Bring Your Own Mug

Early Wednesday afternoon, there was a Bring Your Own Mug event at the Patent and Trademark Office, an opportunity for a little socializing (I still put in enough hours actually working). I brought my Henry George mug, which I filled with mint tea, and chatted a couple of people. I wandered around the room, and saw a man I hadn’t met before, with a mug that had “Nihilist” crossed out, and “Thomist” written above it. I did not at first see the whole message, which was “Hillbilly Thomist”. This was (as I did not know until later) a reference to something which Flannery O’Connor wrote, that people thought she was a hillbilly nihilist, but she was actually a hillbilly Thomist.

Since the gentleman with the mug did not give me permission to use his name online (we didn’t discuss the matter), I’ll call him Peter. We had some interesting conversation, as I had at least heard of Saint Thomas Aquinas, and he had both heard of Henry George, and had some knowledge of attempts to get Georgist reform enacted, for example, in Detroit. We talked about that, and about other matters. It turns out that there is a musical group of Dominican priests who perform country/Western music, and are known as the Hillbilly Thomists. I thought of a very Catholic friend of mine at that the Patent Office; Peter didn’t know him, but the next time I see him, I hope to tell him about my new acquaintance, and this musical group.

Now, to get what used to be called second sleep.