Miscellaneous Rambling
I've have long listened to Relevant Radio's "The Miracle Hunter" with Michael O'Neill. It's not a perfect show, but I really enjoy it. I didn't realize he had written a book: Exploring the Miraculous. The book is reviewed, and summarized, in this nifty article that provides a great overview
of the Catholic Church's position on miracles. I highly recommend the link to anyone who is remotely curious about the miraculous and the Catholic Church's approach to it.
Speaking of Relevant Radio, I've recently fallen in love with it. The folks at Relevant have their act together. I've grown increasingly frustrated at EWTN's inability to get their shows uploaded to the podcast feed or their app. That's not a problem with Relevant Radio. It has a great app that allows you to download their shows in the order you want to listen to them. Its programming is also great. Highly recommended.
I have mixed emotions about this trend: No Wild Parties, No Pledging as Universities Crack Down on Fraternity Excesses. The gist of the story is pretty simple: Fraternities have gotten out of hand, so schools are cracking down on them. The thing is, when you have a top-down approach, you get absurdities like this:
[The party] was held in the ballroom at a Hilton Garden Inn.
IDs were checked at the door. Those old enough to drink got plastic bracelets with five pull tabs – one for each beer, wine or hard cider they would be permitted over the next three hours. Hard liquor was banned; Jell-O shots were definitely out. Security guards walked the floor.
The party limped along, and by 10 p.m., an hour ahead of schedule, the staff was already cleaning up.
I don't have a good approach to remedying the fraternity's excesses, except for the one I adopted: discourage my sons from joining. I was in a fraternity in college, and the hazing was nothing like I read about today. Sure, it was juvenile and ridiculous, but mostly just stupid fun and certainly nothing dangerous. The problem is, I've been told that hazing gets worst every year, as subsequent upperclass men "build on" what happened to them. I remember hearing just a few years after I graduated that my fraternity's hazing had gone from mild to the campus' worst. Oh well. American life wouldn't be any worse if the entire Greek system was dismantled, but I detest seeing administrators do it, especially through sterile, cold means like the one above.
