The Fisherman’s Widow by Hendricus Jacobus Burgers (J.H. Burgers), as published in The Illustrated London News on 5 December 1868. When I first came across the story of that engraving – The Fisherman’s Widow – hanging in Mary Jane Kelly’s poky little room at 13 Miller’s Court, it hit me like a punch to the … Continue reading Watching the Empty Horizon: The Fisherman’s Widow, Mary Kelly, and Life’s Unforgiving Sea
Tag: Life
The Swept Place: Why Some Churches Feel Wrong
There’s a peculiar kind of illness that has nothing to do with the body. It creeps in behind the eyes and presses down behind the ribs. It isn’t caused by lack of fresh air or poor hydration or an overlong breakfast. It’s spiritual, or at least — if that’s too much for polite company — … Continue reading The Swept Place: Why Some Churches Feel Wrong
A Geography of God and Other Small Mistakes
after Helen De Borchgrave’s A Journey Into Christian Art There are some errors, those plush little falsehoods, that sit in the drawing room of the modern mind, sipping tea and nodding along to themselves. They’re not lies, exactly. Lies require intention. These are something worse: assumptions so thoroughly digested that they pass for fact, like … Continue reading A Geography of God and Other Small Mistakes
Ans Herz geh’n – A Song That Refuses to Weep (and therefore breaks you anyway)
This song seized me by the lapels and demanded my tears like a debt collector at the door. It’s rare, subtle, infinitely dangerous – it simply stands at a distance, tips its hat, and in doing so undoes you entirely. Ans Herz geh’n is lethal. I didn’t understand a word of it when I first … Continue reading Ans Herz geh’n – A Song That Refuses to Weep (and therefore breaks you anyway)
Glinda’s Bubble: A Study in Benevolent Bastardry
I’ve long held a rather unfashionable view about dear Glinda the Good Witch, and it’s high time I set it down in ink – or pixels, as the modern fashion demands. To me, she isn’t merely a fluttering pink confection of benevolence; she’s the most insidious sort of villain, the one who smiles whilst sharpening … Continue reading Glinda’s Bubble: A Study in Benevolent Bastardry
Wording 