Dear Emma,

We're saving a spot for you at the front of the line. . .

And on the bench. 

We want to know how you are,

So we're looking forward to seeing you at Christmas!

Love,
Your expectant cousins, Gracie and Mary Clement

Acknowledgements

Hi, folks,

I got my dissertation submitted today, and I wanted to share the Acknowledgements with you all:

The University of Texas at Austin has been an excellent place to conduct graduate training and research. I am grateful for the collegial and supportive atmosphere of the Department of Government, and in particular the leadership, counsel, and encouragement that Robert Moser provides graduate students. I owe a great debt to my dissertation committee members, all of whom have been persistently helpful and supportive. Thomas Pangle and Robert Koons deserve special thanks for their extensive and insightful comments on my work throughout the project. Above all, I am indebted to J. Budziszewski, who possesses a wise and generous heart along with a precise and penetrating intellect. He is a man who inspires and merits emulation in many, many ways. I am deeply grateful for his mentorship. Beside the work of all of these scholars, I am very aware of the deficiencies of my own. I am, of course, responsible for those errors that remain.

My debts to family are even more numerous and profound. My wife and I have been continually blessed by the friendship, wisdom, and generosity of our extended families. We would not have made it without them. Whatever there is of value in Chapter IV was learned first experientially from Bill and Sarah Wright, and second, in my own practice of fatherhood. Among a thousand gifts that could be named, I thank Jackson, Harry, and Mary Clement for daily renewing in me the desire to achieve my best self. Finally, there is no way to thank Ruthie adequately. Her labor for our common good has been unstinting and often thankless. Her love, friendship, and creativity animate our life together and profoundly inform all that I am and do. This work is dedicated to her.

report from SLC

To bring everyone up to (my) date at once rather than multiple asymmetric (and unsatisfying given the state of my Mayflower Edition phone) calls, and to solidify my thoughts after a whirlwind trip in and out of Utah which included late nights, early mornings, dozens of snatches of conversations, and long airport layovers, I offer a

REPORT FROM SLC.

First, I want to put your minds at rest concerning that which everyone was not worried: Cody represented you all wonderfully, and his presence was appreciated not only by Sarah and me, but your cousins and the once-removeds. Thank you Cody, you have always been able to see Sarah’s needs and give support that I miss providing.

Second, Sarah needs to speak for herself, but I am sure she is in a better place after the viewing, the funeral, the trip to David’s apartment, the reception, the pictures, the conversations, the discussions and remembrances.

Third, the events of the death, reconstructed: David lived in a third floor apartment, next to a utility closet which housed a water heater and a trapdoor in its ceiling into an attic, which in turn contained a ladder leading to access to the roof. David had only to place a stool next to the water heater, place an aluminum ramp he used to load motorcycles into the back of pickups (6 1/2’ tall with cross bars useful as ladder rungs when placed vertically) on top of the stool, put a chair next to that to be able to climb onto the stool to ascend the ramp/ladder, crawl through the trap door, up the fixed ladder of the attic, and out onto the roof. Nothing to it.

There was a meteor shower that night, duly announced in the newspaper, and David had binoculars, camera, etc. to enjoy the show from the good vantage of the roof unencumbered at treetop level. Not many people have David’s combination of Rube Goldberg skills and dim warning lights to have pulled that off. Once on the roof things went bad. As everything else was in a nook at the crown of the roof, and his camera is in the gutter, it is reasonable to reconstruct the scenario: the camera slid down the raised seam metal roof into the gutter, David, wearing some non-non-skid footwear went after it, became unbalanced or slid, and fell off.

Fourth, let me say at this point that Sarah long ago quit cleaning gutters, and this year convinced me to do the same; however, standing at the spot he fell, being told that a) the police, who wanted the camera to see what he was shooting from the roof but unwilling to go get it themselves, and 2) they had called the fire department, who, not being able to get at the gutter from the truck due to a fence, were also unwilling to go out on the roof, I looked at the height ( only maybe five feet higher than places on my roof), and the pitch (4/12, same as mine), and the raised seam roof (ditto), and was thinking “That’s not so bad, I do (did) that all the time, I’ll go get that camera”.

I hesitated because 1) I was wearing slick shoes and my only suit, and b) Sarah and Cody were standing right there. So, the camera in still in the gutter, and a good camera too, I’ll bet.

The whole picture wasn’t as foreign as I had expected, not at all.

Fifth, my mind’s picture of Jennifer Bone Hannah is a 12-14 year old sitting on Johnny’s porch in Glenwood Springs one evening discussing religion. I don’t see her much and that image has never really been updated, but of course, everything else has moved on—the house is Deshea’s now—so I was mildly shocked the young girl standing in front of a full church (David had started going to church, although I doubt he had fully become a Methodist Mormon), magnificently giving a very complicated eulogy that was part remembrance, part explanation (she did not gloss over David’s addiction for speed and risk taking; Johnny said the car outside the apartment was turbo charged, had racing brakes, and David would hit 150 MPH down the interstate), and a good bit catharsis for her.

She did mention that she thought things worsened after Mrs. Bone’s death. You will remember that Mrs. Bone had been ill and descending, we called Johnny and David in, they arrived Super Bowl Sunday, she perked up and walked upstairs to watch the game with her boys, and died happy that night. David was asleep on the floor in her room; she had rolled of the bed on top of him; he understandably but incorrectly second-guessed the events of the night.

Sophie Hannah (granddaughter) sang, Jimbo told a few stories and sang one of David’s favorites (Forever Young), David’s cousin Tom read scripture, and the pastor did his funeral thing. All was done well and to everyone’s benefit.

Sixth, the Mayflower died the death today and I was on call. After two hours (mostly standing), two stores, and two sore knees, I now have an iphone. Same number: 1.501.MUSHROOM.

Seventh, it seems that there was more I was going to share, but it was late last night when I started this post, so I went to bed. That didn't work. BB

Yet again it's evident that we're doing a great job shaping our children's theology. The boys were writing stories this morning. Jackson's began, "You know in the Old Testament, how Sir Frances Haddock had a gold bowling ball. . ." and Harry's began, "One day a monster came down from heaven with a spiky rope." Hmmmmm.

Life here

A few things before I forget. I forget so much! Tacking a few pictures on the end as well. . .

Mary Clement at 2 & 3 mo.

When I tuck her in bed at night, likes to be "snug as a bug in a rug", which is me making her into a burrito with her favorite blanket, her giggling delightedly.

Calls her brothers, "boys" or "guys". We regularly hear her sweet call across the house when she wants them to see something, "Guys!", or when she wants to direct them, like when she knows it's time to be heading out the door, and they aren't moving fast enough for her, "C'mon, boys!"

"the house" seems to be a character in her life. She always says, "Bye house" when we're driving away, and when I play a little game with her, "Who loves Clemmie?" She'll list Mama, Daddy, boys, Jackson (Jaason), Harry (Hawee), Naynay (you loom large to her), and house. She often wants to pray for "house".

She loves to count. I count her snaps or buttons when dressing her, and she likes to do it with me, her favorite numbers being two!, "free!", and eight! of course completely out of order.

Refers to herself as "Kim-ent" or "Kim-ee" (we've started calling her Clemmie a lot)

At night or naptime I'll often sing to her Rock a Bye Baby and/or Jesus Loves Me. She puts these together and wanders around during the day singing under her breath, "Rockababy. Jeejuzz." over and over. Popular with the boys lately has been the little ditty, 'Hi. My name is Joe. I have a wife , 3 kids, and I work in a button factory. One day, my boss said to me, 'Hey Joe! Are you busy?' I said, 'no!'" Clemmie's oft-heard version is "Hi! Joe! Busy?" full of expression and arm motions.

Harry at 4, almost 5
Is cute in such abstract ways, they're hard to write down. He will say funny things, but they tend to be so abstract it doesn't translate into writing well. He's very imaginative, thinking in pictures. I've been pleased with how easy it has been to teach him to read. I must admit that I was dreading it, b/c he's distracted so easily, his mind wanders so quickly, but in some ways this has been an advantage. When he learns a new sound, without trying, his mind starts making picture associations between the sound and letter shape. Random things that make perfect sense to him but crack me up. He'll come up with about 5 associations within 30 seconds of learning a new sound. I've forgotten most of them, as does he, b/c he'll drop the association after he's gotten the sound on its own. A few examples I can remember of the dozens:
l looks like the base of a lamp, so "l"amp
w is like waves and water
u looks like a man under a bed (???), so "u"nder

Every day Harry yells (naked, of course) from the bottom of the stairs "Is it a church day?" so he knows what to wear. Dressing takes him so long he doesn't want to do it twice.

This head-in-the clouds boy still has to be reminded to go to the bathroom b/c he pays absolutely no attention to anything he's not currently working on in his mind. It's a good thing we feed him regularly; otherwise he might forget to eat. He's very sweet and sincere and I delight in him all day long. His blue eyes encapsulate his personality.

Jackson at 6, almost 7

Is into Tintin comics (How many times can you reread the same 2 books? You have no idea), Paddington Bear, & Boxcar Children, writing messages to everyone, spying, and soccer. He scored his team's only goal at his Saturday game (winning the 0-1 game)! He's naturally pretty athletic, and his height is coming in handy.

He's been particularly sweet with Mary Clement. He gets her out of bed every morning and walks her downstairs. If we're still asleep he'll get both Harry and MC a bowl of cereal. Just now he wanted to make sure that MC could come to his birthday party. He's tender-hearted, sharp, and sensitive.

Saturday morning game. Jackson is in navy, center right, with his arm up. The other team was either very short or the age below his.

Later that day we had a nice picnic at Eagle Lake, which is right by us. I took this one to show how the leaves are changing - there hasn't been one big burst or turnover, more like rolling change. We spent hours here just reading aloud, the kids playing (while I played Words with Friends!). Very restful. I lost my keys at some point on the small hike to the picnic spot, but thankfully a kind soul took them to the public library b/c I had several library key tags on it.

The left view from our front porch. This is the Davison's home, the family we're renting from (from which we're renting. whatever). See how we're down the hill a little.

The right view from our front porch. Love this house. This is where Kim (professor of education at MSU) and Kevin (works at St. Clare's) live, with their 2 college-age kids. They're the ones who spend $300 on candy every year at Halloween. Speaking of that, Jackson has decided to be a gargoyle, Harry a viking (again), and I've yet to come up with something for MC.

And this is our cute little house. Like the 2 sets of  "325"? :)

The view of the shed in our backyard, through the window screen of the children's attic "cave" room. They're all up there together. I love this shed. Doesn't it just say Kentucky?

Some day if y'all are lucky I'll show you pictures of the inside. 

Sent in TODAY! in all its completed, footnoted glory, for the November 7 defense:

A Vindication of Politics: Political Association and Human Flourishing 

by our very own Matthew Davidson Wright. A summary to whet your appetite:

Precipitated by important work in recent natural law political theory, this research revisits the relationship between political association and human flourishing. Does the political community itself realize some aspect of human sociability intrinsic to our full flourishing or is it simply an instrumental good? The inquiry begins with a thorough examination of the merits of John Finnis’s influential argument for an instrumental political common good, pointing to a significant lacuna in his inattention to the value of political activity, as opposed to the operation of government and law. In building an alternative positive account the argument relies upon both formal and substantive considerations, generally employing an Aristotelian methodology of understanding the whole via a consideration of its constitutive parts. First, drawing from Aquinas’s Aristotelian commentaries to unpack the basic structure of part/whole relationships within the “body politic,” I argue that political community is partially defined by the nature of its basic constitutive parts. The next chapter considers the substantive good of familial association, particularly in light of longstanding concerns with the family’s particularity and inequality. I argue that the intrinsically liberal and educative character of parental love rightly orients children to virtuous activity and invests familial association with an intrinsic rationality. The final two chapters bring direct focus onto the political common good: First, I argue that a normatively compelling account of the political common good must be both inclusivist, i.e., including within its purpose the irreducibly diverse goods of every individual and basic association within the community, and distinctive, i.e., including within the calculus of practical reason the good of the political association as such. Lastly, I argue that the political common good is intrinsically—though only partially—constitutive of the human social good. Aquinas makes a crucial shift away from Aristotle’s political primacy in his more pluralistic account of human sociability and emphasis on the extensiveness of the political good over the superiority of political activity per se. Nevertheless, there are essential human virtues—justice, love, generosity—that are uniquely, if not exclusively, fostered in political community and potentially realized in civic friendship. 

Because inventive spelling is cute

They framed their creations with paper and spoons. . .