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    Making Peace with the World Through the Music of Luxury

    Spend five minutes scanning the headlines and you risk sinking into despair and cynicism. Accounts of war, corruption, hatred, and strife seem to fill the news at an ever-increasing rate. And of course, for Americans, the ever-present hum of politically related despair is fast reaching a fevered pitch thanks to the 2024 presidential election—an election that’s been awash in controversy since day one due to concerns over both candidates’ age and mental acuity, not to mention Donald Trump’s status as a convicted felon and rapist. First, God remains on the throne regardless of who holds earthly power, and second, there…

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    Beware the Messiah: Dune and the Power of Faith

    ***Spoiler Alert: This article contains spoilers for Frank Herbert’s Dune novels and for the films Dune and Dune: Part Two.*** “For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.” – Matthew 24:24 (NIV) “You underestimate the power of faith.” Princess Irulan (Florence Pugh) utters these words as a prescient warning to her father Emperor Shaddam (Christopher Walken) in Denis Villeneuve’s Dune: Part Two (2024). Like the other major characters in the film, Princess Irulan thinks of religion primarily in terms of political power. So it comes as no great…

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    Walter Martin’s Song, Niggle’s Leaf, and The God Who Makes All Things New

    Walter Martin’s 2022 album The Bear slows the world down, turning the listener’s attention to little things like “the holes where blind moles blink” or mixing paints or a baseball’s circuit between pitcher and catcher. This fixation on little things combined with Martin’s voice (in no way “done up”) gives the album its charm. And listeners will notice that Martin routinely stumbles upon the profound; little things, after all, add up to big things. Image via Pitchfork. This is especially so in “The Song Is Never Done” where Martin sings of wanting to write the “perfect song.” But, he points…

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    As Grief Metaphors Go, Godzilla Is Better than Most

    My daughter Jess loved King Kong. We watched the films, swapped trading cards, posters, magazines, even the novel by Edgar Wallace. Godzilla was different. She never understood why her step-mother and I enjoy the movies. “Sure, Godzilla’s really big,” she laughed. “But so what?” Grief arrives unbidden, stays as long as it will, lumbers through uncaring, leaves on a whim. Jess had a point. Godzilla is not horrifying or even slightly creepy. The film’s warning about unchecked nuclear testing still rings true, but as with all myth, modern or ancient, we sense there is something else going on. When this…

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    Stardew Valley and Rural Fellowship

    Pam lives in the trailer on the edge of town. She drinks too much. Every night, in fact. Empty cans and six-pack plastic litter her yard. Wearing garish eye makeup and stiff curls, Pam boasts loudly about her cherished adult daughter to anyone who will listen—but, behind closed doors, she berates her and treats her little better than a maid. Her neighbors have their own problems. Elderly Evelyn and George find themselves raising their grandson after their daughter Clara’s untimely death. The local rancher, Marnie, has taken her alcoholic nephew Shane and her young niece Jas under her wing. A…

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    A Separate Bargain: How Grief Is an Act of Love

    “I would rather go blind,” Etta James sings, “than to see you walk away.” The first time I heard this song I felt the pull of her powerful emotions. Yep, that’s how it feels during a break-up, I thought, though we might not actually trade our eyesight! How many parents, driven to despair, have offered their lives to God or the devil if only their child could survive? Alas, the bargain is not struck. After my daughter died, I realized the lyric isn’t just bluesy hyperbole. Many bereaved parents have pleaded with God to take them instead. A struggling child…