News, Notes, & Podcasts

We’re listening to songs about happiness this week on A Symposium of Popular Songs, and trying to find a way to separate songs about happiness from songs about being in…

Arthur Brooks draws on Eitan Hersh and others to remind people that following politics like it’s entertainment erodes civic virtue.

In honor of my wife’s birthday, we’re listening to songs from her favorite musical scene: Laurel Canyon. Send your song suggestions to symposiumofsongs@gmail.com!

I’m in the middle of savoring Call Out Coyote right now. Seth’s poems roll off the tongue and stick like a burr in the heart.

Continuing our examination of time from last week, this week we’re listening to songs about ephemerality and trying to figure out if transient things can have eternal value. Send your…

Matt Wheeler writes a wonderful appreciation of Wendell Berry’s newest novel.

This week, we’re listening to songs about waiting, and I’ll tell you a story you might not know about Tom Petty and plagiarism. Send your song recommendations to symposiumofsongs@gmail.com!

Sam Kriss visits San Francisco and talks to highly agentic people burning through a lot of cash to do stuff.

I promised it in our very first episode, and now I’m finally delivering: here are some songs all about not being able to get to sleep. Send your song recommendations…

Brad East reviews Ross McCullough’s new book, This Body of Death, and captures its uncapturable wonders as well as anyone could do.

We’re listening to songs about America’s “city of record,” New York. I like it a lot more than Los Angeles! Send your song recommendations to symposiumofsongs@gmail.com.

In an absolute barn burner of an essay, Matthew Walther asks hard questions about our obligations to those rendered passive, distracted, and poor by our technological society.