What Face Transplants Tell Us About Our Souls

"Socially crippled" — strangely, this phrase appears to be kosher while regular-old-crippled is out ("differently abled, thank you"). Either way, at Slate, William Saletan is raising a ruckus over the notion that "appearance alone can be grounds for a potentially . . . . Continue Reading »

Plus Shipping and Handling

NASA has announced plans to donate its retiring Space Shuttle fleet to “educational institutions, science museums, and other appropriate organizations.” Recipients will just have to foot the bill for the shipping and handling of the shuttles: an estimated 42 million dollars. . . . . Continue Reading »

Home from the Hospital

Just a quick update, since many of you have asked and all of you were so kind: My daughter Faith is home from the hospital. She’ll still be bed-ridden for a week or so, but she’s now out of danger. Some strange, life-threatening virus had attacked her lungs—you really don’t . . . . Continue Reading »

Reasons to Love New York

If the fact that First Things is produced here weren’t reason enough to love New York, New York Magazine suggests some others, including this one : Pregnant women in New York know how to tough it out in the city, even to the point of giving birth at the subway . . . . . Continue Reading »

Advent in Music

Thanks to Michael Linton for passing along this interesting piece on seven antiphons of Advent in music: They’re sung one per day, at the Magnificat during vespers. They are very ancient, and extraordinarily rich in references to the prophecies of the Messiah. Their initials form an acrostic. . . . . Continue Reading »