Author: Deacon Nick

Walden by Henry David Thoreau

Books and Reading

Top 10 Henry David Thoreau Quotes

I was looking at my commonplace book and was again struck by the eloquence of Henry David Thoreau. Here are some of my favorite Thoreau quotes, most of them from Walden: I should not talk so much about myself if there were anybody else whom I knew as well. …to stand on the meeting of two eternities, the past and the future, which is precisely the present moment Every generation laughs at the old fashions, but follows religiously the new. In short, I am convinced, both by faith...

Bibliomaniac

Books and Reading

Possessed by Books

I’ve known some bibliomaniacs in my time, but Archdeacon Meadow has got to be one of the worst afflicted: Archdeacon Meadow accumulated so many books that he was forced to sell a considerable portion of his collection. But as their auction proceeded he experienced such passionate anguish that he left the room and returned again in disguise to begin bidding for his own books. –Otto L. Bettman, The Delights of Reading: Quotes, Notes and Anecdotes

Marginalia

Books and Reading

I Write in Books – and I’m Proud of It

One of the comments I often get from people who have read my book ROMAN Reading is “I could never write in my books.” It’s hard to get people to understand the value and pleasure of writing comments, thoughts and reactions in their books. But now I have a book to recommend to them: Marginalia: Readers Writing in Books by H. J. Jackson. I found this book in the Notre Dame bookstore, and I couldn’t be more excited to read it. From the back cover: Imaginative and amusing,...

Cathedral of St. Helena

Deacons and Diaconate / Spirituality / Travel

A Former Student Gives a Homily

We’re back! Our week at Notre Dame was fantastic, but there’s nothing like sleeping in your own bed. We had an uneventful trip home, praise God. On Sunday we drove through Helena, Montana to celebrate Mass at the cathedral there. I had never been there, and I was awestruck by the amount of marble and stained glass. Helena is not exactly on the way to anywhere, but if you ever get the chance, stop in and take a tour of the cathedral. I’m currently uploading all of my...

Christ at Notre Dame

Travel

Our Last Days at Notre Dame

It’s Thursday night in South Bend and our week at ND Vision is almost over. My son and the other teens that came with us have had a fantastic time…and so have we adults. Here are some more highlights of the past few days: Sitting awestruck as 225 teens spent an hour together in Eucharistic adoration Praying/chanting morning prayer and Vespers in the lady chapel at the Notre Dame basilica Gazing open-mouthed at all the beautiful works of art that decorate the campus and its buildings Praying the...

Arriving at Notre Dame

Travel

Notre Dame Trip Days 3 and 4

Now that I’ve finally figured out how to connect to the wireless network here at Notre Dame I can give a quick update. First things first: yesterday. Two words: Chicago. Traffic. We left Jackson, Minnesota on time at 7:00 a.m., then around 2:00 p.m. got bogged down for two hours trying to get through Chicago. We were trying to avoid the Ryan Expressway because the official site said it was under construction, so we took what we thought could make better time on another road. Instead we became...

Mt. Rushmore

Travel

Notre Dame Trip Day 2

Today we’re in the small town of Jackson, Minnesota, after driving 660 miles yesterday. The weather was much nicer today–no one was struck by lightning. Highlights from yesterday’s travel: Mount Rushmore: An awe-inspiring sight to those of us who had never seen it before. A brief glimpse of the badlands: we could see the edges of the badlands from the freeway. I’d like to come back some day to take a closer look. Sights we didn’t get to see, but wanted to: the corn palace in Mitchell, SD,...

Wyoming Wildlife

Travel

Trip to Notre Dame, Day 1

I woke up this morning in Sheridan, Wyoming, after driving about 660 miles from Spokane, Washington yesterday with 13 teenagers, and 7 chaperones. Highlights of our first day of travel: Stopping at Lincoln, Montana’s 10,000 Silver Dollar Bar Attending Mass in Billings, MT with my parents. The young priest at St. Pius X Parish went to school with the deacon I wrote about a couple of months ago. Chasing a huge electrical storm across southern Montana. I really enjoy watching Montana thunder storms, but not while driving through...

Notre Dame

Travel

Caravan to Notre Dame!

My son and I will be heading to Notre Dame next week for a 5-day conference called ND Vision. We’re driving across the country in 4 rented minivans with 13 teenagers (yes, 13!). We leave Spokane, Washington at 5:00 in the morning and for the next three days I’ll be trapped inside a moving snack zone. The cars that drive beside us will see the vans surrounded by a cloud of orange BHT fumes. I won’t even begin to describe what it will smell like. What is ND...

Fred Saberhagen

Books and Reading

Berserker Death: RIP Fred Saberhagen

Fred Saberhagen , one of my favorite science fiction writers, passed away from cancer on June 29, 2007 at the age of 77. Saberhagen is probably best-known as the author of the Berserker series, a set of science fiction stories about humanity’s war against self-repairing killing machines that roam the universe with the sole purpose of eliminating all life. Saberhagen used his Berserker stories to explore what it meant to be human, and several of them were based on works of literature such as Poe’s “Masque of the...