirk says about Weaver whom he knew well.

According to Ambrose of Milan, it has not pleased God that man should be saved through logic. Richard Weaver would have assented to this, knowing as he did the nature of the average sensual man and the limits of pure rationality. Yet with a high logical power, Weaver undertook an intellectual defense of culture and did what he might to rescue order, justice, and freedom from the perverters of language



Among philosophers, Plato was Weaver's mentor; and among statesmen Lincoln. (Although a declared Southerner, in politics Weaver was a conservative Republican.)



Some of his closer Chicago friends - their number was not legion - might not see him during the course of an entire year. He never travelled; he endured stoically the ferocious Chicago winters, often wearing two overcoats, one over the other. Once a year he attended a church, and then a high Episcopalian service; the solemnity and mystery of the ritual, strongly though he was attracted by them, overwhelmed his soul: such a feast would last for months. The frugality woven into his character extended even to his very private religion.

pg 39-40
The Essential Russell Kirk

Addendum on 10/24/07

I emailed Mrs. Kirk to inquire about the details of Mr. Weaver's death at such a young age. She referred me to one of ISI's (Intercollegiate Studies Institute) managing directors. Mr. Vella's email indicated that while no official autopsy had been performed, Weaver's sister (whose husband was Weaver's literary executor) believes he died of a cerebral hemmorhage.

Ten Exemplary Conservatives

1) Marcus Tullius Cicero, Roman orator

2) Marcus Aurelius Antonius, Roman emperor

3) Samuel Johnson, English moralist

4) Sir Walter Scott, Scottish romancer

5) John Randolphe, Virginia politician

6) Nathaniel Hawthorne, New England novelist, short story writer

7) Theodore Roosevelt, American President, writer and fighter

8) Joseph Conrad, Polish sea captain novelist

9) Richard Weaver, college professor and recluse

10)Freya Stark, English wanderer in antique lands

This list is from Russell Kirk's essay,"Ten Exemplary Conservatives", originally published in his The Politics of Prudence (1993), but which I have from The Essential Kirk, George Panichas, editor.

Kirk chose these ten because they influenced his opinions. Burke and Eliot are not listed because even though they both greatly influenced Kirk's perspective, he has written extensively about them elsewhere.

I am posting the list because I am embarking upon the reading of Ideas Have Consequences AND Richard Weaver is on the list.