Jim McDermott

Los Angeles

Associate Editor at America Magazine

@WGAWest Part time imaginary tiger. 🏳️‍🌈 Weekly theater at theaterwow.substack, pop culture at jimmcdermott.substack, and paid work where I can get it :)

Articles

Idina Menzel's 'Redwood' brings nature's healing power to Broadway

2 days ago | ncronline.org | Jim McDermott

Idina Menzel as Jesse in the Broadway musical "Redwood." (Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman) While Pope Francis will be remembered for many things, one of his most important legacies is his attempt in "Laudato Si', on Care for Our Common Home" to cultivate an ecological imagination. The beautifully written text, so unlike the dense prose of most encyclicals, offers unexpected passages where argument gives way to poetry, like a clearing in the woods.
Unitas, Caritas, Veritas: Understanding the Augustinian Spirituality of Pope Leo XIV

1 week ago | crc.blog.fordham.edu | Jim McDermott

In the weeks since American Cardinal Robert Prevost was elected Pope Leo XIV, he’s returned more than once to a few key concepts.
America faces a digital threat from China — and this ally alone can end it - Business And America

2 weeks ago | businessandamerica.com | Jim McDermott

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Opinion: America faces a digital threat from China - and this ally alone can end it

2 weeks ago | marketwatch.com | Jim McDermott

Outside the BoxHow a single agreement with Mexico could strengthen America’s digital security, provide new jobs — and counter ChinaPublished: May 19, 2025 at 7:51 a.m. ETMexico is key to beating China’s digital ambitions. Photo: Getty Images/iStockphotoIn 1823, President James Monroe declared the Western Hemisphere off-limits to foreign imperial ambitions. Today, the U.S. faces a new kind of incursion — not by fleets or armies, but through fiber-optic cables and data centers.
With 'Adopt a Cardinal,' lay Catholics can feel more connected to the conclave

1 month ago | religionnews.com | Jim McDermott

(RNS) — Before the last conclave, Ulrike Heckl found herself looking at photos of the cardinals who were preparing to elect the next pope and wondering at the enormity of the responsibility on their shoulders. In that moment, she had a simple thought: “They need prayers.”A friend of Heckl’s was leading YOUTH 2000 Germany, a Catholic initiative focused on retreats, adoration, pilgrimages and other spiritual activities for young people.
An American looks longingly on the Australian election

1 month ago | eurekastreet.com.au | Jim McDermott

Having said that, it’s hard to be satisfied with where the ALP and LNP are starting. Annabel Crabb describes the tiny cash splashes both of the major parties are offering out of the gate as “shiny new chew toys,” something eye-catching, but with little meat on the actual bone. The fact is, the cost of living keeps rising, and not just because of inflation. The lack of housing, and housing that is affordable, has been a serious issue for decades at this point.
Pope Francis Knew I Belonged

1 month ago | sojo.net | Jim McDermott

When Pope Francis’ condition first began to in February, I found myself suddenly feeling the kind of vertiginous paradigm shift usually reserved for the loss of close family or friends, that sense of a curtain being torn aside and a truth being revealed. The detail that really broke me was the news that as he had gotten sicker, Francis continued to text and call the people of Holy Family Parish in Gaza. It was so far beyond what anyone would expect of a critically ill 88-year-old man.
In New York City, a ‘New Story’ for Irish Playwrights

1 month ago | americantheatre.org | Jim McDermott

New York has long been home to a vibrant community of Irish artists. As early as the 1910s, in fact, three different Irish-focused companies—the Irish Theatre of America, the Celtic Players, and the Irish Players—were producing work. “The community theatre idea has all at once come to life,” reported The New York Times on Feb. 14, 1915, with the announcement of the Irish Theatre of America.
On Power and Stupidity

1 month ago | provincetownindependent.org | Jim McDermott

I remember hanging out on the corner with the tough guys, waving at passing cars, preening for girls, bumming Winstons, planning turf fights. Stupid stuff. I once was arrested for hanging out there, but that’s another story. One day, an older kid, Moondog, suggested we march to the White City Bridge that spanned Lake Quinsigamond, separating Worcester from Shrewsbury. Our mission: to stop traffic with clownish behavior before leaping off the bridge into the dark water below. Very stupid.
Peter Dutton is playing with fire

2 months ago | johnmenadue.com | Jim McDermott

In December while I was visiting Australia for a month I met a young woman who told me she would be running a local campaign in the upcoming federal election. She was a member of the Liberal Party, she noted, admitting that she had hoped to be the candidate herself, but the preselection had gone to someone else. But she seemed personally undeterred. Were going to win, she said, her face alight with her eagerness for the contest.