Image Source Citizens are not born. They are raised. —Frank Bryan Wesley Yang has a new series out over at Tablet Magazine on the history of the Title IX bureaucracy. Like Yang, I see Title IX as one of the crucial stepping stones on the journey to our present moment. He is a tad more […]
The opening scene of ‘A Catch of Shadows’ 1998 production of ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ (image source) HERMIA: I would my father look’d but with my eyes. THESEUS: Rather your eyes mustwith his judgment look. —A Midsummer’s Night Dream William Buckner has published a small but superb essay over at Quillette under the title “A Girl’s […]
Sir Galahad in stained glass (1910) From Andrew’s Dune Church, Southampton, New York. (image source) That terrible bond, that most salutary of human bonds, those invisible threads of gold and light and blood attaching men sworn to a common endeavor! —Victor Serge, Unforgiving Years (1947) My life’s short course has brought me to many places, […]
This video is a good demonstration of what Chinese teenagers (or in this case, a Taiwanese teenager) mean when they say the 2D world is more ‘meihao’ than the 3D one. I have spent a great deal of time with Chinese teenagers. When I lived in Beijing, I paid no rent: instead I lived in […]
I die—but first I have possess’d, And come what may, I have been blest. —Lord Byron This clip has been played 87 million times on Facebook and another seven million times on Youtube. It’s inspirational. It’s powerful. I get why it has as many hits as it does. But there is something more to it, […]
Norman Rockwell, draft version of Freedom of Speech (1943). “In the United States… there is nothing the human will despairs of attaining through the free action of the combined power of individuals.” —Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, vol I (1835) American democracy and the civic life that supports it is in decline. This is […]
Image Source DR. STOCKMANN: It’s my own fault. I should have faced them down long ago—shown my teeth—and bite back! Call me an enemy of society! So help me God, I’m not going to swallow that! MRS. STOCKMANN: But Thomas dear, your brother does have the power— DR. STOCKMANN: Yes, but I’m in the right! […]
A collection of articles, essays, and blog post of merit. TOP BILLING “The Origins of WEIRD Psychology”Jonathan Schulz, Duman Barahmi-Rad, Jonathan Beauchamp, and Joseph Henrich. PsyArXiv. 2 July 2018. Recent research not only confirms the existence of substantial psychological variation around the globe but also highlights the peculiarity of populations that are Western, Educated, Industrialized, […]
Notes From All Over: A collection of recently published articles, essays, reports, or blog posts of merit.TOP BILLING “This Is What A 21st-Century Police State Really Looks Like“Megha Rajagopalan. Buzzfeed (18 October 2017). “In the countryside, if you get even one call from abroad, they will know. It’s obvious,” said R., who agreed to meet me in […]
No definition for the word “democracy” has ever made sense to me but this one: a society of self-governing men and women banded together in self-governing communities–in other words, free citizens that possess the autonomy and power to govern themselves.I have friends that dwell in some of the earth’s most despotic domains. They are often […]
