Crag the Crow

This article was originally published at the venerable Coffee With Kenobi Attack of the Clones was on TBS the other day. I dutifully and joyfully put it on. This under-appreciated episode of the Saga is much maligned, and I think that is wrong. While viewing this visually stunning masterpiece, I realized that I was reciting all of the lines along with the movie. Like some people sing along to “Bohemian Rhapsody,” “Sweet Caroline” or “Frankenstein,” I find that speaking along with these movies is comforting and helps me to find new depth in them. So then the question arises: How can we see these movies for what they are, and not what we expect them to be? By this I mean an even more basic question. Can we ever see these movies new again? For the past decade we have been treated to The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels , each of which has offered new insights to Episode II (among other things); and I would say that it has made it an entirely different movie. So, ...

Crag the Crow is not the only place where I am putting my writing.  I am fascinated with the confluence of  the faith journey and Star Wars. For a few years now, I have been writing about these topics and how they intertwine.  Most of my pieces are at theforceandfaith.blogspot.com .  These and more are also carried at coffeewithkenobi.com .  I hope you enjoy what I have come up with.  Please take a look over here if you'd like.

The almighty snow day.   This great interference in the march of the school year.   A break from reality and the stresses we faced.   I wasn’t good at doing my homework or caring about long range projects as a student – from the earliest grades and even up until grad school.   But the snow day broke that cycle.   Nothing could be collected.   Nothing could be assigned.   I don’t know how it is for kids in the 21 st century classroom, but teachers did not take advantage of the so-called wasted time.                   I remember stomping down the steps of whichever suburban Philly rowhome I was living in at the time.   Just enough steps to see out the window of the front door.   4 or 5 steps.   I was loud, always accused of being an elephant coming down the steps.   But I still thought I was doing something secretive.   And the outside world ...

I have this novel in mind.   An entire story, fantastic for sure, but a distillation and mediation on pain and loss.  Occasionally a few pieces of the writing will be shared here, for input and creative criticism.   I look forwarded to hearing your thoughts. *** Straight overhead was a light blue.  Framed by the green of the high treetops and their strong woody branches, the streaks of the thin clouds move from somewhere behind to somewhere else.  The sun was barely hidden behind the wisps, its waning energies diffused to a soft orange, able to be seen, yet only suggestions of the power from which it came.  This was a beautiful sunset, but beautiful to someone else.   This one was painted for another man, not Gordie.              Below that celestial painting was an outcropping of eroded rock on top of a seemingly inconsequential hill.  This was not the highest hill in...

Life begins with just one goal.   That goal is honed and the parameters are defined as time goes on.   That goal is salvation.   Transfiguring this life to the one that is to come.   And while we are here, our life is a gift of time to get closer to the goal.   In pursuit of that goal, my thoughts occasionally want to come out in words.   Some of them will be shared here.   Hopefully the drivel from my keyboard will find some use somewhere for someone.  

A ll of us who find or search for this page have something in common: a love of great movies, the joy they bring us and an admiration for the people who have brought amazing ideas to life.  I am a Star Wars enthusiast, and will watch anything by Spielberg when it is available.  Goonies, ET, everything Indy, everything Marty.  All of these fantasies fueled the emerging hopes of my childhood. The fanciful and wonderful movies of my youth that led me to look for the great mysteries of this world.  And then I found a great mystery confronting my sensibilities, my stomach and my own relationship to the world around me.  When I was 18, I came across Schindler’s List.  It was only three weeks after my grandmother died, the matriarch of the family.  I often refer to her as St Granny because of the place her love has had in my life – even after her repose in the Lord.  I don’t remember the occasion, but a lot of the family was gathered to...

This letter originally appeared on the Lansing Star Opinion Page . Dear Assemblywoman, In a recent posting online, you have shared the news of a letter you sent to Governor Cuomo in which you called for the shuttering of "non-economic coal plants and in establishing a robust, real-world transition plan to assist communities that may be disproportionately impacted by the loss of a coal-fired plant." Will the transition plan be in place before the shuttering? I could imagine a situation where the economic impact comes first and the government takes its time in riding to the aid of the folks who have had their futures decided for them by an outside party. How will a community like Lansing replace the jobs that will be lost? You mention job training, but I do not see where these are non-skilled workers. Further, I am unsure that there are enough jobs in the area, and in towns north of Lansing, where any sort of training (as well as previously acquired ski...