In his poem “Pied Beauty,” the English poet and Jesuit Gerard Manley Hopkins, S.J., thanks God for what Hopkins describes as “dappled things:” brinded cows, finches’ wings and trout with red blemishes, among other imperfect specimens that populate the world. According to Hopkins, imperfection is not something we should categorically reject or repair. Instead, we ought to celebrate the perfection latent in the world’s imperfections and the abundant beauty that overflows from the world’s flaws.
Just like the trout, finches and cows of Hopkins’ poetry, humans are dappled things. We each come with notable limitations, and we often fall short…
ERIC BAZAIL-EIMIL: When Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried announced she would be releasing an important video the morning of Tuesday, February 16th, all eyes quickly were on the only statewide elected Democrat in the state. Since her upset victory back in the 2018 elections, the young and telegenic Fried has become the de facto political leader of the Florida Democratic Party and the hope of many activists eager to remove Republican Ron DeSantis from the Governorship. And as I wrote back in April 2020, she has long been to run for either Senate or Governor in the 2022 midterms.
ERIC BAZAIL EIMIL: Today, February 14th, marks the third anniversary of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida.
It will be three years since a gunman stormed the 1200 Building, home to many first-year classes, and opened fire, killing seventeen people, including students, faculty, and staff members. Three years since Alyssa Alhadeff, Scott Beigel, Martin Duque, Nicholas Dworet, Aaron Feis, Jaime Guttenberg, Christ Hixon, Luke Hoyer, Cara Loughran, Gina Montalto, Joaquin Oliver, Alaina Petty, Meadow Pollack, Helena Ramsay, Alex Schachter, Carmen Schentrup, and Peter Wang lost their lives.
The Marjory Stoneman Douglas Shooting, often referred to as…
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“If today you hear God’s voice, harden not your hearts.” So goes the traditional paraphrase of Psalm 95 often sung in Catholic Mass. For me, it is an unforgettable call to listen attentively and open our hearts to those signs that creation brings us, those nudges and indications God sends us to enact peace and justice on Earth. That promise to open our hearts, even when it challenges us and pushes us outside of our comfort…
At the beginning of her book, “The Year of Magical Thinking,” Joan Didion, in her reflections on the death of her husband, notes that “life changes in the instant. The ordinary instant.” It’s been over ten months since Georgetown University announced the beginning of virtual instruction through a simple email, a profoundly ordinary instant. With every month that passes in this exile of sorts, this limbo in the wake of the ordinary instant, I grieve a little more.
I struggle to not feel crushed at times by the magnitude of the moment, as thousands die daily from the COVID-19 pandemic…
ERIC BAZAIL-EIMIL: Last week, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis that seniors ages 65+ will be the first to receive COVID vaccines, allowing them to skip the line before essential workers and healthcare workers, contradicting guidance from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). And all hell broke loose the minute distribution began.
Headlines described the “long lines, crashing websites” and conflicting information, the “” scenes as were forced to wait overnight and scoured local hospitals.
On Twitter, Rebecca Jarvis of ABC News posted a viral thread about the bungled rollout in Southwest Florida, detailing how hundreds lined up to get vaccinated, often…
ERIC BAZAIL-EIMIL: In my first article on this site, seven months ago, I came out of the gates that Democrats should not count out Florida just yet. Well, after some disappointing results in the state, Democrats are gearing up to do the exact same thing. Yes, Democrats were shellacked in South Florida. Yes, Democrats have continued to lose statewide. But, Florida is still not a red state. Instead, it is a state in which Democrats have been unwilling to make significant infrastructural investments and build sustainable energy behind their agenda.
In recent years, Democrats have taken the attitude that Florida…
ERIC BAZAIL-EIMIL: If the Florida Democratic Party (FDP) over the last cycle had an equivalent in the NFL, it would be the Atlanta Falcons in Super Bowl LI. And that’s probably an insult to the Falcons.
Picture it. Houston, Texas. 2017. The Atlanta Falcons famously reached halftime up 21–3 against the New England Patriots. Many assumed that lead was insurmountable. Then, out of nowhere, the Patriots made a comeback and the Falcons ended up losing the Super Bowl 34–28. It remains the greatest comeback in NFL history. …
Many Americans, and many people worldwide, likely have a clear and defined mental image of what Florida is like. Alligators, Jai-Alai, Disney World, Shamu, Spring Break, Colombian drug lords, South Beach, the Golden Girls, Miami Vice, racist side-road attractions, orange groves, the 2000 recount, pretty corrupt local politicians, NASA, Key West, Jimmy Buffett, Cuban exiles who really want the Castros dead, Mar-a-Lago, the Dolphins, the Marlins, the Heat, and all our other fairly mediocre professional sports teams (Tampa Rays and Lightning being a clear exception) and wealthy millionaires with beach homes on Fisher Island, Palm Beach, and the Gulf Coast…
ERIC BAZAIL EIMIL –– If you were ever planning on running statewide in Florida, you’d want to be exactly where Nikki Fried is right now as the 2022 elections approach.
Nikki Fried, the young, telegenic, Agriculture and Consumer Services Commissioner is the only statewide elected Florida Democrat, and she’s flexing that political muscle. As the de facto leader of the Florida Democratic Party, she’s been everywhere on the news as Republican Governor Ron DeSantis continues to fumble and stumble through the state’s response to COVID-19, winning national and statewide plaudits for holding DeSantis to the fire. Before the outbreak, almost…
