‘America’ the beautiful.
June 4, 2007, 5:10 pm
Posted by Grant Gallicho
Meant to bump this last week, but be sure to check out America‘s spiffy new Web site. Rebuilding a site from the ground up isn’t easy; they’ve done a heck of a job.
It is nice Grant. But may I suggest the post you should contribute. Paul Lauritzen wrote a fine article on Dan Callahan and his concern that we are spending too much time on health care for the aged while we should be concentrating on younger people who really need it.
Quite important, but what intrigued me was the note that Callahan lost his faith somewhere along the way. This is news and while the details may be known to a few, the evolution of his disbelief has never been adequately addressed.
Commonweal seems to have caught itself by omitting the “prophetic voice” caption from its electronic edition. There is a mixed message there somewhere. (I also note that Dan has appeared at other present day Commonweal forums.) Or is a wish to recapture the past or his relation to Sydney?
Anyway there is a important story there and I believe it is ad rem. After all his was an important voice for the laity in the 60′s and a writer with Commonweal.
As I recall, isn’t young Reidy in charge of the America website – the same young Reidy formerly of Commonweal?
Shouldn’t we directly tip our hat that way?
As to the Callahan article, what about universal health care?
I’m wondering how AARP or even the grey panthers might react
“Heck of a job”. Hopefully, not as in “Heck of a job, Brownie.” :)
Thanks for the shoutout, Grant.
And for those who are still wondering: Maurice Timothy Reidy, a k a Tim, late of Commonweal, is in fact our new Online Editor. Though he may be too humble to take credit for his diligent work over the last few months, he was hired by our editor in chief, Drew Christiansen, to overhaul our website. And he’s done a great job.
And now a bit of a public-service announcement. We hope you’ll like not only the new design (nice and airy, we like to think) but also the new web-only stuff, like our Scripture blog, “The Good Word;” our “America Connects” feature, which will spotlight interviews with authors, and so on; and our upcoming blog, which we are tentatively calling “In All Things” You know, like “Finding God in All Things.” (We resisted calling “America Online” for obvious reasons). We’ll also be including more audio and video on the site in the future.
Finally, for any Google users, do be careful when searching for our website. We are listed after several competing “Americas.” Remember that we are the “National Catholic Weekly,” and not the rock group that sang “Sister Golden Hair.”
I have to say Paul Simon’s lyrics came to mind: we’ve all gone to look for America!
http://www.lyricsfreak.com/p/paul+simon/america_20105970.html
I’m disappointed that we won’t be finding poignant and eternal lyrics such as these at the new “America” (magazine) website:
I’ve been through the desert on a horse with no name
It felt good to be out of the rain
In the desert you can remember your name
Cause there ain’t no one for to give you no pain
La, la, la, la, la, la…