by Teri Ong [I wrote the following as an opinion column submitted to the Greeley Tribune in response to an article about an illegal immigrant who was working hard to find a way to get in-state tuition rates at one of our state universities. The gist of the article was how deserving this student was and how unfair it is for our legal system to bar his way to financial breaks for a college education. My response was not published in the Tribune, so I publish it here.} To recast the teaser on the special report “Unwanted Potential” published in […]

By Teri Ong One of my favorite bits of animated pop art is the movie Chicken Run. The home version has been out since 2000.  I particularly like Aardman humor and Aardman-style claymation. But I also like some of the more subtle nods they give to some of the great (and serious) films of the past such as Stalag 17 and The Great Escape, films I watched and appreciated with my father, who was a veteran and student of WWII.  And indeed, behind the silliness and fun in Chicken Run lie some weighty themes. In summary, the plot involves the […]

by Teri Ong I have been keeping a long vigil by my telephone this afternoon. My stomach grips every time the phone rings– it is a condition the Apostle Paul called “bowels of mercy” (King James translation). Earlier, my husband interrupted a normally routine music lesson to tell me that our daughter’s roommates had just been in a life-threatening car wreck. They had been “t-boned” by a semi. My husband was heading to the hospital. The semi driver had no time to slow down. The two sisters took the full force in a compact car. The extrication took a long […]

Essay One: The Outlook Is Bleak Charles Dickens, Bleak House Anna Nicole Smith Social responsibility Essay Two: C. S. Lewis and “The Children’s War” C. S. Lewis, The Chronicles of Narnia “The Children’s War” exhibit at the Imperial War Museum Personal sacrifice Essay Three: A Busman’s Holiday in London Agatha Christie, The Mousetrap Dorothy L. Sayers, Busman’s Honeymoon Appeal of the mystery story genre Crime and depravity Essay Four: War Is… Francis Scott Key, “The Star-spangled Banner” Concept of “just war” Essay Five: Face It– We All Need a Lift Shakespeare, Sonnet 154 with biographical info Ageing “Baby Boomers” Essay […]

The essays in this file were first published between July and Dec. 2008. The topics I covered, as well as specific literature I referenced, are indexed in the file “July to December 2008 Index”. I have published the index to help readers look up items of particular interest. Essay One Arts! Shvarts! by Teri Ong I am going to be teaching a course next semester on Puritan literature and art (yes, there was some!). Knowing that about me would give you a clue that I am not heavily vested in the modern or post-modern eras in terms of art history […]

The following essays were first published between January and June 2008. The specific topics and literary references are listed in the “January to June 2008 Index.” The index will help readers find items of particular interest. Essay One The High Cost of Heart Surgery by Teri Ong We have a dear little friend in our church who is just past three and a half years old. In that short while he has had three major heart reconstruction surgeries. Two of the three have had touch and go moments. All of them have been life-or-death procedures for our friend. He has […]

The following essays were published between August and December 2007. Specific topics and literary references are listed in the “August to December 2007 Index” for ease of locating items of interest. Essay One Having Faith in Faith by Teri Ong I was as shocked as anyone to read on the front page of my hometown newspaper (The Greeley Tribune) ཁMother Teresa: ‘I Have No Faith.’ཁ My first thought was, ཁWon’t the popular press have a hey-day with thisཀཁ Why would they want to put this on the front page? Why didn’t they write a front-page story when noted atheist Antony […]

Essay One: Arts! Shvarts! Evaluating art Canon of western art performance art Aliza Shvarts post-modern deconstructionism D. L. Sayers, The Mind of the Maker Essay Two: Name Calling conservative vs. liberal Greeley Tribune opinion column: “Definition of liberalism seriously outdated” Essay Three: The War of the Words reason vs. emotion image vs. words pop culture Nigel Smith, Literature and Revolution in England: 1640-1660 Policinski, “More fences springing up to retrain wild, wild web” Essay Four: Dying to Live symbolism, metaphor, analogy for death in literature Calvin Seerveld Poem, “New Birth” “Moving Day” Essay Five: Yard Work cleaning up our lives […]

Essay One: The High Cost of Heart Surgery Eternal purposes of suffering Poem, “Open Heart Surgery” Essay Two: Utopian Spirit New England Transcendentalists Louisa May Alcott biographical info Nathan Meeker and the founding of Greeley, Colorado Culture in Greeley The Greeley Chorale Essay Three: Unjust Criticism Charlotte Bronte, Shirley Louisa May Alcott, An Old-Fashioned Girl L. M. Montgomery, Emily of New Moon Elizabeth Gaskell, North and South Marxist/feminist literary criticism C. S. Lewis, “On Science Fiction” Essay Four: Unjust Criticism, part two: a case study Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland Carroll biographical information Essay Five: Feminist or Feminine? Charlotte Bronte […]

Essay One: Having Faith in Faith Mother Teresa “I have no faith” Antony Flew Francis Schaeffer, The God Who Is There C. S. Lewis, “Religion: Reality or Substitute?” George MacDonald, Warlock o’Glenwarlock Essay Two: Where Were You on…? 9/11 Kennedy assassination Lewis, prayer in congressional record Sept. 11, 1962 Essay Three: Monsters of Our Own Making Mary Shelley, Frankenstein Ahmadinejad visit to Ground Zero Shelley biographical info Essay Four: They’ll Know We Are Christians by Our Shirts Hypocrisy and inconsistency “Christian” pop culture George MacDonald, The Princess and Curdie Essay Five: You Are What You Eat Food analogies in feeding […]