Newspapers: Still a Bargain

Even though the price keeps going up and number of pages keeps going down, I subscribe for home delivery of my local newspaper.  I like the balance of it, not just in the way it reports the news, but the sound of it hitting the door, and the way it feels in my hands.  There's a something special to look forward to each day. 
Monday offers a group of features in the business section.  I especially like Stephen Wilber's Effective Writing column http://www.wilbers.com/.  
Tuesday takes me to Miss Manners.
Wednesday is Home & Garden.
Thursday brings me the taste section, with restaurant reviews and recipes.startribune.com/taste
Friday, it's the movie reviews.
Saturday, there's a veterinarian column I like--Dr. Fox. 
Sunday brings a bonanza of grocery adds, coupons, book reviews, and the crosswords.

Heaven--or not

Flickr image by respres (Jeff Turner)

My earliest image of what heaven might be like came from some grade school confusion between the streets of heaven and the streets of New York--both I and my immigrant ancestors expected to find them paved with gold.  Sister Zita made short shrift of that image, though secretly I liked it better than her alternative-- the

Beatific Vision.  Spend an eternity  gazing on the radiant, risen savior ?  I was not impressed.

I've lately realized that these two concepts of the hereafter are at the root of my current notions.  The streets may not be paved with gold, but I still hold a view that heaven is this life somehow transformed; that the transformation isn't some hard and fixed future endpoint, but that we are part of the creative process bringing it about.  (I read both Tillich and de Chardin in college, guided by a favorite professor who ended the study of each book by loudly clapping it closed and inviting us to"...put that in your pipe and smoke it!"

And maybe it won't be the Beatific Vision, but I expect some kind of radiant oneness, some joining.