I have surveyed Father Ong's life and eleven of his books and selected articles in my award-winning book Walter Ong's Contributions to Cultural Studies: The Phenomenology of the Word and I-Thou Communication (2000). My book received the Marshall McLuhan Award for Outstanding Book in the Field of Media Ecology, conferred by the Media Ecology Association on June 15, 2001. I have framed the award and the letter of transmittal from the then-president of MEA Lance Strate of Fordham University in New York. I have both framed documents on display in my home in Duluth, Minnesota.
Walter Ong's work has never been lionized the way that Marshall McLuhan's work has been. For McLuhan's references to Ong's breakthrough work, see the "Bibliographic Index" in McLuhan's widely read 1962 book The Gutenberg Galaxy: The Making of Typographic Man (sic) (pp. 286-287).
Now, at a glance, we can also see that I frequently comment on Trump and certain other nationally prominent political figures such as Hillary Clinton and President Obama.
I should point out here that the American psychiatrist and psychoanalyst Justin A. Frank has also profiled President Trump in his perceptive book Trump on the Couch: Inside the Mind of the President (2018).
In any event, the NYT opinion columnist Michelle Goldberg has just published an insightful column about Trump's "skill as a demagogue" titled "Why Did So Many People Delude Themselves About Trump?" (dated April 7, 2025) in The New York Times.
Now, at a glance, we can also see that many of my "Top 20" OEN articles center on Catholicism - as do many of my other OEN articles.
You see, I was born (on March 17, 1944, in Ossining, New York, my father's hometown) and raised (from the age of four in Kansas City, Kansas, my mother's hometown) as a Roman Catholic before the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) significantly reformed the practices of Catholicism by mandating the use of the vernacular languages, instead of Latin in the Mass, and by dispensing with the practice of eating fish, instead of meat, on Fridays. The years of the Second Vatican Council (1962-1966) somewhat overlap my years of undergraduate studies (1962-1966).
Subsequently, I was in the Jesuits for a time (1979-1987). In the Jesuit novitiate in Denver, Colorado, I made a 30-day directed retreat in silence (except for the daily conferences with the retreat director), following the Spiritual Exercises of the Spanish Renaissance mystic and founder of the Jesuit order (known formally as the Society of Jesus) St. Ignatius Loyola (1491-1556).
The Second Vatican Council in the Roman Catholic Church (1962-1965) instructed all religious orders to return to their original charism. When the Jesuits subsequently returned to studying their original charism, they discovered that St. Ignatius Loyola had given directed retreats, whereas the Jesuits in more recent times had been giving preached retreats. Older Jesuits such as Father Ong and Pope Francis had completed their respective 30-day preached retreats in silence (except for the daily conferences with the retreat director) in the novitiate as preached retreats, and as practicing Jesuits, both Father Ong and Pope Francis gave preached retreats.
Now, my years of Jesuit formation were mostly devoted to further studies - in philosophy at Saint Louis University and in theology at the Jesuit theologate at the University of Toronto.
In any event, over the years of my retirement writing my 665 OEN articles (2009-2025), I have occasionally written about Ignatian spirituality in a few of my OEN articles.
In many of my other OEN articles about Pope Francis that are not listed here in my "Top 20" OEN articles, I have referred interested readers to my earlier OEN article in which I profiled the doctrinally conservative pope, "Pope Francis on Evil and Satan" (dated March 24, 2019).
In many of my other OEN articles in which I discussed Ong's work that are not listed here in my "Top 20" OEN articles, I have referred interested readers to my earlier OEN article "Walter J. Ong's Philosophical Thought" (dated September 20, 2020).
In two of my more recent OEN articles, I have articulated my more pointed criticism of the Roman Catholic Church's moral teachings regarding its vision of individual personal moral development: (1) "Robert Moore on Optimal Human Psychological Development" (dated September 17, 2024); and (2) my wide-ranging and deeply personal 28,800-word 665th OEN article titled "Fareed Zakaria and Ezra Klein on President Trump's Foreign Policy" (dated March 24, 2025) - which has been viewed 1,300 times thus far (as of April 10, 2025), despite my graphic and colorful language in it being flagged by the ever-vigilant OEN website. In any event, my wide-ranging and deeply personal 665th OEN article was the most deeply gratifying OEN article that I have written over the years.
Now, in my 28,800-word 665th OEN article "Fareed Zakaria and Ezra Klein on President Trump's Foreign Policy" (dated March 24, 2025), I deliberately and frequently used graphic and colorful language in it to carry out my desire to honor what C. G. Jung referred to as fantasy thinking involving images and associative thinking, as distinct from what he referred to as directed thinking involving logic. Yes, there is a certain logic also involved in my 665th OEN article as well.
In any event, in my 28,800-word 665th OEN article, most of my graphic and colorful language occurs in my extensive discuss of the body and the charming mom-son porn videos of the now-retired American pornstar Mandy Flores (born on March 19, 1989). In the subsection titled "Digression: My Love Song About Mandy Flores and Her Mom-Son Porn Videos," I celebrate her beautiful body - with her big (39") boobs and her eye-catching big nipples and her clean-shaven p*ssy -- and her seductive performances in her charming mom-son porn videos. In my 28,000-word 665th OEN article, I mention Mandy Flores' name 250 times as I celebrate her calling as devout Christian to help me and other guys masturbate as we watch her perform seductively in the various fantasy skits in her many mom-son porn videos that are available free on the internet - she has helped perhaps millions of boys and men of all ages masturbate.
Next Page 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
