Thomas Connary was an Irish immigrant who loved books, particularly Catholic devotional literature. He had over two hundred in his library - a rare thing for a New England farmer in the nineteenth century. Connary spent countless hours modifying his books by writing notes in the margins, pressing flowers between the pages, and adding clippings of … Continue reading Writing in the Margins: Book Enhancement as a Path to the Divine
Karl Ove Knausgaard and the Kensington Rune Stone in the New York Times Magazine!
Yesterday, the New York Times Magazine published the first of two articles written by famed Norwegian novelist Karl Ove Knausgaard. You can access the article here. Knausgaard gives an account of his North American adventures, which begin in L’Anse aux Meadows at the northeastern tip of Newfoundland. The Canadian locale is the site of the only known Viking settlement in North America and dates to the year 1000. Knausgaard tells us that his New York Times editor asked him to drive from Canada to Minnesota, where he could view the Kensington Rune Stone, an artifact which many believe to be proof that Vikings visited the region in the 14th century. Knausgaard somehow managed to lose his drivers license and was forced to find alternative means to continue his “tongue-in-cheek Tocqueville” sojourn across North America. By the end of this first article, he had made it as far as Detroit.
Among his many observations about American life, Knausgaard writes about the intersection of myth…
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Americans Have Long Been Crazy About Vikings
Kensington Rune Stone in the New York Times?
The Facebook page of the Runestone Museum in Alexandria, Minnesota posted the following statement on February 16, 2015: "Look for The New York Times Magazine this Sunday, Feb. 22 for an article that should feature the Runestone Museum! The name of the article's author is cloaked in mystery until then. I don't know if the … Continue reading Kensington Rune Stone in the New York Times?
King Abdullah, Student Exchange, and the Power of Interfaith Hospitality
*This was originally posted to the Germantown Mennonite blog on February 13, 2015. If you are re-posting this, please connect to the original URL: http://germantownmennonite.org/2015/02/13/king-abdullah-student-exchange-and-the-power-of-interfaith-hospitality/ Over the past three years, my family has had the privilege of hosting several Saudi students through a home-stay program affiliated with local universities. The current students we have come to … Continue reading King Abdullah, Student Exchange, and the Power of Interfaith Hospitality
New Year’s Writing Resolutions for a Stay-At-Home Dad
In a recent article on her blog “Get a Life, PhD,” Tanya Golash-Boza wrote “You don’t have to wake up at 5 a.m. to be a prolific scholar. You do have to write however.” I consider 5 am to be impossible, but not for the reason you think. More often than not, by 5 a.m. both my three-year-old … Continue reading New Year’s Writing Resolutions for a Stay-At-Home Dad
Sonic Religion and Urban Space
This was originally posted to the Religion and American History blog on November 3, 2014. See http://usreligion.blogspot.com/2014/11/guest-post-sonic-religion-and-urban.html When I first arrived in North Philadelphia as a community volunteer in the mid-1990s, I was struck by how noisy the place seemed to me, in contrast to my upbringing in rural Minnesota. The windows of my brick row … Continue reading Sonic Religion and Urban Space
Viking Artifacts Discovered Near Great Lakes!!
This was the headline of a recent article on a satirical news website called the World News Daily Report. The article claims that a group of amateur archaeologists recently discovered a collection of Viking artifacts on the shore of Lake Huron near the town of Cheboygan, Michigan. The collection included "swords, axes...silver buttons and a balance … Continue reading Viking Artifacts Discovered Near Great Lakes!!
David M. Krueger, PhD 