LA, January 10, 2013

Here are photos taken of me yesterday in front of my apartment building by Dean Ericson before we drove to my doctor’s office on Long Island.

Comments

Andrew E. writes:

Thanks for posting this picture. You look good, like a man who still has things to accomplish. I’ve had you in my nightly prayers all week and I, of course, will be participating in the massed intercessory prayer on Sunday evening. You already know that I became a conservative traditionalist as a result of your writing and that VFR has made my daily life far more meaningful, but it’s also true that I became a Christian, at least intellectually, as a result of your work. Your relentless critiques of Darwinian evolution, scientific materialism, and all forms of reductionism had a cumulative effect on me over the years that eventually dislodged my stubborn agnosticism. The final and most important step, becoming a Christian in the heart and not just in the head, only just happened for me last summer as a result of reading Fr. Seraphim Rose, whom I first learned of—where else?—at VFR.

Laura Wood writes:

You do not look like a man who has been through an intestinal holocaust.

LA replies:

I tried to look positive and not show how bad I was feeling.

Other times, as you know, I’m not so stoic. :-)

Mark P. writes:

That is a good photo of you, in front of a classic New York City brownstone.

* * *

More pictures from the same session:

This photograph looks as though it could be from The Godfather,
New York City, circa 1950.

Ed H. writes:

Hmmm … more than just alive, you look like you are spoiling for a fight.

If they erect a statue to you the inscription might be: “The craggy brow upon which dashed the hordes of liberalism!” It would drive the left nuts.

Keep punchin’!

JC in Houston writes:

Damn! no wrinkles, hair still dark … you got me beat and I’m the same age!

Paul Nachman writes:

The top photo of you is striking.

I think you look better without a mustache, so that’s good.

Also, the dark tone, the fact that you’re wearing coat and tie for a visit to your doctor (how often does one see that!!), and, finally, your expression.

I don’t like most uses and appearances of the word “dignity,” for I think it is way overused (most people have little dignity about them, in my view). But, to my taste, it applies here.

LA replies:

Just as I once had to point out that I do not actually wear a jacket and tie while blogging at two in the morning (I had been joking when I said that I did, but some readers took me straight), I must admit that I don’t usually wear a jacket and tie for my frequent visits to the doctor, though sometimes I do. I dressed better that day for purposes of the photo session.

However, my friend Dean Ericson almost always wears a jacket and tie when he drives me to the doctor; he’s a much better traditionalist than I am.

January 12

Kidist Paulos Asrat writes:

Aesthetically, your brown coat, tie, and hat fit well with the brownstone brown. Dean must have noticed this when he took the photo.

Paul Henri writes:

Thank you for the great photos, the photos of a gentle rock. Hmm, somehow that might sound familiar to a Christian. Until seeing the photos, I did not realize that all along this phrase applies to your writing. You express no intention to hurt anyone—unless in self-defense—and always attempt to moderate posters’ feelings, yet you stand as an immovable rock with your intellect and knowledge against foolish or erroneous intellectuals.

If I may, perhaps I can offer food for thought. When I am feeling really bad, whether mentally or physically, I often talk to Jesus and picture him right next to me. I believe he feels as bad as I do and is there to show me that he suffers with me and to hear my pleas. I imagine what he is telling me. Jesus is an incredible gift that we Christians have been given. I have never heard of this gift having been given in another faith, but what do I know?

Posted by Lawrence Auster at January 11, 2013 12:03 PM | Send