The Zenzoid Files

A fine spring hike in the Presidential Range (soon to be re-named “The Saints Range”) of the White Mountains. Up and back via Edmands Path. The former names of these mountains are: Eisenhower (now Ignatius), Franklin (now Theodosia), Monroe (now Neon), and Washington (now Sava).

I even came face-to-face with a mountain cow up by Mt. Ignatius! I was rounding a bend in the trail and she was right there, heading my way. She was very shy, though, and skittered away. I managed to get my camera out and snap off a picture of her before she disappeared. I think she was heading for Bullwinkle, who I’d just seen about a hundred yards back in a clearing. I hate to think that I interrupted a rendezvous with romance!

Some sample pics below, click ‘em for a larger view:

And check out the slideshow of all the pics from this hike (now new and improved with a larger photo size, black background, image information and much, much more!).

It’s impossible for a snapshot to convey the gut-clenching grandeur of the views from a summit. This panorama movie from summit of Mt. Neon does a better job of it (but, alas, at the expense of color saturation and image crispness).

One of the best things about hiking the White Mountains year-round is that you get to see (and experience) just how radically the summits and ridges are transformed from winter to spring. Compare the photos above with those from my Bright Week hike up Mts. Antipas (formerly Jackson) and Pharmuthios (formerly Pierce), which are the two southern-most peaks on the same ridge. Samples below, click ‘em for a larger view:

Pretty wild! And check out the slideshow of all the pics from the Bright Week hike.

And, in case you haven’t gotten sick of looking at mountains yet, here’s a melange of several early spring hikes this year.

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Shot 5/29/2007 on the summit of Mt. Neon.

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Trip Report: An Early Spring Stroll with Two Southern Saints During Bright Week

Date Hiked: 4-11-2007

Conditions: Full-on snow from the trailhead to well above treeline. Continuous and deep snow cover all day.

Special Required Equipment: Snowshoes mandatory!

Comments: A sparkling white and cobalt blue Bright Week hike.

Bright Week, for those of you who were not blessed by being born or converted into the Holy Orthodox Christian faith, is the week after Great and Holy Pascha (”Easter” according to the Western tradition) where we celebrate the resurrection from the dead of our Lord, God, and Saviour Jesus Christ.

You may be wondering what’s the story with the mountain names in the title. The Presidential Range is a series of peaks in the White Mountains named after dead Ameedican El Presidentes. If I wore a colostomy bag, I’d empty it all over that nonsense! Mountains are just too timeless and majestic to be named after something as trivial, venal, and temporary as politicians. So, as I re-hike all the Prezzie summits for the gijjionth time, I’m renaming them after the saint(s) whose memory we celebrated on the day of the re-naming hike. When it’s all complete, sometime this summer, I’ll rename the entire range from “the Presidentials” to “the Saints.”

And Zenzoidman saw that it was good. Very good.

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My priest and good friend, Fr. Andrew Tregubov, was recently invited to give a talk on Soviet History at Woodstock High School in Woodstock, VT. Thanks to his new recording toy that his family gave him for his birthday, he was able to make a recording of it.

Life in the Soviet Union was basically one big prison camp with government surveilling and controlling virtually every aspect of life for a typical Soviet citizen. Using examples from his experiences both as a slave in the Soviet Union and right here in modern-day Ameedica, Fr. explained how *all* governments are, by their very nature, fundamentally parasites at best, and outright predators in the worst cases; all governments use coercion and deception to control and manipulate their citizen-victims. This includes the Ameedican government which has been in full-out predator mode since the war of Yankee Aggression. When states who had voluntarily entered the Union were not allowed to legally succeed from that Union but, instead were forced by fire and sword to remain in the Union, then the federal government became a predator, a wild beast concerned only with power, getting it and keeping it, and feeding on those weaker than itself. It became the feral gubmint.

The talk is about an hour and twenty minutes long and goes by really fast. It’s an engaging and thought-provoking talk that everyone should listen to. I’ve already listened to it twice. You can download the MP3 file of the talk here (47 mb) and play it on your compooter or your favorite MP3 player.

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Nothing can so make a man an imitator of Christ as caring for his neighbors. Indeed, even though you fast, or sleep on hard ground, or even suffer unto death, but should you take no thought for your neighbor, you have done nothing great; despite what you have done, you still stand far from this model of a perfect Christian.

St. John Chrysostom

If a man cannot be a Christian where he is, he cannot be a Christian anywhere.

Henry Ward Beecher

All Truth is God’s Truth.

Anonymous

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by Colin Mason

“If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans.” This line, spoken by Mexican actor Eduardo Verstegui, opens the movie Bella, one of the most phenomenal films I have ever had the privilege to experience. The film is touring colleges right now to work up interest in its theatrical run, and I was able to screen it with about 200 students from Christendom College. The experience was deeply rewarding to me, not only as a long-time film buff, but as a pro-life Catholic as well.

Back in August 2006, I was attended a private screening the film’s rough cut, and even then was floored by its grace, beauty, and simple depth. Apparently the audiences at the Toronto Film Festival were, too.

In September 2006, that same unfinished cut moved audiences of every political and religious persuasion, and went on to win Toronto’s coveted People’s Choice Award. To give an example of what an accomplishment this is, two of the many other films premiering at this festival were Babel and The Last King of Scotland, both of which were highly acclaimed works that went on to win Oscars. Thus, to see the film’s vastly improved final cut at Christendom College was an experience to remember.

Bella tells the story of a young single waitress in New York City who becomes pregnant, loses her job, and struggles with the decision of whether or not to keep her child. In the meantime, she encounters a mysteriously compassionate Latino chef, who has suffered a tragedy in his past, and is perhaps the only person in her life who really cares about her. During the course of the film, a decision is reached that will change both of their lives.

Bella is not only an artistic triumph, but a moral and spiritual one as well. Metanoia films, the small production company responsible for the movie, states its mission as “to use film to make a positive difference in the culture and in peoples’ lives.” The film contains none of the titillative sensuality or violence of many of its cinematic counterparts. There is no blasphemy. It depicts the family: intact, loving, and responsible, and contrasts it with the empty loneliness of individualism and promiscuity. And it depicts abortion for the frightening, devastating, futile choice that it actually is.

How did a film like this do so well in Toronto? How did a crowd of some of the world’s most left-leaning elitists vote it the winner of the People’s Choice Award?

It would be an insult to the artistic integrity of Bella to call it a film with an agenda. The movie refuses to put forward any of the tiresome socio-political mores that plague so many “serious” films today. Simply put, there is nothing to argue with in Bella. Without pontificating or moralizing, the movie is artistically direct, viscerally powerful, and steadfastly pro-life. There is no pretentious posturing, no hyper-aware political overtones. It’s just simple, and powerful, stirring basic emotions that are fundamental to the human experience. So fundamental, in fact, that audiences of all political persuasions have fallen for the film.

In the words of producer Leo Severino: “You can’t argue with life.” At the end of the day, there is no argument to be made against the image of the child, the idea of the tiny human being growing within a mother’s body. Life is universal, no matter how many people try to reduce it to a science or a math formula. The film capitalizes on that fact, and gracefully but directly pulls us toward the inevitable truth.

But Bella needs help. American theater companies have only agreed to carry the film in a limited distribution, and only as far east as the Midwest. If they can raise enough interest in other places, interest to the point where seats in theaters are sold out, Bella can reach a much wider distribution. Similar to The Passion of The Christ before it, whether or not the film will go to more theaters will all depend upon how well it does, and how much interest there is.

Call Metanoia films. E-mail them. Let them know how important this film is to you. Organize church groups and youth groups, and get families to go see the film and promote it to their friends. Interest and excitement about this movie is key. If the response is mediocre, theaters will drop Bella quickly, before it has really had the chance to shine. It is up to us not to let that happen.

Metanoia films can be reached by phone at (310) 500-5097, or email at contact@metanoiafilms.com
Colin Mason is the Media Director at PRI.

PRI
P.O. Box 1559
Front Royal, VA 22630
USA

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If the saints, who had attained passionlessness, had to be vigilant over themselves so as not to fall from their state of grace - then all the more is daily attentiveness and concern over our eternal salvation necessary for us sinners.

Elder Joseph of Optina
“Letters”

There may be those on earth who dress better or eat better, but those who enjoy the peace of God sleep better.

L. Thomas Holdcroft

Those who trust in their riches will wither,
but the righteous will flourish like green leaves.

Proverbs 11:28

A doubting heart makes the soul timid; whereas faith can make the will firm.

St. Isaac the Syrian

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A heart that is continually moved to thanksgiving is a guide that leads the gifts of God to a man. A murmuring disposition always active in the heart is a guide that leads trials to the soul.

St. Isaac the Syrian
“Ascetical Homilies” (Homily 48)

I am not what I ought to be. I am not what I wish to be. I am not even what I hope to be. But by God’s grace and Christ’s love I am not what I was.

Anonymous

I know myself now; and I feel within me a peace above all earthly dignities; a still and quiet conscience.

Shakespeare

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How else could they pray?

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The husband must bear in mind that his deeds and words should engender piety in his home. The wife must look after the house. However, in addition to that occupation, she must also attend to another, more pressing concern - that the whole family strive [to attain] the Heavenly Kingdom.

St. John Chrysostom

A palace without affection is a poor hovel, and the meanest hut with love in it is a palace for the soul.

Ingersoll

It is a good thing to be rich, and a good thing to be strong, but it is a better thing to be beloved of many friends.

Euripides

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