Friday Fishwrap
Friday within the Octave of Easter. There are 230 shopping days to Christmas. Interestingly, if you keep holy the Sabbath, there are only 197 days left.
Welcome to Friday Fishwrap™, your weekly email filled with this week’s efforts from the staff of The Global Exclaimer.
This Week in Ancient History
Events worth remembering, even if not currently trending.
Africa
Nubia, 950 BC — Kushite metalworkers unveil a new smelting technique in Meroë, increasing iron output and giving rise to fears of a regional power shift along the Nile.
Asia
Zhou China, 842 BC — King Li flees the capital after widespread revolt; aristocrats begin the "Republican Administration" period, ruling without a monarch for the next 14 years.
Europe
Rome, 267 BC — Senatorial debates intensify over expanding military presence in Magna Graecia. Younger voices call for a bold campaign, while elders warn against “another Pyrrhus.”
North America
Olmec lands, c. 900 BC — Artisans in La Venta complete a massive basalt head bearing the features of a warrior-king. Locals gather in awe; rumors spread of a living god in stone.
South America
Chavín, Andes Highlands, c. 850 BC — Priests of the Chavín cult unveil a temple chamber where eerie echoes and hallucinogenic rituals guide oracles. Llamas reportedly terrified.
Australia
Arnhem Land, c. 1000 BC — Rock paintings depicting ancestral spirits known as Mimi are refreshed by tribal elders. One elder claims, “They painted us first. We only touch up.”
Ancient Breakthrough of the Week
🛠️ The Potter’s Wheel Spreads West — Originating in Mesopotamia, the potter’s wheel is now in use across the Levant, allowing artisans to produce vessels with uncanny symmetry. A Phoenician trader calls it “spinning gold from clay.”
This Week in The Glob
We have a pope, ending the period of sede vacante, meaning the period of the seat being vacant. Pope Leo XIV is an interesting choice and I will take some time to give serious consideration to what the Holy Spirit may be thinking. Look for that article in the next edition or so.
In previous iterations of The Glob, there have been pages devoted to All Things Puppycat, being a compendium of observations and activities of The Puppycate, AKA Frater Bovious’s Spousal Unit. She’s been pretty busy being a professional so, not much has happened, but we did witness this interaction with the “Health and Human Services”.
Beauregard Smith does a dining review of sorts:
In the Theological Armory you will find the latest My Stogie Mystagogy podcast, from Joe Catholic productions. Believing Thomas…
Believing Thomas
We return from a 6 month hiatus/sabbatical with a discussion on the death of Pope Francis. We then discuss whether it is fair to call Thomas doubting. Are we in fact identifying him with his worst day?
And finally, Paddy Keyk explores poetry and begins a sonnet. What is poetry, what is a sonnet? Why doesn’t anyone care anymore? Some answers follow:
Next Week:
White Women’s Tears. Possible the least useful and most damaging chapter of White Fragility. This chapter… it’s egregious.
Pope Leo XIV. Who is he, and what about his namesake, Pope Leo XIII? Does the name selection hint at a papal direction? Let’s talk about it.
Poetry Night at The Screaming Monkey’s Head. Paddy Keyk attends poetry night at The Screaming Monkey’s Head and reads her competed sonnet.
And whatever else comes to mind and ends on paper.
Until we read again…
If you made it this far, you are indeed made of stern stuff. Thank you. And if anything pleased you, made you think, made any sort of impression at all, please share, please like and please, please, comment. If you didn’t like something, or disagree, please comment and issue a formal challenge! We shall meet on the field of ideas.
And if your purse allows, smash that button and send $5 toward an Arturo Fuente 858. I will laud your largesse in a future article about the importance of being a patron of the arts in these artless times.
