We’re All In It Together

Mrs. Beatrice came home last night and told me that she and her best friend are thinking about organizing a benefit reading to raise money for Katrina relief. The details are still very tentative, but if you’re close enough to Long Island that you would be interested in taking part in a reading somewhere in that vicinity, email me and I’ll put you in touch with them.

Meanwhile, Bookslut has some news about Colleen Mondor’s Amazon wishlists for the evacuees at Baton Rouge’s Southern University. And First Book is collecting to provide displaced children with books. This would be great for kids who find themselves in temporary shelters as well as elementary schools that have been inundated with new students. In addition, for every $5 donated, First Book will donate another book–and since they’re one of ten finalists for Amazon’s Nonprofit Innovation Award, there’s a chance that Amazon might end up doubling the pot.

8 September 2005 | uncategorized |

Today’s Vocabulary Word: “Theodicy” (Known in GOP Circles as “The Blame Game”)

“A vindication of God’s goodness and justice in the face of the existence of evil” is what Edward Rothstein says (in his NYT critic’s notebook) we can come to expect in Katrina’s wake. Except that today’s gods are historical and economic forces rather than divine beings:

“Theodicies are not casual matters, and in the weeks after Katrina, they are bound to evolve, even in secular culture, even when they may not resemble the ones that Leibniz had in mind.”

“It is remarkable how this natural disaster has almost imperceptibly come to seem the result of human agency,” Rothstein continues, “as if failures in planning were almost evidence of cause, as if forces of nature were subject to human oversight.” But he’s so obsessed with the idea that “the prospect of political retribution is as prevalent as the promise of divine retribution once was” that he seems completely oblivious to the fact that “the promise of divine retribution” remains quite prevalent. Or maybe he’s just been so busy watching cable news that he hasn’t heard yet about the Christian organizations suggesting Katrina is God’s punishment for allowing abortions and homosexuals to flourish in Louisiana. Either way, the whole thing has an unfortunate whiff of “I gotta say something” about it.

8 September 2005 | uncategorized |