Articles Archive
Burning Warm and Bright: Songs About Fire
We’re talking about fire in all its forms this week on A Symposium of Popular Songs, and I managed to get all the way through the episode without referencing Beavis…
The Last Lesson of Charlie Kirk
Kirk started as a kind of ultra-MAGA influencer. Over time, however, he was becoming a serious man—one with a popular following, especially among the young.
Marce Catlett, Farm Policy, and AI Friends
Antonio Spadaro responds to plans to build a bridge across the Strait of Messina.
When the Internet Was a Place
Not too long ago, the internet was a place you visited. The family desktop sat in its designated closet or back office. In schools, there were rooms filled with computers…
“Two Liberals Walk Out of a Pandemic…”
I have been hoping for a reckoning about covid for years now, and this book is a major step in that direction.
Can We Dance on the Tables Again?: Songs About Parties
It’s party time at A Symposium of Popular Songs, though we’re going to oscillate wildly between the kind of party you go home from in an ambulance and the kind…
The Wars of Alex Garland
With "Civil War" and now "Warfare," the writer-director has made two consecutive movies about the “what” of armed conflicts rather than the “why”
Fairs, Atherosclerosis, and Toothaches
Tara Couture writes about the mysterious relation between simple joys and hard work.
Writing Like a Man
I found that Wink has not simply played haphazardly with an abundance of tropes but collected them together, arranged them in a pile—so he could then throw them aside and…
Decoding Toddlerese and Theology
It is such a joy to finally figure out something my son has been trying to say. Just so, it is a joy when a particular passage of Scripture finally…
When Humans Prefer a Machine: Warnings from a 1960s Chatbot Creator
Chatbots aren’t new. Joseph Weizenbaum created one in 1966. And what happened next led him to become a vocal critic of his own creation. What did he see that we…
No Kings and No Landlords: Songs About Freedom
We’re talking about freedom this week on A Symposium of Popular Songs, and I demonstrate my freedom by going all the way from “guy with guitar” folk to overcranked contemporary…
Only Connect
In 2024, I held my first Margarita Mile. I’ve done more since then. It’s simple. I invite a group of friends. Using sidewalk chalk, I mark a start line and…
Family Doctors, Designer Babies, and Bug Farms
The details of the dissolution of the Honors College at Tulsa continue to be quite discouraging.
The Way from St. Martin’s: On the Virtue of Paths
When the wood deepened, the clean wearing of the earth itself wore away into indistinguishable concord.
Love and Loathing in Lawn Tractor Land
In the ultimate form of mimesis, the well-seasoned mower who comes to know every inch of the property he maintains, also comes, in the end, to know the contours and…
My Encounters with Dr. Dobson: His Unremarked Upon Strengths and Fatal Weakness
Dobson knew his influence was on one side of the political divide and kept his focus and advocacy there. Political loyalties came first.
A Flight of Leisure and Distraction
How we use our free time might be the difference between a professionally successful but ultimately mediocre life and the life of a saint.
You Don’t Have to Go Blind: Songs About Fame
Inspired by some recent criminal activity in the Christian rock world, this week on A Symposium of Popular Songs, we’re listening to songs about fame—mostly its negative aspects.
Reading Rilke with the Catherine Project
We've made it all the way from the overstepping of Orpheus, the land, and poetry into something our own lives can do (spill over as though water from a fountain--or,…
Weedkiller, Conversation, and Data Centers
Charles Eisenstein lays out some initial policy proposals that could help farmers stay solvent while transitioning to more regenerative agricultural practices.
