Freewheelin' Suze Rotolo

March, 2011. Suze Rotolo dead at age 69, famous as one half the shot on an album cover, but oh, such more. Suze was Dylan's girlfriend at the time of his second, break out folk alblum, Freewheelin' Bob Dylan. He was walking down a Village street in a light jacket, shivering and she was holding him tight on his arm. Bob Dylan, was really Robert Zimmermann, as she found out when his draft card fell on the floor.  He came to the village full of folk music influences and tall stories about who he was.  She was tied in, a red diaper baby born from New York Italian Reds, a researcher for Alan Lomax the musicologist, a friend of John Cohen the photographer and founder of New Lost City Ramblers, an artist and actress.  She introduced him to poetry, Bertold Brecht's plays, Truffaut's films, Picasso's art. She was also a political activist who volunteered with CORE (The Congress of Racial Equality) and who introduced Dylan to the civil rights movement.  She is the inspiration, the muse for many of his early love songs, civil rights songs and songs derived from the French symbolist poets.  His fame climbed over her, probably not by his intent, and she soon couldn't walk down the street without representing one half of an album cover.  There was the tragedy of an abortion, the break up, and geographic cure in the run to Italy.  Soon she was married and remained a professional artist and a political activist.  Good bye Suze. 

Graham Greene Lecture Thursday Night

I've gotten a notice from the Seattle Chesterton Society I wanted to share with you.  If you are living in the Seattle area I recommend that you attend if you can.

Graham Greene: Catholic Literary Modernist

Rev. Dr. Mark Bosco, S. J.

Loyola University Chicago

It is something of a cliché that the so-called modern age witnessed the death of God, religion, or both. Modernist writers, among those most aware of their own “modernity,” have done much eulogizing of faith. The success of this Modernist “project” is, of course, complicated by the persistence of religion. Moreover, the modern period produced writers the likes of T.S. Eliot, Evelyn Waugh, and Graham Greene, to name only a few. I would like to suggest ways in which we can understand Greene as a representative “Catholic Modernist” who re-imagines Catholicism through modernist aesthetics, modernist sensibilities. In particular, I would like to develop the historical trajectory of this Catholic literary revival as a kind of Catholic literary modernism, and see in Greene's work, especially, how this is embodied.

Mark Bosco, S.J., holds a joint appointment as associate professor in English and Theology at Loyola University Chicago, and serves as its director of the Catholic Studies Program. His scholarship focuses on the intersection of Catholic theology, aesthetics, and literature. His book publications include Graham Greene's Catholic Imagination (Oxford UP 2005), and two edited volumes, Academic Novels as Satire: Critical Studies of an Emerging Genre (Edwin Mellen, 2007) and Finding God in All Things: Celebrating Bernard Lonergan, John Courtney Murray, and Karl Rahner (Fordham UP, 2007). He has published in such journals as The Southern Review, The Flannery O'Connor Review, and LOGOS: A Journal of Catholic Thought and Culture.

Please see our full Events Calendar for more details pertaining to meetings.  Parking at the Newman Center is extremely limited. It is recommended that commuters park in the nearby "N5" lot on the University campus, accessible via the north gate at NE 45th St and Memorial Way. The fee for evening parking in the University lots is $5.00. Campus maps showing the exact location of the N5 lot are available here.

We look forward to seeing you Thursday evening!

For more infomration on the Chesterton Society: 

http://www.seattlechesterton.org/

For more information on Fr. Bosco: 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Bosco

Formation Films "Rainy Day Reels" Preview

I took a hiatus from blogging on any of my blogs for various reasons, but now with the film nights in my parish beginning  again, I am going to start up with a piece on that.  I see that I have been getting readers for older posts, which just proves that on the internet what you put out there stays out.

I know that most of my readers do not come from Seattle, but I will write about these films anyway, hoping you will either watch some of them, or start similar film projects where you are. I think every parish, school and neighborhood should have film nights with popcorn and discussions.  These movies should be, as our are, free and educational in purpose.  The discussion should elevate the listener, as should the movie choices. Discussion leaders should come prepare and new and interesting popcorn recipes should be ventured on.   (Tonight for instance we are trying a very spicy Sudanese recipe, a cheese popcorn and Italiano, one of our favorites.  We might save room for regular buttered popcorn as well. )

The way our Formation Films work at Blessed Sacrament is that we run a series for a few weeks, then we meet and schedule another series. Some of the active volunteers come with suggestions and then we talk it out.  We try to balance the topics a little to include peace or justice films, Catholic or Biblical films, thought provokers or various kinds, films on moral questions, spiritual films from other religions, and films of cultural significance or about other cultures. Some films even hit all of those categories at once, like The Ninth Day (http://www.kino.com/theninthday/)  did when we showed it.

Our films start tonight, January 9th 2011 at 7PM and "The Rainy Day Reels" runs every other Sunday until March 20th.

Here is our current line up:

January 9 - Joyeux Noel
Joyeux Noel captures a rare moment of grace from one of the worst wars in the history
of mankind, World War I. On Christmas Eve, 1914, as German, French, and Scottish
regiments face each other from their respective trenches, a musical call-and-response
turns into an impromptu cease-fire.  A moving tribute to those who saw past hate and
political intrigue long enough to share in their humanity.   2005. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joyeux_No%C3%ABl)


January 23 - Sugar Cane Alley
Euzhan Palcy's warm, deeply felt film about mentorship and sacrifice is a life-affirming
experience of childhood in black Martinique in the 1930’s. Palcy recreates the plantation
life with a keen sense of balance, offsetting the squalid conditions of workers with an authentic feeling of community and the innocence of childhood.   1984. (http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19840101/REVIEWS/401010395/1023)


February 6 - The Navigator
Vincent Ward's mystical tale of a tiny 14th-century English hamlet during the devastation
of the Black Plague mixes faith and fantasy in a compelling adventure. The Navigator
defies genre, mixing fantasy and science fiction, religion and mysticism, historical realism
and modern adventure, to create a compelling, beautiful, visually stunning leap of faith.
1988. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Navigator:_A_Medieval_Odyssey)


February 20 - Dersu Ozala
Akira Kurosawa’s epic film that traces the deep and abiding bond between two men; one
civilized in the usual manner, the other at home in the sub-zero Siberian woods.  This is
a true story, and a stunning piece of film making.  Riveting and relentless in its quest to
show the transcendence of human affection within the context of Russian history.  1975.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dersu_Uzala_(1975_film)


March 6 - Bonhoeffer, Agent of Grace
What is a moral person to do in a time of savage immorality? That question tormented
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German clergyman of great distinction who actively opposed Hitler
and the Nazis. His convictions cost him his life. Bonhoeffer's last years, his participation
in the German resistance, and his moral struggle are dramatized in this film.  2000.
(http://www.cbn.com/spirituallife/ChurchAndMinistry/ChurchHistory/Bonhoeffer_Agent_of_Grace.aspx)


March 20 - Thérèse
Thérèse tells the story of St. Therese of Lisieux, a young girl who fell in love with Jesus
Christ and demonstrated a path of spirituality through the actions of unconditional love,
human compassion, and her "Little Way" to the modern world.
1986. (http://www.stlukeproductions.com/therese/index.html)

Each one of these films in some way ties into the values of the Catholic faith.  The first film, about a spontaneous Christmas truce is a great film for the last day of the Christmas season.  It shows that the transcendent values we have a Christians need not remain stuck in the mire of the trenches.  I think on a day when we are mourning a Congresswoman who fell victim to a heated political atmosphere a film about putting the weapons aside is a great one.

Sugar Cane Alley is a great film, about poverty, about familial love and about education.  The preferential option for the poor will no doubt be discussed that night.  The Navigator is in part being shown just to have a "fun film", a sci-fi/fantasy break from reality, but it also has a great deal of mystical content. Dersu Ozala, one of the greater films of  Akira Kurosaw, Japan's best film maker, has a lot to say about human culture, our obligations to each other as humans, and our relationship to nature.

 Bonhoeffer, Agent of Grace, returns us again to a these and setting familiar to our film series: moral choice against the huge backdrop of World War II. Would we have the courage to defy the Nazi's as Bonhoeffer did. What are the moral and theological implications of his course of action.  Should we remain pacifist, or is violence ever justified.

Thérèse, a fairly recent American production, is an excellent note to end on.  We often forget that The Little Flower, a contemplative, is the patron saint of missionaries, both because she prayed for them, and because she taught that it is the 'little things' that are important.  Perhaps she will be kind enough to send us all roses the night of the movie

If anyone has comments on film series projects, any of the films listed, or films we should show, please go ahead and live them. You are part of the community of this blog. thank you.

I would also like the staff of Scarecrow Video, one of the best  and biggest video stores in America, fortunately located one block from Blessed Sacrament.  The staff of Scarecrow has always been helpful in reserving films or answering questions.