culture 56
Keeping A Culture: A Review of Thoroughness and Charm
Classroom culture may develop accidentally, but the truth is that a neutral classroom does not exist. Although her apologia is intended for classical Christian educators, Gerth speaks to all teachers
The Race to the Bottom: A Review of Ross Benes’s ‘1999’
It never fails—whenever Benes defends low culture, he does so in the exact terms that he ought to be using to criticize it
On Nosferatu, Moloch, and AI
Sometimes, it’s okay to be scared. At the very worst, it’s just a story.
Hannibal is at the Gates: Gambling in America
With the current state of sports betting, companies have managed to secure a largely unregulated, highly profitable, vice-driven field of operations.
Philosophy in the Ruins
As long as we do live philosophical lives and share in that life with others, we can sprout a philosophical culture from the ruins of the one dominated by the…
An Ordinary Citizen Honors A Man of Extraordinary Decency
President Carter showed what was possible when people came together for a cause and acted out of decency.
Moana Revisited: A Better Disney Princess
Rather than forging a new identity, she returns to old paths. Moana is not following her inner voice. She is listening to the echoes of her ancestors.
Jordan Peterson: From America’s Dad to America’s Guru
Christianity spread because people actually believed Jesus was their Lord and Savior. They believed in miracles not metaphors.
At Home with James Matthew Wilson
However, in St. Thomas and the Forbidden Birds, James Matthew Wilson shows that the seeds of a rebirth of civilization are to be planted and nurtured in the soil of…
American Holland and Dutch America: On the Exoticization of Culture
Culture is the ever-evolving play that takes place on that stage, as new props come and old props are replaced, even as the theater remains the same. Of course, the…
Medicine Wheel for the Planet: A Review
There ought not be unnecessary opposition between Indigenous and Christian perspectives. The creative work of caring for our ecology is hard enough; let us not also misunderstand one another.
Waging Culture Wars Justly
To fight a culture war justly is to be confident that your arguments have a reasonable chance of success; but this means that to fight justly is not only about…
Seeking a President for the End of the World
For brokenists, the new regime is not just a matter of garden-variety regulatory capture, and “the rules” are just as often a symptom of the problem as a solution to…
Farewell, Peak Literacy, We Hardly Knew You
I’ve also been struck by the number of people in the book-producing-and-selling business who are uninterested in their product. On the retail end, there was the manager of a bookstore…
Democracies Need Shared Literature
Before we totally condemn the Athenians as selfish, entertainment-addicted bad citizens—which, to be fair, they sometimes (or often?) were, just like us—it is worth considering what such shared democratic spaces…
Homeschooling and Red Herrings
Repeatedly, some of the best students I have taught have been homeschooled. What set them apart was precisely the spirit of bold curiosity that I see in my own kids:…
In Praise of the Humble Slow Cooker
One easy solution is the crockpot. Why? You can throw in some basic ingredients in the morning before work or school, and then when you get home in the evening,…
The Mandalorian Makes a Surprising Defense of Tradition
Turns out, there are other Mandalorians, and our hero is a traditionalist. After this encounter, some speculated that Mando would go “the way of the creedless Unitarianians, steadily shedding his…
Water and Wood: An Artistic Parable
Ed Hagenstein reflects on Makoto Fujimura's metaphor for cultural engagement and suggests that cultural renewal starts with the essential resources all around us.
Culture and the Front Porch
What is culture? What hath attachment to do with culture? Why are front porches necessary for culture? Culture is something vibrant. Something living. Something that runs through the veins of…
Branding Disaster
Earlier this year, after the Charlie Hebdo shootings, I reflected on the conversations that may or may not ensue from the changing of a facebook profile picture. As my facebook…
Townsman of a Stiller Town: Death on the American Highway
Earth's the right place for love.
No, I’m Not Charlie Martel, Either
Some time ago a number of my Facebook friends, some who even claimed to be practicing Catholics, changed their profile pictures on Facebook (equivalent to an avatar) to a mathematical…
Bar Jester’s Writing Seminar II; or, How to Write Like a Philosopher
If you want to write worse than the average undergraduate male, consider philosophy.