Research Tip: using JSTOR

JSTOR is a a digital library of academic journals, books, and primary sources available to you through our Library subscription.  JSTOR may be useful to you as you collect resources for the Junior Research Project, the Senior Religion Project, the Hubris Project, and any other major research project/paper you may need to complete.  Follow the directions below (also linked on the Library page on Tolognet) to access JSTOR off-campus.

Instructions for New Users

To set up access to JSTOR from anywhere, click this link:

 http://www.jstor.org/token/r4eIm5SuQbviKsxh5UFu/fsha.org 

- You will be directed to the Login/Register for MyJSTOR page. Click on the "Register" link to go to the MyJSTOR Registration page.

- Complete the required fields to register a unique username and password. You must use your fshamail.org email address to create this account.

- Click "Submit" to register your account. You will be redirected to the new JSTOR main page, where you may use JSTOR as usual.

Instructions for Users Who Already Have MyJSTOR Accounts

To activate your personal MyJSTOR account for access to JSTOR from anywhere, click this link:

 http://www.jstor.org/token/r4eIm5SuQbviKsxh5UFu/fsha.org 

-You will be directed to a Login/Register for MyJSTOR page.

-Enter your username and password in the Login fields, and click the “Login” button

-Your account is now activated for access to JSTOR from anywhere.

For all subsequent access, users may go directly to www.jstor.org and select "Login" at the top of the page to access JSTOR with their personalized username and password. You may access JSTOR via this account from any location.

Why the Sleep-Deprived Crave Junk Food and Buy Higher Calorie Foods

Recent research from UC Berkeley scanned the brains of 24 participants after both a good, and a bad, night’s sleep (Greer et al., 2013).

After disturbed sleep, there was increased activity in the depths of the brain, which is generally associated with rewards and automatic behaviour.

The frontal lobes, just behind and above the eyes, which help provide self-control, were less active.

The finding may help explain why the sleep-deprived are more likely to give in to calorific temptations.

Read the full article here.

Are you in Genre Prison?

I love this quote.  I try to avoid genre prison as much as possible.  I am open to any book that is a good book.  Are you?

“You know, I think some people fear that if they like the wrong kind of book, it will reflect poorly on them. It can go with genre, too. Somebody will say, “I won’t read science fiction, or I won’t read young adult novels”—all of those genres can become prisons. I always find it funny when the serious literary world will make a little crack in its wall and allow in one pet genre writer and crown them and say, “Well Elmore Leonard is actually a real writer.” Or “Stephen King is actually a really good writer.” Generally speaking, you know you’re being patronized when somebody uses the word “actually.”

This is Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love, from an interview you can read here, quoted on John Green's Tumblr, which you can see here.

Tolog Review: Gone with the Wind

Gone with the Wind
by Margaret Mitchell
reviewed by Monica Collins, class of 2017

In the early 1860’s, the American South was very different from what it is like now. Set in the South before, during, and after the Civil War, this story examines the teen and young adult years of the fictional character Scarlett O’Hara, the belle of the county. At the beginning of the story, Scarlet is a young, up and becoming 16 year old who is mainly concerned with the whereabouts of the boys in the county and the latest barbeques and balls. Finding a husband was all that really mattered to her. But then her life is turned upside down when the Civil War hits, and her husband of two weeks is killed in combat, leaving her alone with their unborn child with no money. The Civil War changes all aspects of life in the South. With all the slaves freed, there are no field hands to harvest crops and tend to fields, causing the southern economy to go down the drain. Many once rich families at the start of the story are now forced to deal with now painfully realistic burden of poverty and hunger. Over the course of the story, the war changes every aspect of Scarlet’s life, degrading her from the carefree belle of the county who lives in a beautiful mansion, to a cold, hard, war torn mother who loses almost everything near and dear to her including all her wealth. But this book is not purely history. This story also follows Scarlett’s love life as she deals with her “true love”, Ashley Wilkes, her many husbands, and the man who just can’t get enough of her, Rhett Butler. This story gives a different perspective on history through the eyes on the ignorant white slave owner. Over all, I found this book to be very interesting and hard to put down. It gave me a new perspective of the Civil war and the economy of the South.

Tolog Revew: The Fault In Our Stars

The Fault in Our Stars

by John Green
reviewed by Olivia Amestoy, class of 2015

I'm sure countless girls have written about this book, and I don't doubt my review will be extremely similar to theirs. John Green eloquently writes a love story based on realism and well just life. There's no simple way to explain this book and give it justice. The story is relatable, real and wonderful. Green writes about how our lives are based on the opportunities we are presented with: both the ones we take and the ones we miss. The story isn't just a love story, it is about two people who struggle with their love and their lives, trying or not trying to make their marks in the world. I am writing this review after my second time reading it and I can confidently say that the book gives me a new meaning and perspective on life every time I have read it. So read it, you won't regret it. The quote "the world is not a wish granting factory" and "the existence of broccoli does not effect the taste or chocolate" are very interesting concepts and are talking about throughout the book. The book talks about suffering and making our marks, which are things humans have been pondering and struggling to answer since the beginning of time and always will, well into the future. Green does a great job of depicting Hazel as a relatable teenager, who thinks and feels the similarly as other teenage girls, with additional struggles from her cancer, which made me feel terrible for my complaints. Also, Hazel has a friend Kaitlyn, from her school days, who represents a lot of the "basic" girls I feel that I too have encountered and seeing Hazel chose being "friendless" over being fake friends with someone I find heroic and admirable. The story means a lot to me because I can easily relate to a lot of Hazel's emotional struggles and Green does a great job of reeling the reader in. In comedy, it is known that the funniest jokes are the ones where you see yourself in the joke, and in the same way, the best characters and stories are the ones that the reader sees themselves in or feels the same way. TFIOS also talks about how Hazel loves another book, where she relates to the girl very well. Green, through Hazel's obsession with the book and at the beginning of his novel, makes it apparent to the readers that fictional stories are made up and we should not idealize the characters. As much as I love the book, there are still some parts I disagree with. Overall, the book is thought provoking and amazing.

I CAN'T WAIT!

Tolog Reviews: Sweethearts

Sweethearts
by Sara Zarr
reviewed by Tiffany Tong, class of 2015

Sweetheart is about a girl, Jennifer, who once had a very hard time getting liked by her classmates during elementary school. She was chubby and not as pretty so everyone made fun of her. She only had one friend who accepted her and loved her for who she is, Cameron Quick. However, one day Cameron disappears and leaves Jenna to thinking that he died. Later on, her mom remarries and Jennifer becomes Jenna changing her identity to the popular and skinny Jenna. After high school was almost over, during her senior year, Jenna sees a transfer student that looks a lot like Cameron and finds out that it is really him. He came to look for her then they became really close again. All of Jenna’s friends did not understand why they were always together since they did not know the chubby and unpopular Jenna that got picked on in elementary school. Later on, Cameron told Jenna the reason why he left was because her mother left his father since he was an abusive drunk. They were not allowed to tell anyone because they were scared that his father would come looking for them. Jennifer resented her mother for not telling him the truth and letting her believe that Cameron died. Jenna finds out towards the end that Cameron left his brothers and sisters with his mom while his dad came back to live with them meaning that he will have to leave soon to take care of his siblings. After coming home with a fever one night, Jennifer whispers that she loves him to Cameron and he is gone the next day. If you liked A Story of a Girl by Sarah Zarr, you'll love this book!
  

Movie Trailer for Divergent by Veronica Roth

Tolog Reviews: Looking for Alaska

Looking for Alaska
by John Green
reviewed by Sophia Ferrer, class of 2015

Looking for Alaska is a compelling story by John Green that begins with the main character Miles Halter, a somewhat nerdy and unsocial kid who has a fond interest in memorizing famous last words. He is sent to Culver Creek boarding school, where he is in search for his “great perhaps”, that he once read about. As soon as he settles into Culver Creek, Miles meets a group of diverse individuals, that eventually will become a big part of his life, especially Alaska young who steals his heart and changes his life forever. Alaska Young a clever, gorgeous and funny individual puts Miles out of his comfort zone and teaches him to enjoy life as if it was ones last day to live. Miles is also introduced to things he’d never even dare of doing such as pulling pranks that always put him in a dangerous position of getting caught. Thinking that he was the only one to have a screwed up life, he soon learns about his friends who share their stories and seemingly all become closer. While everything in Miles life seems to be going right and believes he is figuring out what his “great perhaps” could be, an unexpected event turns each of their lives around for the worse. Miles experiences the ideas of new love, friendship, hardship, and adventure. This book is an example of how it is important to live life to the fullest and to not let it pass by. Looking for Alaska relates to the struggles and experiences teens may face during their high school years such as the struggle to be well-known, relationships, tragic events and grades. 
I would highly recommend this novel because it explores emotions that many of us may be facing as teens during our high school years. If you are fond of novels by John Greens , then you will definitely enjoy this one! This book would appeal to guys and or girls, it gives each a different perspective of how they think and what they feel during situations that come up. 

JRP Connections: 101 Objects that Made America

“We Americans have yet to really learn our own antecedents,” Walt Whitman said, “and sort them, to unify them. They will be found ampler than has been supposed, and in widely different sources.” That was in 1883, and the task has grown immeasurably more difficult as our antecedents have multiplied. But sorting is a Smithsonian specialty, so you hold in your hands a brave new attempt, a special issue that tells the story of America in 101 objects. Our sources were, per Whitman, widely different, drawn from the 137 million artifacts held by the 19 museums and research centers of the Smithsonian Institution. 

And we welcome alternative nominations. In fact, Richard Kurin (under secretary for history, art and culture) has selected 50 different items for his parallel book debuting this month, The Smithsonian’s History of America in 101 Objects. The Smithsonian Channel’s four-part series, Seriously Amazing™ Objects, premiering November 25, features surprising encounters with many of these objects.

Read more: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/specialreports/101-objects-that-made-america#ixzz2kMjIwwsX 

You can see the print issue of Smithsonian in the FSHA Library!

New Arrivals: Science Fiction

Matteo Alacrán was created to be an organ donor for El Patrón, but he is spared this fate thanks to El Patrón’s death and his assisted escape from Opium, a country between the U.S. and what was once Mexico. Matt has now returned to his nation and taken the reins of power as the new Lord of Opium. With its borders closed, the country’s drug supply is piling up and imported resources are running low. Global nations are growing aggressive waiting for their drugs, while others want the natural resources only Opium can supply them—flora, fungi, animals, and other denizens of the preserved ecosystem that thrive there but are destroyed elsewhere. Matt is also trying to achieve his personal goals of stopping the drug trade, growing crops for food, and returning the eejits, Opium’s preserved labor force, from their current state as microchipped mindless robots to fully functioning humans, all while making Opium self-sustaining. Most young readers who loved The House of the Scorpion (2002) when it was first released are now adults, and today’s teen audience will need to read the first title in order to fully understand Farmer’s brilliantly realized world. The satisfying ending is left open enough to allow for further stories, and Farmer includes an appendix that links real people and places to the book. A stellar sequel worth the wait. - from Booklist



The year is 2312. Scientific and technological advances have opened gateways to an extraordinary future. Earth is no longer humanity's only home; new habitats have been created throughout the solar system on moons, planets, and in between. But in this year, 2312, a sequence of events will force humanity to confront its past, its present, and its future.

The first event takes place on Mercury, on the city of Terminator, itself a miracle of engineering on an unprecedented scale. It is an unexpected death, but one that might have been foreseen. For Swan Er Hong, it is an event that will change her life. Swan was once a woman who designed worlds. Now she will be led into a plot to destroy them.

synopsis from amazon.com

Pia has always known her destiny. She is meant to start a new race, a line of descendants who will bring an end to death. She has been bred for no other purpose, genetically engineered to be immortal and raised by a team of scientists in a secret compound hidden deep in the Amazon rainforest. Now those scientists have begun to challenge her, with the goal of training her to carry on their dangerous work.
 
For as long as she can remember, Pia’s greatest desire has been to fulfill their expectations. But then one night she finds a hole in the impenetrable fence that surrounds her sterile home. Free in the jungle for the first time in her life, Pia meets Eio, a boy from a nearby village. Unable to resist, she continues sneaking out to see him. As they fall in love, they begin to piece together the truth about Pia’s origin—a truth with nothing less than deadly consequences that will change their lives forever.
 
Origin is a beautifully told, electric new way to look at an age-old desire: to live forever. But is eternal life worth living if you can’t spend it with the one you love?

synopsis from amazon.com

JRP Connections: tips for the proposal

I know your proposals are looming large, so I wanted to take a moment and provide you with some tips for doing well on this first phase of the JRP.  Please continue to ask questions of the Faculty Advisers to help focus your ideas in the next few days.

Tip One: Read the Rubric!

Your proposal will be evaluated using three sections of the rubric.  You should be familiar with what is required so that you make sure to hit all the important points.  Here are some key items from the rubric for Phase One:

• Extends a novel or unique idea or question
• Specific position is imaginative and takes into account the complexities of the issue or topic
• Defines terms accurately and comprehensively when needed.
• Language enhances the effectiveness of the presentation
• Engages readers' interest and maintains reader comprehension by simplifying or clarifying message

There are other important points listed on the rubric, so you should make sure to take a look and the full text. Remember that the rubric is designed to be used to evaluate the final draft as well, and some items listed may not fully apply to this phase. For example, we know that you have not gathered your sources yet, so when you see on the rubric that your writing should "Incorporate evidence seamlessly", please understand that for this phase of the research, we know that any 'evidence' you incorporate is simply part of your preliminary, background research. We are not looking for formal citations yet.

Tip Two: Brainstorm!

Before writing your proposal, brainstorm a list of questions you have related to your topic. Write down anything and everything you want to know about whatever it is you intend to research. The more you have, the better. It is much, much easier to go down from a list of fifteen than to struggle to come up with a final question at the last minute.

Tip Three: Consider your Questions

Once you have written down ALL of your ideas, look for connections between them.  Could you categorize your questions? If so, are there several in one category, and only one or two in another? This may help you decide which direction to take. If one category is very underdeveloped, you may want to take some more time to develop it, or you may want to abandon it to pursue a different line of thinking.

Are some of your questions redundant? Try not to ask the same thing many times.

Do your questions show some understanding of the topic? Make sure it is clear to us that you know what you're talking about. We don't mean that you need to be an expert, but you should have looked up at least the most basic background information on any places, people, events, movements, etc. that you want to research.

Are your questions open-ended? Make sure not to include any yes-or-no questions in your proposal. How and Why questions are best.

Tip Four: Mimic the Model Proposal

There is a great model proposal on the LibGuide. Read it! Re-read it. Mimic it as you write yours. There is nothing wrong with modeling your proposal on the...model. That's why it's called a model.

Tip Five: Get Excited!

This is a great opportunity for you to spend time exploring an area of history, literature, or religion that interests you. Tap into the deepest recesses of your brain and consider what ideas you've mulled over while staring at the ceiling trying to fall asleep. These are the ideas we want to read about in your papers!

New Arrivals: Graphic Fiction and Nonfiction

Concise and clear in imagery, text, and layout, Brown’s (Henry and the Cannons, 2013) nonfiction examination of the Dust Bowl contextualizes its genesis in geological and cultural history, the dynamics of its climatological presentation, and the effects on both the landscape and Depression-era High Plains farmers. The pen-and-ink artwork, digitally painted in burnished and dusty brown and yellow hues—and the shock of blue that comes with the rain that eventually clears the air—is combined with swirling text, along with well-researched and minimally descriptive explanations and occasional speech balloons attributed to anonymous residents and observers. The brevity of this presentation heightens rather than diminishes its power to evoke the history, and an ample list of resources provides plenty of opportunities for further research. A closing photo of the 2011 dust storm in Arizona emphasizes that the Dust Bowl wasn’t an isolated incident. This is a complete visual package, from the whirly, mud-colored cover design through the sudden reintroduction of color only after the dust storms abate. The Dust Bowl, as experienced by its survivors, truly comes to life in this compelling look at an important moment in American history.


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In American Born Chinese (2006), Yang spoke to the culture clash of Chinese American teen life. In Boxers—the first volume in a two-book set, concluding with Saints (2013)—about the Boxer Rebellion at the end of the nineteenth century in China, he looses twin voices in harmony and dissonance from opposite sides of the bloody conflict. Boxers follows a young man nicknamed Little Bao, who reacts to religious and cultural oppression by leading the uprising from the provinces to Peking, slaughtering “foreign devils” and soldiers along the way. Between the two books, Yang ties tangled knots of empathy where the heroes of one become the monsters of the other. Little Bao and his foil from Saints, Four-Girl, are drawn by the same fundamental impulses—for community, family, faith, tradition, purpose—and their stories reflect the inner torture that comes when those things are threatened. Yang is in superb form here, arranging numerous touch points of ideological complexity and deeply plumbing his characters’ points of view. And in an homage to the driving power of stories themselves, Bao is captivated by visions sprung from lore: the spirits he believes possess him and his fighters. Much blood is spilled as Little Bao marches toward his grim fate, which is even more unsettling given that Yang hasn’t fundamentally altered his squeaky clean, cartoonishly approachable visual style. A poignant, powerhouse work of historical fiction from one of our finest graphic storytellers.

As the proliferation of recent Odyssey graphic novelizations approaches the record held by Shakespeare adaptations, it is perhaps appropriate that Hinds, the Bard’s premiere sequential adapter, should produce the most lavish retelling of Homer yet. Showing great artistic evolution since his rough-and-tumble Beowulf (2007), Hinds lets the epic story take its time, with a slow build and pages that aren’t afraid to alternate packed dialogue with titanic action. The sumptuous art, produced with grain, texture, and hue, evokes a time long past while detailing every line and drop of sweat on Odysseus’ face and conveying the sheer grandeur of seeing a god rise out of the ocean. Teens may be baffled by the hero’s commitment to the same pantheon of gods who heap trouble in his path, but they will not lose touch with the universal qualities of steadfastness that Odysseus still embodies. The mythic trials have seldom felt more grueling or genuine, and this makes a perfect pairing with Tim Mucci and Ben Caldwell’s adaptation for a slightly younger audience from the All-Action Classics series, affording a chance to see how an archetypal story can function so powerfully at both the realistic and the stylized ends of the artistic spectrum. A grand example of Hinds’ ability to combine historical adventure with human understanding.

reviews from Booklist

JRP Connections: New Arrivals

Take a look at these items that arrived in the Library this week. You can find them in the JRP display.

Cruelty to animals was considered entertaining by many people in nineteenth-century America. At a time when cockfighting was widespread, and draymen beating horses on city streets was common, mobs greeted traveling circuses to gawk at exotic beasts. No animals suffered more than elephants, chained together on display, vulnerable to tormentors offering peppered apples and whiskey. Elephant keepers, many of whom were ill-paid alcoholics, could be just as abusive, using sharp hooks instead of kind words to control their charges. As circus owners P. T. Barnum and Adam Forepaugh touted their increasingly larger herds of elephants, sensational newspapers reported on a series of accidental deaths of their keepers. The elephants were always blamed. Weaving together stories about circus rivalries and the contest between power companies to wire America, Daly recounts how a once-beloved baby elephant grew up to be condemned to a public execution using electricity, the technical innovation of the time. Not for sensitive readers

review from Booklist

Nationally syndicated columnist David Yount shows how Quakers and the Society of Friends shaped the basic distinctive features of American life, from the days of the colonies, revolution and founders, to the civil rights movements of modern times: freedom, equality, community, straightforwardness, and spirituality.

Quaker prep schools and colleges continue to guide future generations of mostly non-Quaker students. Quaker spirituality is the basis for much of contemporary Christian spirituality. Yount makes clear that America would not have become what it is without the profound influence of the Friends.

synopsis from amazon.com



Junius Browne and Albert Richardson covered the Civil War for the New York Tribune until Confederates captured them as they tried to sneak past Vicksburg on a hay barge. Shuffled from one Rebel prison to another, they escaped and trekked across the snow-covered Appalachians with the help of slaves and pro-Union bushwhackers. Their amazing, long-forgotten odyssey is one of the great escape stories in American history, packed with drama, courage, horrors and heroics, plus moments of antic comedy.

On their long, strange adventure, Junius and Albert encountered an astonishing variety of American characters—Abraham Lincoln and Ulysses S. Grant, Rebel con men and Union spies, a Confederate pirate-turned-playwright, a sadistic hangman nicknamed “the Anti-Christ,” a secret society called the Heroes of America, a Union guerrilla convinced that God protected him from Confederate bullets, and a mysterious teenage girl who rode to their rescue at just the right moment.

Peter Carlson, author of the critically acclaimed K Blows Top, has, in Junius and Albert’s Adventures in the Confederacy, written a gripping story about the lifesaving power of friendship and a surreal voyage through the bloody battlefields, dark prisons, and cold mountains of the Civil War.

synopsis from amazon.com

JRP Connections: New Arrivals

Take a look at these items that arrived in the Library this week. You can find them in the JRP display.

In this thorough history, the author demonstrates, via the popular literature (primarily pulp magazines and comic books) of the 1920s to about 1960, that the stories therein drew their definitions of heroism and villainy from an overarching, nativist fear of outsiders that had existed before World War I but intensified afterwards. These depictions were transferred to America's "new" enemies, both following U.S. entry into the Second World War and during the early stages of the Cold War.
Anti-foreign narratives showed a growing emphasis on ideological, as opposed to racial or ethnic, differences--and early signs of the coming "multiculturalism"--indicating that pure racism was not the sole reason for nativist rhetoric in popular literature.
The process of change in America's nativist sentiments, so virulent after the First World War, are revealed by the popular, inexpensive escapism of the time, pulp magazines and comic books.

synopsis from amazon.com


The twenty-four tales in this book are of the most famous lost treasures in America, from a two-foot statue reportedly made entirely of silver (the “Madonna”) and a cache of gold, silver, and jewelry that was rumored to also contain the first Bible in America to seventeen tons of gold—its value equal to the treasury of a mid-sized nation—buried somewhere in northwestern New Mexico. What makes these tales even more compelling is that none of these known-to-be-lost treasures have been discovered, although modern detecting technology has made them eminently discoverable. 

synopsis from amazon.com




Though much has been written and speculated about the nature of the personal relationship between renowned reporter Lorena Hickok and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, Hickok’s 18-month journey across the country during the worst period of the Depression, and her subsequent influence on Eleanor and FDR’s response to the economic and social crisis, is by far the more fascinating and historically significant story. Unearthing masses of primary resources, including the daily letters that passed between Lorena and Eleanor, Golay provides an intimate glimpse into the afflicted heartland as Hickok crisscrossed the nation at the behest of FDR advisor Harry Hopkins. Her razor-sharp eyewitness accounts of the poverty and the desperation that afflicted ordinary Americans on a daily basis in 1933 constituted a humanized touchstone for architects of the New Deal still ironing out the specifics of the unprecedented economic-recovery programs. An invaluable contribution to the scholarship of the era. 

review from Booklist

JRP Connections: new arrivals

Take a look at these items that arrived in the Library this week. You can find them in the JRP display.

reviews from Booklist - Concise and clear in imagery, text, and layout, Brown’s (Henry and the Cannons, 2013) nonfiction examination of the Dust Bowl contextualizes its genesis in geological and cultural history, the dynamics of its climatological presentation, and the effects on both the landscape and Depression-era High Plains farmers. The pen-and-ink artwork, digitally painted in burnished and dusty brown and yellow hues—and the shock of blue that comes with the rain that eventually clears the air—is combined with swirling text, along with well-researched and minimally descriptive explanations and occasional speech balloons attributed to anonymous residents and observers. The brevity of this presentation heightens rather than diminishes its power to evoke the history, and an ample list of resources provides plenty of opportunities for further research. A closing photo of the 2011 dust storm in Arizona emphasizes that the Dust Bowl wasn’t an isolated incident. This is a complete visual package, from the whirly, mud-colored cover design through the sudden reintroduction of color only after the dust storms abate. The Dust Bowl, as experienced by its survivors, truly comes to life in this compelling look at an important moment in American history.

The highly acclaimed, longtime editor and publisher of the Nation and the author of the National Book Award–winning ­Naming Names (1980) here takes on a compelling subject, one nearly ideal for him and one that will appeal to his many adherents and deservedly earn him new readers. Although a bit repetitive, this heavily illustrated, entertainingly written look at poltical cartoons is both personal—Navasky’s experience with controversial drawing as well as writing is considerable—and thoroughly researched. It is also deeply insightful, particularly in the discussion of caricature, a unique form of satire. Though the book’s main focus is on Americans (Herblock, Edward Sorel, David Levine), Navasky also discusses well- and lesser-known twentieth-century cartoonists from around the world, and his inclusion of a time line of their persecution (and prosecution) is eye-opening and lends closure to his persuasively made conclusions.

JRP Connection: Today's homily

These connections come when you least expect it!  Right in the middle of the homily today, I had to bother Mrs. Bauer-Capocci for a pen so I wouldn't miss the opportunity to write down an idea for the JRP.  It's unformed, but it's an idea nonetheless.

He mentioned that it wasn't until the middle ages that the Pope canonized saints, and before that it was members of local communities that defined sainthood, based on their ideas of heroic behavior. Communities exalted their heroes by making them saints.

It makes me wonder:

• When the canonization of saints became standardized (is that the right word?), did the qualities of the saints change at all?  How could/did the papal selections for saints reflect the characteristics of a hero established in local communities across the Catholic world at that time?
• What heroic characteristics do we value as a local community today? (at FSHA, in Los Angeles, in the US, etc.)
• If sainthood was still in the hands of local communities, who would we look to as those 'qualified' (again, this is probably not the right word) to become saints?
• Our society exalts people (hold them in high regard) for a wide variety of reasons.  What are the moral/spiritual/ethical/religious foundations for these exaltations?  
• Are our modern heroes aligned with our historical/religious heroes (like the saints)?
• Who are our American heroes, and how do they stack up?

So, that's what I thought about today.  What did you think about?

Shake a Tail Feather, Tologs!