To the Editors.My friend Ed With everybody writing about Ed Skillin [September 8], I think I owe it to his memory to add a footnote or two. It was my privilege (and that of my late wife Dottie) to know and count as dear friend for nearly half a century this profoundly but also lightheartedly Christian gentleman. For me, Ed helped to make sense of that too rarely cited tag end of Thomas's definition of our species, Animal rationale et risibile. I can still see Ed in his living room handing around the pre-dinner goodies, but also droll droll adj. droll·er, droll·est Amusingly odd or whimsically comical. n. Archaic A buffoon. [French drôle, buffoon, droll, from Old French drolle servings of ideas amid easy, modest, self-deprecating chuckles. Ed Skillin could do more with a circumflex circumflex /cir·cum·flex/ (serk´um-fleks) curved like a bow. cir·cum·flex adj. 1. Curving or bending around. 2. Bowed. circumflex curved like a bow. than most of us can with paragraphs. And I don't mean just the expressive eyebrows. With sadness, this past summer it was my further rare privilege to visit Ed fairly often at the nursing home. Although deafer than duct tape, he would smile unforgettably (indulgently?) at my often-zany recitations of verse--delightful Jabberwocky jab·ber·wock·y n. Nonsensical speech or writing. [After "Jabberwocky," a nonsense poem by Lewis Carroll.] Noun 1. , prescient Ulysses, apropos ap·ro·pos adj. Being at once opportune and to the point. See Synonyms at relevant. adv. 1. At an appropriate time; opportunely. 2. Burns's apology to a field mouse. But as we then prayed the signature decade that was my main reason for showing up, he would lower his eyes and, I hope, mind-meld along with me. The first time I saw him after his stroke, I sang "Yankee Doodle" to him, hoping by example to encourage at least the toehold on speech that singing can help the dysphasic regain. It didn't seem to help. Jane [Skillin] and their children, polite as ever, must have thought me crazy. But Ed seemed to enjoy the try at brightening his day. What I never did while the family was there I take particular satisfaction from. At the end of our visit I would presume to take my layman's thumb and, in no sense as cleric manque man·qué adj. Unfulfilled or frustrated in the realization of one's ambitions or capabilities: an artist manqué; a writer manqué. , with it make my baptismal Christian sign of the cross on the forehead of that wee but towering figure of our time--and, as far as I'm concerned, for all time. Ed Skillin old friend, rest--as I'm sure you do--in the peace and joy of Christ. JAMES C.G. CONNIFF Upper Montclair, N.J. When pigs fly When Pigs Fly is an episode from season 3 of the animated TV series Jackie Chan Adventures. Plot Jackie is already onto the next noble animal - The Rooster, Power of Levitation! Unfortunately, the rooster has discovered its unique Power of Levitation and is Thank you for the poem by Alfred Nicol ["Guinea Pig guinea pig (gĭn`ē), domesticated form of the cavy, Cavia porcellus, a South American rodent. It is unrelated to the pig; the name may refer to its shrill squeal. " September 22]. It is stunningly well written. SALLY KURZDORFER Alpine, Calif. Yet more on Courage Fathers Lloyd and Harvey are technically correct in saying that Courage does not "force" homosexual individuals into sexual-orientation change [Correspondence, September 8]. But the group's whole approach evidences a strong endorsement of and personal encouragement for reparative re·par·a·tive also re·par·a·to·ry adj. 1. Tending to repair. 2. Relating to or of the nature of reparations. therapy: (1) the Courage brochure says it is wrong to say that "sexual-orientation change is never possible" and "for those who really want it, reparative growth is a possibility and happens regularly"; (2) the brochure also claims that one can leave behind not only the "homosexual lifestyle" but "the very feelings of same-sex attraction." While conversion therapy is an "option" for all, "teens and young adults are especially invited to consult competent therapists." The program for Courage's annual gathering invariably in·var·i·a·ble adj. Not changing or subject to change; constant. in·var  i·a·bil features
as speakers prominent representatives from the "ex-gay"
movement touting the success of reparative therapy. Given Harvey's
claim that homosexual orientation is "not the work of God" but
"arrested sexual development," would anyone not want to do all
that is humanly possible to "grow into" one's
"true" heterosexual identity?
JOHN GALLAGHER Mount Rainier, Md. What did Acton mean? Commonweal com·mon·weal n. 1. The public good or welfare. 2. Archaic A commonwealth or republic. Noun 1. [Et cetera, July 14] was correct in questioning the New York Times's choice of Richard Rorty to review Garry Wills's Papal Sin. It was a poor choice, particularly, if (as you stated) Wills, "America's most prominent Catholic intellectual writes a scathing indictment of his church." Everybody (Wills included) deserved better. The aptness of Commonweal's choice of Eamon Duffy as the reviewer [July 14 ] was reinforced by his solid rejoinder The answer made by a defendant in the second stage of Common-Law Pleading that rebuts or denies the assertions made in the plaintiff's replication. The rejoinder allows a defendant to present a more responsive and specific statement challenging the allegations made ["The Reviewer Replies," September 8] to Wills's dismissive comments on the review itself. For the record, I read Wills's Papal Sin and it is a powerful work, but its merits are marred by its polemics po·lem·ics n. (used with a sing. or pl. verb) 1. The art or practice of argumentation or controversy. 2. The practice of theological controversy to refute errors of doctrine. . The book is one-sided in argument, caustic in tone, and historically incomplete. Like Wills, Lord Acton is one of my "heroes." But a hostile critic, using Wills's approach, might question Acton's integrity by quoting from a letter he sent to Robert E. Lee on November 4, 1866. After praising Lee, his cause, and the Confederate Constitution, Acton wrote: "Therefore I deemed that you were fighting the battles of our liberty, our progress, and our civilization; and I mourn for the stake which was lost at Richmond more deeply than I rejoice over that which was saved at Waterloo." Does this mean that Acton, whose great unfinished work was to be a history of liberty, supported slavery? If the Confederacy Confederacy, name commonly given to the Confederate States of America (1861–65), the government established by the Southern states of the United States after their secession from the Union. had survived, slavery, though diminished by war, would have continued. Was Acton being inconsistent? hypocritical? I think not. Such a judgment would lack balance. Even a hanging judge needs to put his evidence in perspective. GEORGE L. MAHONEY Katonah, N.Y. Chat with us on-line. To subscribe, simply e-mail: commonweal-subscribe@egroups.com |
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