July 2026 monthly digest
[No Krakens, but a kitten! Plus: Wait, Substackers can color text now?!]
Wait, when did Substack start allowing custom text color formatting?! Hm, about a couple months ago, it looks like. Okay: I’m now colorizing segment headers like Blast From the Past, Post of the Month, See also, etc. I think it substantially aids readability! Scroll down and check it out—what do you think? (Maybe the font should be bigger now that it’s red? N.b. This only makes a difference in the web client. If you insist on reading Dailies & Sundays in the Substack mobile app, it will never look its best.)
My posting this past month ended with a significant personal statement regarding my appeal last September for paid subscribers for September 2025 – 2026, with updates on the road so far and the road ahead. If you care about my work here at Dailies & Sundays, I hope you’ll take a look.
What else did I write this month?
Three “Public square” posts, addressing American unreality at America’s 250th birthday, the administration’s ongoing war on democracy, and media capitulation regarding the unprecedented stonewalling around Mitch McConnell’s Schrodinger-like mystery state;
Two posts on Greek mythology in art: a “Movies” post exporing striking Judeo-Christian elements in Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster The Odyssey and a “Comics” post on cartoon takes on the myth of Sisyphus;
Two “SDG art” posts featuring elaborate Venn diagram memes created by me: one silly and the other (I want to say) profound; and
My latest homily, on the necessity of sacrificing for the kingdom of God, the dangers of money, and what we owe to the poor.
Wait, have I really left my “How I think about religious questions” part 1 post hanging for more than a whole month?! I need to rectify that ASAP. I also need to circle around and complete my three-part series on “rays of God,” i.e., transcendentals (goodness, truth, and beauty), but that’s going to take more work.
What’s more, this month’s Blast from the Past reminds me that it’s now been a full two years since I last updated my epic “Crisis of meaning” series on the multiverse in superhero movies—and it might be a year before I complete the series upon the release of long-awaited third film in the animated Spider-Verse series. Though unfinished, this series is one of the longform works I’m most pleased to have written; it’s also deeply involved and super nerdy. You probably already know if this is or isn’t for you!
□ BLAST FROM THE PAST
Crisis of meaning, part 3: What lies beyond the Spider-Verse?
A question worth asking of a story, then, is: “Is there room for God in this story, in this world?” There are plenty of meaningful stories in which God is never mentioned, let alone invoked or affirmed, or in which God’s existence is explicitly doubted or disbelieved. It’s very hard for me to see anything but nihilism in a story that leaves no room for God.
□ POST OF THE MONTH
‘The Odyssey’ and the consequences of war
Nolan is almost the last filmmaker working in Hollywood today whose very name establishes any new release as a global cultural event, and he has tackled one of Western civilization’s most culturally significant narratives (and most spectacular and cinema-ready) in the grandest possible style.
□ ALL JULY 2026 POSTS
Patriotism vs. nationalism, Trump’s forever war on reality, and encroaching authoritarianism. A Public square post.
Probably 75–85 percent of what I most deeply believe is in this graphic. A God thoughts / SDG art post.
Why didn’t I do a strip on comics about the Trojan horse? Because I didn’t think of it! A Comics post.
“You realize you’re insane” is what my middle daughter said when I showed this to her. An SDG art post.
Trumpism 1.0 failed to overturn the 2020 election. Welcome to Trumpism 2.0. A Public square post.
July 2026 Post of the Month. A Movies post.
My mom said she had never heard a homily like this one. A Homilies post.
Can Mitch McConnell be both alive and dead at the same time? In Trump’s America, perhaps. A Public square post.
Why I made a one-time appeal for paid subscriptions 11 months ago—and what’s to come. A Personal post.
Anna’s street-rescue kitten Opal says hello. In an upcoming monthly digest I’ll include a pic of the original street-rescue sibs, Nico and Fiona. (At some point, if you stick around, you’ll also meet Tibs, former hobo cat, but not a street rescue. He just lives at the Grey Havens now because he couldn’t bear to be separated from Suzanne, RN after they met outside while she was gardening.)
Thanks for reading! All of us here at the Grey Havens appreciate you.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for not forgetting about your Marvel multiverse series. Whenever I get the urge to bother you about it, I stop myself and I figure that you are simply waiting for the long-gestating Beyond the Spider-Verse to come back to it; you have confirmed my hope. I guess (I wish) you will also incorporate the Multiverse Saga's concluding entries Avengers: Doomsday and Secret Wars.