Monday, March 28, 2005
More than just peeps
(OK this was supposed to be posted yesterday, but...)
One of my responsibilities this week was to write a Sunday feature on Easter--there was some tension in the newsroom about what my topic should be... Ultimately I went with this, looking at the different ways that people observe this springtime holiday nowadays. It was no great article, but the battling editors politely acquiesced.
I'm disappointed though because Easter is such a very rich holiday, with really spectacularly deep symbols--no matter which way you approach it. The traditional Christian approach focuses so heavily on the last supper, the crucifixion, the death, the despair and the tomb, before that joyous sunrise on Easter Sunday. And it seems to me that it is precisely that darker focus that really makes Easter such a fresh and dazzling holy day. There is something about Easter that no matter which way I approach it--literally or symbolically (voyueristically, decadently)--that makes my heart feel tight and exploding at once.
There is something too huge about Easter to be flippant and cutesy--and something too personal to quite be poetic.
One of my responsibilities this week was to write a Sunday feature on Easter--there was some tension in the newsroom about what my topic should be... Ultimately I went with this, looking at the different ways that people observe this springtime holiday nowadays. It was no great article, but the battling editors politely acquiesced.
I'm disappointed though because Easter is such a very rich holiday, with really spectacularly deep symbols--no matter which way you approach it. The traditional Christian approach focuses so heavily on the last supper, the crucifixion, the death, the despair and the tomb, before that joyous sunrise on Easter Sunday. And it seems to me that it is precisely that darker focus that really makes Easter such a fresh and dazzling holy day. There is something about Easter that no matter which way I approach it--literally or symbolically (voyueristically, decadently)--that makes my heart feel tight and exploding at once.
There is something too huge about Easter to be flippant and cutesy--and something too personal to quite be poetic.
// posted by brenda @ 1:28 PM 
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