Monday, April 14, 2014

What is Aleteia?

I went to the park and, and, and ...


Everyone seems to be writing for Aleteia.

What is it?

Is it the headquarters for the body-snatchers?  I thought that's what Patheos was for?  Homogenized Catholic Stepford Writer's Clubs are proliferating all over the net.  It's scary.  

I think they've got Michael Voris now.

Cathy and I ran so fast her dress fell off!

Listen here.

What?


Just kidding.

16 comments:

  1. Could you please phonetically spell "Aleteia" for me? I'm calling them tomorrow to pitch a special feature about my conversion experience, and it would be embarrassing if I couldn't pronounce the name of their website. Thanks!

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    Replies
    1. I don't use that kind of language.

      http://www.ncregister.com/blog/matthew-warner/some-thoughts-on-the-vaticans-new-media-project-aleteia

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    2. Oh! Oh! I got it:

      Comments and insights on the name Aletheia:
      The name is pronounced ah-LAY-thay-a. From the Greek ἀλήθεια. The characters "η" and "ει" are pronouced like the vowel sound in "bait" (See http://www.utexas.edu/cola/centers/lrc/eieol/grkol-0-X.html).

      I knew an Alethea who pronounced her name uh-LAY-thee-ah, but most name websites cite it as pronounced uh-LEE-thee-ah. In Texas the common pronunciation seems to be al-a-THEE-a

      Personal experiences with the name Aletheia: | Edit
      I have known two women with this name - one is a blonde-haired seminary student, and the other is an African-American woman from Alaska.

      My parents named me Aletheia, pronounced a-lee-thee-a, and I've never resented my name. I feel like saying that whoever said it's like Alicia with a lisp is quite offensive honestly. The only thing about my name is that rarely anyone ever gets it right the first time. Ah-la-thay-a, Al-thee-a, A-lee-tha, I've heard them all.

      So: Aleteia would be pronounced a-lay-tee-ya - if you live in a Catholic bubble.

      What?

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    3. Maybe she was a disciple of the poetess Sappho of Greece?

      Actually, you reminded me of an embarrassing episode from my youth. I had an on-again, off-again relationship with one Alicia Davis. We would bond while listening to Air Supply and musing over how colossally messed-up we both were. When I was in prison I wanted to write a poem to send her, and so I looked up the root of the name 'Alicia'--and it was 'aletheia' or "revealer of truth". This seemed portentous as I had just finished reading James Joyce's "Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man". I decided to write a massive poem in rhymed quatrains about the relationship between truth and beauty with Alicia as the model of beauty (yeah, prison inmates have a lot of time on their hands...). I titled it, "Alicia Aesthetikos". The effort collapsed after about 16 quatrains. Fortunately, she always had a snobby instinct for high art and so she appreciated the effort. I run into her every 3-5 years and we still have that innocent child-like bond--as if we were still 16. Amazing. I keep her in my prayers...

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  2. I recently read "Eliot and his Age". The very erudite Eliot, with a lineup of great thinkers and writers at his disposal, found that he couldn't consistently produce a top-flight journal by publishing "The Criterion" on a monthly basis. So he returned to a format of putting out a quarterly journal. Would that some of our present day scribes had such restraint (and humility).

    However, I encourage you to keep writing because you are a man of humility and restraint (and self-knowledge).

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  3. I learned about the A-place when Heather King {who the P-place briefly talked into making submissions} whom I admire and read was picked up by them. Since that time, less than a month?, the roster has grown and for this reader the quality become kinda, as you note, homogenized. Thus, I'm loosing interest, fast. Keep writing, Mr. Button, even if the only portal you write for is your own.

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    1. P.S. Michael Vwho?

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    2. I've had offers but I always backed out - except for that one time. I don't think of myself as a writer. I also don't join things. That way I can't be fired or kicked out. ;)

      Michael Vimeo.

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    3. Vimeo, good one.

      I should note that I've never even been asked but I blame no one as it is probable that my greatest contribution to blogging is inconsistency.

      I should also note that the A-thing and the P-place certainly have their place and really who the H E double hockey sticks am I to formulate an opineion?

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    4. That's right - you have no right to an opinion. LOL!

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    5. I was thinking about your comments and wondered if you thought I was dissing Patheos and Aleteia and writers who contribute to such sites? This type of post is total bullshit - I'm just playing around. Of course these sites have their place and absolutely, writers make contributions to such digests.

      My homgenized comment simply acknowledges the fact that online stories tend to become a little formulaic and repetitive - it's like watching network news, switching channels - they all report the same stuff. It's the nature of the medium.

      I hope that explains things. In my sidebar I say something about blogs that take themselves too seriously - that will never happen here. I have no paying public or fan fare. ;)

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  4. Anonymous2:37 PM

    Terry, Owen & friends, I am the Publisher of Aleteia in America. You are invited to contribute. Write me at haroldfickett@aleteia.org. If you want to read something fine and heterogenous--as opposed to homogenized--try "A Distinctly Irish Miracle": one of our lead stories today. And it's Al-Luh-Tay-Tuh.

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    1. Hi Harold,
      hope the kibitzing around that Terry and I and others here get into didn't offend. As you will have seen by reading the full thread it was mostly nonsense - well, I speak for myself on that- and Terry speaks for me as well as himself when he explains what he means by "homogenized" online reportage.

      I do continue read "Al-Luh-Tay-Tuh" paying special attention to the kind of articles you noted, that is non-American focused articles [nothing against the USofA just that I'm CanadianEh].

      Appreciate the invitation/challenge to write. Good call. I'm not likely to do so just now but that's no reflection of Al-Luh-Tay-Tuh, in fact my not writing for you may even been a boon. ;-)

      A side note: that annoying subscription drop down box that drops down every time one loads the page even though I have, long ago, subscribed and even though I have repeatedly clicked the Click Here link in the annoying drop down box, the link that is supposed to stop the annoying drop down box from dropping down annoyingly every time one loads the page is, well, in a word, annoying. [I did nicely write tech about that, yes but that pesky thing pesks on].

      P.S. Heather King is the initial reason I discovered Al-Luh-Tay-Tuh.
      P.P.S. I will watch for Terry Nelson on Al-Luh-Tay-Tuh.

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  5. Anonymous4:23 PM

    Correction: Al-luh-tay-yuh

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  6. Anonymous12:28 PM

    Owen, I was not at all offended. I'm just glad when people notice and give us useful reactions. We DO have to fix that annoying drop-down box!

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Please comment with charity and avoid ad hominem attacks. I exercise the right to delete comments I find inappropriate. If you use your real name there is a better chance your comment will stay put.