Maureen Pratt

Saw Dolly Parton's new concert last night at the Hollywood Bowl. It was one of the best concerts I've seen (and I've seen a lot of them - from Muddy Waters to The Boss). She took the stage at 8:30 (no opening act) and sang and played (guitar, banjo, saxophone, harmonica, autoharp, piano, dulcimer...really  Read More 

The WallStreet Journal reported late today that Borders Bookstores will be sold to liquidators. All of the Borders and Waldenbooks stores will be closed, and the act of liquidation may begin as early as Friday of this week. Borders was the second largest bookstore chain. But more than that, it was often the only bookstore left in communities, such as the stores in Decatur and Matoon, Illinois, where readers truly live and truly read books. The physical kind. The kind you can curl up with, turn down the pages of, scrunch up, display on bookshelves, reach for again and again. The kind you can talk about with others. The kind that, sometimes, build communities,  Read More 

Wednesday, July 13,the ABC Primetime/Nightline program "Beyond Belief" featured an hour of reportage about Marian apparitions throughout the world. Although it was interesting to see a "mainstream media" treatment of the subject, there were many aspects about it that, to me, fell far short of doing justice to what many Catholics find a  Read More