Wednesday, February 09, 2005

Meanwhile, back in Wisconsin, #3 daughter and I are reviewing the history of the discovery of atoms; Democritus to Lavoisier. #3 Daughter wants to go off on a study of the French Revolution. No, dear; we have to finish the Renaissance and Reformation.

Because of her Asperger's Syndrome, she has trouble getting the big picture. Yesterday she was obsessing about the Protestant reformer's destruction of the church art. Could not focus on the reasons why the reformers hated it: veneration of saints=idolatry, cost of church art that could have gone to the poor, building frustration--attack the church building itself because the crooked prelates are out of reach. When she asked today why the Revolutionaries killed Lavoisier, how do I summarize that? Same reason the reformers attacked the church art: reform suppressed and people repressed equals rage, and the longer the rage builds, the bigger the explosion.

"What happens to a dream deferred?"--Langston Hughes

Mrs James

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