The other day, I went to a local coffeehouse for breakfast. The restaurant is an entirely gluten-free facility that also caters to other dietary restrictions. The restaurant is somewhat of a hot-spot for those of us with food allergies or dietary restrictions because it accommodates most all of them. While the entire facility is gluten-free (not to be confused with wheat-free), they also have vegan breads and cheeses, so anyone can order most anything on the menu. Continue reading “Real Cheese and the Eucharist: On the Rhetoric of Dietary Restrictions”
Simple Men with Simple Needs
Did you catch the news stories about U.S. President Obama meeting Pope Francis earlier today? While I have trouble imagining that the so-called “leader of the free world” meets with just anyone, given his hectic schedule, it’s interesting how far the press goes, in a curiously coordinated effort, to reproduce the rhetoric of simplicity that is so important to reproducing the authority of the Pope — all the while ensuring that we also know he’s important enough (and equipped) to entertain world leaders, of course. Continue reading “Simple Men with Simple Needs”
Which Past Do You Authorize?
I’m testing a theory, if tomorrow’s present is yesterday’s future-not-imagined, then every present justifies its presence by clinging onto a past not considered previously, by which it will then imagine a different future and so on. Continue reading “Which Past Do You Authorize?”
Bayart on Authenticity
“This discourse on an entirely reconstituted, fantasized past is first of all a critical commentary on the present. In other words, it is bitterly disputed. Thus the restoration of works of art elicits virulent public debate, such as that which accompanied the restoration of the Sistine Chapel. The Continue reading “Bayart on Authenticity”