I just got my proof copy of Don Arndt's See the Dragon: One Wolfhound's Vietnam Story in hardback and it looks great, so I made it available for purchase. Now we have three versions available: PDF download ($9.99), paperback ($14.99) and hardback ($26.99). If you're interested in learning about the Vietnam War from the perspective of a Missouri farmboy that was drafted, then you might enjoy this book. If you like the book (or if you just take my word for it) then you can help us promote the book. A quick link to seethedragon.com on your site would be a big help. And we'd love to have someone read the book and write a review on Lulu.com.

I was browsing a food website today and looked up avocados, since I figured out a while ago that I am allergic to them (I know, it's terrible). A few weeks ago when we were cleaning out our old apartment, I also had an allergic reaction to the rubber gloves I was using, and tiny little blisters spread all over my palms. I wasn't sure what caused it, but started thinking I might have an allergy to latex. I grew up both eating guacamole and using rubber gloves while cleaning, so this is all a bit new to me.

Turns out, there's such a thing as a latex-fruit allergy syndrome. I never would have put the two together, but I guess it makes sense now that I have read this. I think next time I see my doctor I'll ask for allergy testing. There have been other times I have had bad reactions to food but wasn't able to pinpoint what caused the reaction. I'd like to know which foods I could be avoiding.

Anyway, I thought it was an interesting allergy connection!

for voting. Dom won!

A couple of years ago I read Seamus Heaney's modern English translation of Beowulf. In his introduction Heaney writes about his attempts to imitate the poetic forms and style of the original language. As I read the translation, I really felt that Heaney's linguistic and poetic considerations helped me to form more of a connection with the text. It felt organic and alive, and I enjoyed reading Beowulf in a way that I hadn't before.

It occurred to me then that much of the Hebrew bible is also poetry from an ancient culture. The English translations used in most Christian churches, however, seem to pay little attention to the poetry of it, and frankly, most of it is pretty boring to read. After seeing what Seamus Heaney did with Beowulf, I began to wonder what it would be like to read a translation of Psalms that is sensitive to the poetry and certain linguistic characteristics of the original text. I know, for example, that Psalm 119 is an acrostic poem, in which the initial lines of each stanza begin with the same letter, with one stanza devoted to each letter of the alphabet (the lines of the first stanza begin with aleph, the lines of the second stanza begin with bet, etc)--yet I have never seen a translation of the Psalm that attempts to duplicate this form. And this is really the only example I've heard about. I would love to know what kinds of poetic devices are used in the other Psalms, to say nothing of Job, Song of Solomon, Proverbs, Isaiah, and the rest.

So I decided to look for a translation that looks at the bible in perhaps more of an aesthetic way than merely a straightforward conveyance of information...and I found nothing. Well, almost nothing.

One thing my search did turn up is Ancient Hebrew Poetry, the blog of John Hobbins, a very knowledgeable pastor and Hebrew scholar. He writes very interesting commentary on scripture and contemporary issues in the church (check out his Screwtape Letters-inspired thoughts on faith and science).

My favorite thing about his blog, though, is a series of posts he's started in which he gives a traditional translation of a particular passage, than provides his own translation, explaining why it better reflects the Hebrew language. Here are his posts for Psalm 19:2, 19:4, 19:5, and 19:5c-7. The translations are lovely and the explanations are very insightful.

My appetite for well-translated Hebrew poetry whetted by these posts, I asked him in the comments where I can find more, to which Hobbins graciously made a few suggestions, including some nice pieces he hosts on his own site.