Category: literature
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pigeons
“The pigeon,” said Archimedes, “is a kind of Quaker. She dresses in grey. A dutiful child, a constant lover, and a wise parent, she knows, like all philosophers, that the hand of every man is against her. She has learned throughout the centuries to specialize in escape. No pigeon has ever committed an act of…
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Kindle Faults :: 10 Things My Kindle Can’t Do
There are 10 things my Kindle can’t do. These Kindle faults show the power of preferring a standard paperback: Exist without a Power Source – Unfortunately, somebody bought out Nicolae Tesla’s patents. As is, we have no Tesla Coils to transmit electricity to our Kindle through midair. I’ve had two separate occasions where I ran out…
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Gloria in Profundis by G.K. Chesterton
In keeping with our annual tradition — Christmas readings of the best Christmas stories — here’s a poem by G.K. Chesterton entitled Gloria in Profundis. It’s a poem about how the fall of God is greater than the fall of man: If you’d like to hear more of the best Christmas stories, click here. cover…
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Our Tools Shape Us
“We become what we behold. We shape our tools and then our tools shape us.” —Father John Culkin According to McLuhan Galaxy: [This quote] is often mistakenly attributed to Marshall McLuhan. It does NOT appear in “Understanding Media”, as Wilson Miner confidently asserts in the presentation below, indeed it does not appear in any published…
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Myth Stories Map: Queens Museum Exhibit on American Folklore
As a student of American myths, American folklore, American tall tales and American legends, I loved this myth stories map from the Queens Museum: There’s a great piece over at Slate on the map. They say: This map, by social realist artist William Gropper, was created to showcase the diversity of national myths and folk stories…
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Monotone Readings VS. Oral Performance
When I moved to New York, my first real surprise was the monotone readings. Something about the MFA culture in this town has gone and whitewashed every reading series with this sort of monotone half-jaded, half-sarcastic voice. You’ll find this tone shared by nearly all poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction grads. I won’t name any…
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give each other visions
“We are all patriots and rebels, at war with one another and ourselves. And we give each other visions.” — Gary Wills
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A Defense of Pokémon Go
Three multi-millionaires. A father of four. A PhD in agricultural science. An Oscar winner. A crowd of twelve-year-olds outside a custard joint in St. Louis. A retiree. A CTO. A teen who hadn’t seen the sun in months. Professional artists — a filmmaker, a novelist, a painter, a stylist, a musician. All of these…
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David Bentley Hart Articles: A Megalist
(I assume DBH hates portmanteau as much as I, so it seemed fitting to create one for him for the cover image). Back in 2007, David W. Congdon over at The Fire and The Rose compiled a list of David Bentley Hart articles published by First Things. I want to expand on his list to include…
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58 poems at 29 years old + The State of the Schaubert
On odd years, I’ve made this habit of doubling my age and writing that many poems. I did it with the 46 @ 23, the 50 @ 25, and the 54 @ 27. This year, I’m adding a tradition of updating everyone on the lay of the land. So here’s where things stand for me…
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Only a Clever Human Can Joke About Virtue
“Only a clever human can make a real Joke about virtue, or indeed about anything else; any of them can be trained to talk as if virtue were funny” — C.S. Lewis, Screwtape Letters “Lord make me chaste, but not yet.” — Augustine And this one is like it: “Perhaps, in the nature of things,…
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Dead Guest Post :: The Fantastic Imagination
Today’s dead guest post is “The Fantastic Imagination.” In this piece, George MacDonald shows how the point of fantasy and science fiction is to change the physical laws of our world so that the spiritual — or moral or ethical — laws behind all worlds come to a sharper point. It’s one of my favorite pieces on…