For Acculturated: The 'A Christmas Carol' You Should Be Watching

I'm obsessed with all versions of A Christmas Carol. I've seen a one man show on stage in London, and almost every movie version there is (the good ones, at least). AND I've read the book! But, if you are low on time and can't watch every single version, read my latest article for Acculturated to find out which one you should be watching!

What Millennials Understand about Christmas

Photo Credit: Julia Dent

The Christmas tree is up, decorated, and lit. Lights are strung outside, illuminating the dark and cold night. More lights are found creeping up railings, woven in garlands and tied with bows. Every surface is laden with something green, red, or sparkly. Stockings are hung. Nutcrackers dance across the piano. Santas gaze from the mantel. Snowmen tip their hats from the cupboard shelf. A Nativity is placed with an empty spot, awaiting the coming of the Christ child.

This is a home ready for Christmas.

But not my home.

Here Comes the Bride

I have always been uncomfortable with prayer/chapel veils for Catholic women. Growing up in Catholic school, only the Home School Association families at our First Friday masses wore them, so naturally I thought them odd, awkward, and out of place, just like those kids. (Ah, the "innocence" of childhood thought!) It wasn't until this June, when I attended GIVEN, that I began to understand what the veil really meant, and the beautiful power it imparts.

Several young women at the conference wore their veils during mass, and of course my initial gut reaction was, well now we know who the super Catholic women are - an absurd thought in an environment of all super (awesome) Catholic women, myself included. On the last day, I sat at brunch with a woman who had decided over the course of the week to change her action plan to making and selling affordable prayer veils. She hadn't grown up wearing a veil, but rather it was a conscious choice she had recently made, and it had transformed her prayer life, she said. The veil signaled to her a vital shift in where she was and what she was doing. She was draped in the presence of God. She said to try it out, I might like it more than I thought I would.

Fear of Settling? Find a Friend

Most of us have had to decide whether to move forward in a romantic relationship. Whether you have been on 3 dates or been together 3 years, at some point you always have to assess if this is the "right" person for you. This can be a really difficult assessment to make for some, for others, easy as pie -"Oh I just knew I was going to marry your father!" As a culture, we have two positions that complicate making this choice: the "Disney" complex and the "Don't Settle" complex. The expectations of these positions can make dating fraught with anxiety and filled with pressures beyond who will be putting dinner on the table.

Goodbye, Year of Mercy

As the Year of Mercy comes to a close, Catholics across the world have celebrated the feast of Christ the King and will soon be lighting Advent candles. This particular moment in the liturgical year - the transition from one cycle to another, from end to beginning - more than ever puts before believers the conviction of reliance on God.

Last Sunday Christians declared Jesus as King of the Universe, "before all things, and in him all things hold together, that in all things he himself might be preeminent." Blasting organs and joyful alleluias filled the air and the grandeur of Christianity reigned. Yet, this Sunday, the same congregations will gather in comparatively quiet churches, with no Gloria sung. We now await Jesus, hope for a savior - a king - to come, rather than rejoicing that we have been "delivered out of darkness and transferred into his kingdom." We are suddenly in darkness - lighting candles one by one each week, the light growing stronger in anticipation, preparing for Christ to come, the "great light."

"The Crown" Trumps Trump

It is rather fitting that Netflix released their original series The Crown at a time when Americans are probably wishing they were living in England, away from the ill wind of this election, sipping tea happily with queens and princes. While America is in turmoil about how its POC and minority communities are going to be treated under Trump, The Crown really really makes the viewer wish they could just be out duck shooting and having to choose between Clarence House and Buckingham Palace. Yet the show does not merely give us a point of nostalgia and escapism, but of comparison, pertinent to our tumultuous times.

Like Coldplay, We're Going to "Fix You" America

Donald Trump won the 2016 Presidential Election. Everyone take a deep breath, and exhale slowly - very slowly, because that's the part that actually calms you down.

Now, let's talk about how the United States is a free country, where every citizen is allowed to vote freely, and sometimes, that vote is a very difficult choice to make. So many people are making generic statements that the country is backwards, full of hate, and shameful; that everyone who voted for Trump must have those qualities, too.

Sure, there are many people who exercised their civic right - and duty - yesterday who are ignorant, racist, sexist, and [insert -ist here]. And it is sad, that in 2016, those are still qualities we are battling. Minority groups have a right to be nervous. Trump has said some incredibly worrisome things. However, some of those Trump voters are not -ists, and we have to hope they will continue to protect all the citizens of this country.