Our classics and great traditions are a corpse that we resurrect every time we engage with them. If neglected, they remain a corpse—rotten, dead, forgotten—to our eternal detriment. The collected wisdom of the ages, disposed with like so much refuse. When engaged with properly, they are made new and live once more to illuminate the […]
Ah, the sun! The great giver and destroyer of life; oppressive and deadly, illuminating and vital. I like to keep out of its reach. My summer days are whittled away in the shade or in the comforting gloom of a darkened room with my face in a book, anticipating the return of the cold somewhere […]
We like to ignore our problems. Glitches go on overlooked. There is disorder and chaos everywhere, right down to the core of our being. Something needs to be terminated—a bad habit, a relationship, a job, a friendship. We have problems like you wouldn’t believe. It’s an unpleasant task. There will be tears, so we distract […]
The Mass is no light listening. It’s widely considered the crowning achievement of Western Music and one of the greatest works of art ever accomplished. It’s older than the United States—though it wasn’t performed in its entirety until 1859, over a hundred years after its completion.
Modern humans have been on the planet for about 200,000 years. Civilization is only about 6,000 years old. We are still very much a product of that 194,000 years. We’ve adapted to our new surroundings surprisingly well given how rapidly our environment continues to change, yet we often and inevitably fail ourselves—or at least the version of ourselves we’re trying to be –because we are still subject to crushing biological law that has been part of our genetic makeup since before we were even the species we know ourselves to be today.
I’ve been spread thin these past few months. I slipped away a bit from my intellectual pursuits. When that happens, I can always feel a part of myself being dragged away. It’s like watching someone you love drift off on a boat whilst standing on shore, belting out a tearful goodbye. There I go. This kind of stuff […]
I drive an old Jeep. I’ve had for it twelve or thirteen years now. Driving an old vehicle means that I take a lot of trips… to the mechanic and they start becoming more and more frequent. This last time had me at the breaking point. I wondered if I should just junk the thing […]
It happens to me more than I’d care to admit. I’ll be walking down the street — usually down to the bike path I run on — I have a Bach violin concerto pumping in the headphones and sure as shit, I start to shed tears. I’ve learned my lesson. I usually wear sunglasses when […]
The NRA is one of the most powerful lobbying groups in Washington. They have over five million members and they are rabid. They don’t throw nearly as much money around as the Chamber of Commerce or something, but what they do have is something more valuable — influence. The NRA is well-organized, bipartisan and make […]
When Minnesota dentist, Walter Palmer illegally poached a protected lion in Zimbabwe’s Hwange National Park in July 2015, it quickly caused a firestorm of outrage on social media as well as the media at large. Never before had the world seen such a reaction to a poaching incident. The public’s fervor seemed unstoppable. I watched […]
Terrifying World 