Loren Paulsson

The Cathedral of Saint John the Evangelist, Spokane, Wash. There were seven or eight other people in the pews at Saint Luke's Episcopal Church for the 10:00 a.m. service.   There were almost the same number in the choir, and nearly everybody shook my hand. Rev. Frances Twiggs' sermon took each of the Baptismal Covenant's last five questions in turn.   “Will you continue in the apostles' teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in the prayers?” “Will you persevere in resisting evil, and, whenever you fall into sin, repent and return to the Lord?” “Will you proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ?” “Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself?” “Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being?” Communion was open to all. So I went forward.   I felt welcomed. And conflicted. Most Sundays for the previous year I've been in church somewhere—Luth...

"Holmes game me a sketch of the events," by  Sidney Paget, appeared in "The Adventure of Silver Blaze,"   December 1892. (Public Domain)  In “The Greek Interpreter,” Dr. John Watson describes how Sherlock Holmes' reticence to discuss his family “...increased the somewhat inhuman effect which he produced upon me, until sometimes I found myself regarding him as an isolated phenomenon, a br ain without a heart, as deficient in human sympathy as he was pre-eminent in intelligence ....” This description sounds like Holmes the high-functioning sociopath as played by Benedict Cumberbatch on  the BBC's “Sherlock.”  But Watson as  written by   Sir Arthur Conan Doyle  gives these descriptions more as asides than as a diagnoses, and he recognizes his impression is influenced by the “effect” Holmes produced, an effect reflecting as much about Watson as it does about Holmes. Doyle's storytelling amplifies the effect for readers because we know Holmes...

Olivia Pope doesn't have colleagues. She has “gladiators in suits,” which is code for vulnerable people she “fixed” along the way...who have now become television's best example of group think. Her first loyalty is to President Grant whose campaign she fixed...with whom she carries on an affair...and with whose inner circle she agreed to rig voting machines. She draws the line at killing people, however, and she'd prefer not to send innocent people to prison. So when fellow inner-circle-person and campaign donor Hollis Doyle covered up the vote rigging by blowing up a software company, Pope had the patsy knocked out, relocated, and set up with a new identity before she regained consciousness. The Oval Office, Washington, D.C. (Public Domain) When the newly minted Quinn's previous identity came out and she was tried for the bombing, Pope had the chief justice lean on the presiding judge, and the case was thrown out. But it's worth it to preserve the presidency of Fi...