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Forster Batterham - Saint Maker
Like most Argentinians, the Pope sounds like a special needs child when he attempts to speak English and, Trumps admonitions aside, he should probably deliver his sermons in Spanish. That way Marco Rubio and Luis Gutierrez (and 4 of my children all fluent in español) would be able to understand him, but most Americans would not. Yesterday he mumbled praise for Abe Lincoln, MLK and uber-Catholic Dorothy Day, but said not a word about the woman's saint maker, Forster Batterham a committed man of the left who's pig headed ideological stubbornness pushed Dorothy into the arms of Jesus Christ (or someone slightly resembling him) and the rest is herstory, as they say.
A happy couple
Forster who? [no Wikipedia entry] Forster Batterham was Dorothy Day's TRUE LOVE and like so many women, especially boho artist types, she found herself socializing with Greenwich Village continental loving socialists and, unfortunately for her, fell in love with one. Part of the tale is told by Robert Ellsberg in a touching article chronicling Dorothy's letters to Forster in the late 1920's and early '30's titled Dorothy in Love. It's heartbreaking reading the words of a 28 year old woman who spent her college and young adult years fucking commies realize that all she really wants in life is for her man to love her, love their child and accept Catholicism. Forster, being a man of the Left, wasn't going to have any of that and after a few years of her pleading, a couple months of separation, more pleading Dorothy finally threw the obstinate, self-centered, radical-athiest man out of her beachside cottage. But she didn't stop writing, and pleading, and begging, and threatening, and cajoling, and worshiping Forster Batterham, but he held fast and shut her out. One can only assume that the situation was dire for Forster - he had hooked up with a free-loving bohemian beauty with every expectation that there would be no strings attached and just passionate love making followed by quite walks on the Staten Island Beaches. Not a year into it the woman was knocked up and demanding a commitment - to hell with the Marxist playbook, she wanted a family and she wanted him to be down for that struggle. There's no easy way for a man to get out of that bind - you can always say, "I don't believe in marriage" or "starting a family with you would violate every tenant I hold dear" but everybody (you, her and everybody else) knows it's bullshit. Forster just didn't want to be yoked to the crazy bitch and he walked away. So Dorothy settled for "wimpy Jesus" as the fall back guy and gave her heart (what was left of the charred and scared thumper) to him and his church. For this she's considered a Saint (almost) and is lauded by the Pope in The Peoples House, but it was Forster Batterham who deserves recognition.
Finding out what complete love was like with Forster opened Dorothy Day's heart and mind to God. She was so full of happiness and gratitude she started to pray. Having her daughter with Forster healed her pain from an earlier abortion, and from her fear that she would never have another child. She had the abortion to try to keep another cad, Lionel Moise, who also didn't want to limit his freedom by getting married. Unlike Forster, he never loved her. Moise left her bleeding and waiting for him to pick her up outside the abortionist's flat. She got an infection and was overcome with depression and tried to commit suicide twice afterwards.
Love with Battersham did lead her to Catholicism. She wanted their baby baptized to give her the gift of faith and rules of life to protect her from the crass exploitation she had experienced in the secular world where people had rejected Christian marriage and responsibility. Day then embraced the faith herself, torn because would no longer be able to live in sin with Batterham. Even though she was in agony to have to give him up, she finally had to break off with him when he refused to marry.
Women were used sexually and expected to act as wives but with no strings attached. The sexual revolution had many casualties like Dorothy Day.
I don't claim that Dorothy didn't love Forster - she did. I claim that Forster didn't love Dorothy, or at least he didn't love her enough to accept her change of mind (and I suppose change of heart) once she got knocked up. Moise was a typical cad "man of the left" and I'm sure he did lasting psychological damage to Dorothy Day. It's a sad story with a slightly happy ending in that she found Christ, but a sort of wimpy version of Jesus that I don't promote or support - still, I suppose a wimpy Jesus is probably better than no Jesus at all. Thanks for your comment and taking the time to read the blog - I appreciate your comment and I learned something from it.
She was "sexy", but "too much hard work." I'm a regular Fox & Friends viewer (mostly in protest of the other insipid morning programs like Today and Good Morning America) so over the years I've gotten to know Gretchen Carlson pretty well. Stuck between Steve and Brian she always seemed a prudish scold with an irritating, self-righteous demeanor that I simply put up with because I figured some people in the Fox audience actually liked her persona. It was obvious that Steve and Brian did not, but they were stuck with her like so many talking heads and had to make the best of it - which they did. Besides, she was no worse than any of the other women on morning show TV - I mean, you're only going to find a certain kind of person to do this kind of work and that kind of person is the Gretchen Carlson kind. Then, one day, she was gone and replaced by Elisabeth Hasselbeck and the F&F ratings began to climb, and climb and climb - in two months view
I came into this wicked world in the early 1960's and as a result I have born witness to America's 50 Years of Failure which includes the modern age of mass shootings by psychotic men who "go off" on a given day, for no reason at all (except "guns"), and kill scads of innocent bystanders. Back in August of 2019 a KOTCB blog post titled " Reciprocity City " explored a young gunman named Patrick Crusius who drove 9 hours through the west Texas flatlands to shoot up El Paso, TX The KOTCB has commented on many of these shootings, bombings and knifings over the years - The roots of the Boston Marathon Bombing , the Emanuel AME Church shooting , Syed Rizvan Farook and his bride Tashfeen Malik , Ft. Lauderdale Airport shooting , Nick Cruz lovesick Parkland shooting , the Iranian, PETA activist, Vegan Bodybuilder, YouTuber's attack on Google and now this very oddly timed and placed "lone wolf" attack on Walmart shoppers. This list
Well my telephone was ringing, and they told me it was chairman Mao. You got to tell him anything 'cause I just don't want to talk to him now. According to the brilliant troubadour Lowell George the Apolitical Blues are " the meanest blues of all" and who am I to disagree with this soul man now after all these years of living by his maxim. I first heard the song bursting from the 1972 vinyl of Little Feat's Alt-Rock-Country masterpiece "Sailin' Shoes" in the second story bedroom of my friend John's older brother Edie who, being about 3 years our senior, was instructing us on the importance of good music. This was circa 1975 and a formative time for my musical taste and overall aesthetic which, for better or worse, infuses every aspect of my existence including the KOTCB blog so a debt is owed this unforgettable "older brother" now that he has shuffled off this mortal coil and left us with smoky memories. A born rebel with the heart o
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Finding out what complete love was like with Forster opened Dorothy Day's heart and mind to God. She was so full of happiness and gratitude she started to pray. Having her daughter with Forster healed her pain from an earlier abortion, and from her fear that she would never have another child. She had the abortion to try to keep another cad, Lionel Moise, who also didn't want to limit his freedom by getting married. Unlike Forster, he never loved her. Moise left her bleeding and waiting for him to pick her up outside the abortionist's flat. She got an infection and was overcome with depression and tried to commit suicide twice afterwards.
Love with Battersham did lead her to Catholicism. She wanted their baby baptized to give her the gift of faith and rules of life to protect her from the crass exploitation she had experienced in the secular world where people had rejected Christian marriage and responsibility. Day then embraced the faith herself, torn because would no longer be able to live in sin with Batterham. Even though she was in agony to have to give him up, she finally had to break off with him when he refused to marry.
Women were used sexually and expected to act as wives but with no strings attached. The sexual revolution had many casualties like Dorothy Day.