Articles
Why Fairy Tales Might Be Better than a Vaccine
“Whatever shadow may fall on your life–maybe you are worried about the fate of your country, or perhaps dark thoughts visit you concerning your own future, or maybe your entire life seems an unbearable wound–remember the fairy tale. Listen to her quiet, ancient, wise...
I Went to Church Today – Samaritan Woman – Fifth Sunday of Pascha (IWTCT-8 May 17, 2020)
I went to church today. There were a few more people there than last week and it was good to see some faces I hadn’t seen in a while. But still, there are many I miss. We are still in the shadow. Today we remember someone else who met Christ in a very direct way,...
Heroic Betty. How Television’s Ugly Betty is the most Unlikely Model of Joseph Campbell’s Heroic Journey
Anybody who is from Colombia or lived there is familiar with Yo Soy Betty La Fea, the internationally successful hybrid soap opera and sitcom that aired from 1999 to 2001 and spawned many spin offs and a popular English language reboot on ABC called Ugly Betty. The...
On the Bestiary and its Symbolism: An Introduction, Pt. I
This is part I in a two-part article, and the first article in a series of posts that discuss the symbolism of a particular and peculiar literary tradition within Western Europe. Collectively, this body of works is called “the Bestiary.” To reduce this mysterious...
Mythic Patterns in Mario Games Pt 1: The Arcade Origins
The early Mario Games: Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Jr. and Mario Brothers, present the basic mythological pattern which will later lay get developed in the history of video games. This is the first part of a two part series. In the next part, we will look at Super Mario Brothers and how it brings together the different symbolic meanings into one game.
I Went to Church Today – Sunday of the Paralytic – The Fourth Sunday of Pascha (IWTCT-7 May 10,2020)
I went to church today. It is the fourth Sunday of this Paschal season and we’re almost halfway to Pentecost. Today is the day we remember the man by the pool of Bethesda. He had been paralyzed for 38 years and had been waiting by this miraculous pool to be healed...
I went to church today – The Myrrhbearing Women – Third Sunday of Pascha (IWTCT-6 May 3,2020)
I went to church today. It is another week into this strange time, into which we seem to be wading. At least today the weather was mild and sunny, with a soft spring breeze. It is the second Sunday after Pascha, the Sunday of the Myrrhbearing Women. They are the ones...
The Symbolism of Sword & Shield
Within the panoply of Western mythic imagery, perhaps few things excite the imagination like that picture of a brave knight, armed with sword and shield, fighting and defeating a scaled dragon while rescuing a damsel in distress or liberating a town terrorized by...
The Horror and Hope of Bluebeard
You know a story is good if people write new versions of it over, and over again. Given this metric, Charles Perrault’s Bluebeard must be the grand-daddy of all stories. Or it is at least a really popular uncle. There have been dozens of re-writes and variants over...
I Went to Church Today – Saint Thomas – Second Sunday of Pascha – (IWTCT-5 April 26,2020)
I went to church today. It was damp and rainy after a subdued Bright Week in this strange time. We remembered Saint Thomas, the blessed doubter. It was he who, after the Resurrection, said that he would not believe it until he had seen and touched the wounds on...