Additional Recommended Resources
The Joy of Cooking, by Rombauer and Becker. This cookbook and reference manual continues to be a great primer for foods, preparation and storage, cooking methods and a wide variety of recipes.
Foods for the Whole Family, by Cynthia Lair. This book is an excellent resource for those wanting to make the transition to using more whole foods, as well as those looking for variety from a new cookbook. The meals are tasty and easy to prepare, using ingredients that are becoming more readily available. The author introduces new foods and includes ways to prepare foods for babies and toddlers using the same recipes — a time-saver bonus.
Festivals, Family and Food, by Diana Carey and July Large. This book is a wonderful resource for those who want to include seasonal celebrations as a way of bringing family together. With recipes, stories, games and thematic poems, you’re sure to find something to help your family establish new traditions that will create tomorrow’s memories.
Pretend Soup and Honest Pretzels, by Mollie Katzen. These two books make cooking exciting and accessible to children – one for preschoolers, the other for kids eight and older. Containing many ideas for how to make cooking successful for children and parents, the recipes are for dishes children will actually want to eat. They’ll feel proud of their accomplishments, and at the same time learn skills for life.
“Good morning,” my wife said, turning to the woman in the pew behind us. They exchanged names and shook hands and then the woman smiled at me. “Good morning,” I said, taking her hand. “I’m … glad to meet you.”
It felt awkward. Even a little rude. She looked a bit puzzled but, I decided, puzzled was better than amused.
It’s not that I mind amusing people. I’ve written books that are supposed to do just that. I truly enjoy making people laugh. A sense of humor is a strong trait in my family. But…
At that time the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal was in full bloom and I was certain if I said my name right after my wife said hers there would be that little flash in the eyes, that little smile on the lips, even in Mass.
Yes, her name is Monica. Yes, my name is Bill.
I’m happy to say I never associated their names with ours during the early months of the hubbub. It wasn’t until Time magazine had a cover that said simply “Bill and Monica” in very large type.
The 11 o’clock news showed it. I hooted. I thought that was very funny. I went into the bedroom and told my wife. She thought it was very funny. But then…
But then more and more details became public.
We all know the rest of the story.
Don’t get me wrong. As a former newspaper and magazine editor, I knew Clinton-Lewinsky was big news. Much of what developed from it was front-page stuff.
And much was tabloid garbage.
I have no problem with news that is newsworthy. I’m more and more troubled by news that isn’t.
In many ways our society today is like a small community that enjoys a juicy bit of gossip. It dominates the headlines, the talk shows, the editorial pages, the radio call-in programs and the late-night comedians’ monologues, and then winks out. Replaced by something else.
There is an incredible demand for a single topic and that topic has an incredibly short shelf life.
Even at the height of Clinton-Lewinsky, I knew it wouldn’t be too long before “Bill and Monica” was safe again. I had confidence that would happen because, years before, I had been caught up in another presidential hot topic.
I had written a tongue-in-cheek book on how parents can outsmart their kids. At the time of its release, the public learned that then President George Bush didn’t like broccoli. Countless radio interviewers — each so pleased with the question — wanted to know how I’d get the President to eat his vegetables. Big stations, little stations, late night, daytime, North, South, East, West. It was all the same.
It was harmless, of course. Most of the hot topics are. A Spice Girl is considering leaving the group. A baseball pitcher has insulted New Yorkers. A candidate has used a vulgar word near an open mike. And on and on.
There’s the problem. There’s the reason for concern. The “on and on.”
These days it’s possible to hop from hot topic to hot topic, from scandal to scandal, and begin to lead a life that skims the surface. It isn’t just bearing false — or certainly questionable — witness against someone. It isn’t just taking a fiendish delight in another’s misfortune (stupidity, greed, sin).
It’s selling ourselves short. It’s filling not just our time but our lives with fluff. With clutter. With trash.
Again, most often it isn’t so much the content as the volume. There’s nothing wrong with a cheeseburger or a chocolate bar. It’s eating so many that we don’t have much of an appetite for “real” food that can cause problems.
The “real” issues haven’t gone away just because they aren’t on the front pages. Just because they aren’t the lead stories. Just because they aren’t the call-in topic of the day.
Abortion. Poverty. Racism. Violence. Lack of health care. Deplorable working conditions. Drugs. Alcohol. Sexual abuse. And all the rest.
As Catholics we know that if we are not helping “the least” in our society and in our world, we are not helping Christ. His words, recorded in Matthew 25, couldn’t be more explicit.
When did we see you — Jesus — hungry, alone, sick, in prison?
When do we see anyone in those conditions, when do we think about anyone in those conditions, if we allow ourselves to be constantly distracted by the hot topics?
“I didn’t see you because I didn’t see them” isn’t going to cut it as an excuse.
“Did you even look?” could be an immediate reply.
We have an obligation to be informed. To know what’s happening. To step in with money, with time, with compassion and political clout to attempt to make our community, our country, our world, a better place.
But that’s hard to do if we’re over-informed in some areas. If we let others — trying to sell periodicals, trying to get high ratings — decide what’s important to us and what isn’t. If our eyes — our minds and eventually our hearts — simply follow to where they point.
Where our heart is, there our treasure will be. And if we think knowing the latest tidbit about the Spice Girl, the baseball player, the candidate is that valuable, we’re sadly mistaken.
God rightly demands more of us because life is more than the scandal or topic du jour.
At the Jubilee Year celebration for journalists, held at the Vatican in June, Pope John Paul II reminded members of that profession that: “Journalism, with its immense and direct influence on public opinion, cannot be guided by economic forces, profit and partisan interests alone. Instead, it must be regarded in a certain sense as a ‘sacred’ task, to be carried out with the awareness that the powerful means of communication are entrusted to you for the common good and, in particular, for the good of society’s weakest groups: from children to the poor, from the sick to those who are marginalized or discriminated against.
“One cannot write or broadcast only with a view to audience share, to the prejudice of truly educational services.”
The flip side is equally true. As readers and viewers we have a “sacred” task, too. To ferret out the news that truly matters. To keep our eyes – minds and hearts – fixed on what’s truly important.
Bill Dodds’ latest books are Your One-Stop Guide to How Saints Are Made (Servant Publications) and What You Don’t Know About Retirement: A Funny Retirement Quiz (Meadowbrook Press). His website is http://www.BillDodds.com
