Seven Quick Takes

1. Welcome, Spirit Daily readers! Thanks for dropping by to read my review of How Far Can We Go? A Catholic Guide to Sex and Dating. Feel free to browse around.

2. There's a tattoo parlor here in town. 

Now tell me, would you choose this emporium if you desired to have something permanently inked on your body?

3.  Business Daily has a interesting piece analyzing the negative social consequences of cheap and easy access to birth control.

Is this all due to the Pill? Of course not. But the idea that widely-available contraception hasn't led to dramatic societal change, or that this change has been exclusively to the good, is a much sillier notion than anything the Catholic Church teaches.

4. My oldest, 9 1/2, was wandering around the other day, singing "Gonna find my baby, gonna hold on tight..." Fortunately, that's the only words to the song Afternoon Delight she knows, because that's what I start singing before I remember that Afternoon Delight really isn't appropriate for little ears.

We have the same problem with more obscure songs, too. Everyone in the family knows the chorus to "Sherry Monocle" by Mr. B the Gentleman Rhymer, because the chorus is merely a repetition of "A rah-pah-pah-pah! A rah-pah-pah-pah!", set to a catchy tune. It's the words before it that are completely inappropriate.


Chorus at around 1:00.

That's why we find ourselves singing to the baby:

I thought you were a tease!
But you had... some snoogly snoogly knees!

Not quite what the original says, and bad verse to boot, but it's clean. Anyone else have to make up lyrics on the fly for the non-corruption of the young?

(And yes, I also sing "Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence"while washing dishes, so it's not all depravity here.)

5. Betty Duffy writes over at Patheos about the Manosphere, that segment of the internet devoted to solving the eternal problem of antagonism between the sexes by utilizing "Game Theory" to manipulate women into doing what the man wants.

I cannot offer an apology for feminism. I have not been able to align myself with the women's movement because my sexual ethics, which are informed by my Catholic faith, are incompatible with the feminist stance on birth control, extra-marital sex, and abortion. 

Neither can I get behind the manosphere. For feminism to have gained a foothold, men had to collude with it, and without doubt, it's been in the interest of men to do so. So the message of the manosphere rings disingenuous. They would like for women to remain sexually available but to kindly shut up. 

The anger toward the opposite sex that embitters both parties can only create a swiftly moving pendulum of rancor that never allows men and women to do what they were meant to do from the beginning of time, which is to complement one another.

Betty has received some very angry and crude comments from very angry and crude men, bitter about the legacy of feminism and blaming her for it.

Anyone who is interested in engaging with the Manosphere through a more Catholic framework should check out Blogging Bellita, a single Catholic girl who's trying to take on the insights of the Manosphere without being poisoned by its bitterness. Bellita and I don't see eye-to-eye on the value of the Manosphere, but she always has an open mind and is trying valiantly to engage charitably with this sector of humanity.

6. Here's the recipe for cracker bread pizza crust, requested by several readers. This is adapted from the recipe for Lavash crackers from The Bread Baker's Apprentice: Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread.

3 cups flour (preferably bread flour)
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. instant yeast (or 1 packet of yeast in a packet, whatever that is)
2 tbsp. ground flax seed (optional, but essential for making a quick dough taste like it's risen for hours. Flax seed is a great staple for quick bread bakers.)
2 tbsp. honey (optional, oil the tablespoon first)
2 tbsp. vegetable oil
1 cup water

1. Mix dry ingredients, then add wet ingredients and stir until dough forms a ball.
2. Sprinkle flour on counter and transfer dough to counter. Knead dough for about ten minutes, or until ingredients are evenly distributed. Lightly oil bowl (I use the same bowl I mixed in) and transfer dough to bowl, rolling it around to to coat it with oil. Cover with plastic wrap.
3. Ferment at room temperature for 90 minutes, or until dough doubles in size. (I fudge this regularly, if I'm short on time. You can also put the oven on warm and stick the bowl in there.)
4. Preheat oven to 475 degrees. Transfer dough to floured counter. Cut in half. Let one half rest and roll or press out other half of dough to fit a sheet pan. Top with sauce, cheese, and whatever you desire, but don't overdo it.
5. Bake for about 10-12 minutes, until cheese is bubbly and crust is getting golden and crispy. Make other half of dough into pizza as described in step 4 and bake in the same manner.

7.  This.