St. Mary's Basilica, Minneapolis, MN

The first time I ever entered so grand a building as a cathedral or a basilica was when I went inside St. Mary's. It literally filled me with awe. It was, of course, a dreary, gray, winter/spring day outside. My friend and I were the only people in the darkened interior. The statues of the saints in the niches were covered with purple cloth for lent which added to the quiet subdued quality of the air. The very walls exuded a peaceful, warm embrace.

I was confused, however, about the architectural discrepancies between St. Mary's and what was described in the book, namely the rounded apse at each end. I found this on Wikipedia:

The Latin word basilica was originally used to describe a Roman public building (as in Greece, mainly a tribunal), usually located in the forum of a Roman town. In Hellenistic cities, public basilicas appeared in the 2nd century BC. After the Roman Empire became officially Christian, the term came by extension to refer to a large and important church that has been given special ceremonial rites by the Pope. Thus the word retains two senses today, one architectural and the other ecclesiastical.

Here is the URL if you want to read more (it's interesting) : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basilica

I was curious about the other popular myth regarding the foundation of Rome. I found this on Wikipedia:

Legend has it that Romulus and Remus, twin sons of Rhea Silvia and Mars, were raised by wolves. Rhea Silvia was a priestess, and when it was found that she had been pregnant and had had children, the local King Amulius ordered her to be buried alive and for the children to be killed. The servant who was given the order set them in a basket on the Tiber river instead and the children were taken by Tiberinus, the river god, to the shore where a she-wolf found them and raised them until they were discovered as toddlers by a shepherd named Faustulus. He and his wife Acca Larentia, who had always wanted a child but never had one, raised the twins, who would later figure prominently in the events leading up to the founding of Rome (named after Romulus, who eventually kills Remus to have the city founded on the Palatine Hill rather than the Aventine Hill).

It seems like wolves figure into a lot of creation and foundation myths. There's something facinating about the primordial, powerful nature of wolves.

Why I voted

These beautiful photographs were sent to me in an email by a friend. Yes, I was thinking of not voting because to me the realm of politics is a three ring circus from hell. The text that came along with these photos reminded me of what these women went through to get women the right to vote. They look poised in the pictures but they were starved and beaten while in jail. I can't ignore that. Especially when I still get angry while reading that women weren't considered citizens in so called civilized ancient Greece. It has only been 88 years since women's right to vote has been acknowledged by a constitutional amendment.