more than 95 theses

farewell and hail

I have been thinking for a while about suspending this tumblelog, and as of today that’s what...

Sep 21st

““What Americans Really Believe,” a comprehensive...”
— WSJ

Sep 21st

my review of Marilynne Robinson's new novel

Sep 21st

tweets

I thought I had deleted the tweets from the feed for this blog, but discovered over the weekend that...

Sep 21st

“I taught DFW at Amherst and count him the best student...”
— Comment here, via Kottke.

Sep 18th

“I believe that the skeptic, even the pyrrhonist, but...”
— T. S. Eliot, “Religion...

Sep 18th

“Nothing in his work will tell you what a sweet man he was....”
— Verlyn Kilnkenborg on David...

Sep 16th

“What is prudence? It is the ability to grasp the unique...”
— David Brooks is exactly right....

Sep 16th

“The mere fact that you’re reading this article right...”
— Chris Hayes, in an excellent...

Sep 15th

a few words on David Foster Wallace

Sep 14th

The Golden Gate from Goat Island, Eadweard Muybridge (1869)

Sep 14th

“Ah! Edinburgh, where Thomas de Quincey, the unmanageable...”
— Will Self, from a marvelous...

Sep 14th

“The presence of a Hirst in a collection is a sure sign of...”
— Robert Hughes on Damien Hirst

Sep 14th

WWRD?

As I pointed out a while back, the blogosphere is full of people who had never heard Sarah...

Sep 13th

“According to surveys by Ellison Research of Phoenix, 36...”
— Terry Mattingly

Sep 13th

Paul Klee, Dream City (1921)

Sep 11th

“Nobody has ever really believed in Freedom of Religion....”
— W. H. Auden, quoted by Sean...

Sep 11th

“Godot 2008: Change Worth Waiting For”
— comment on my earlier Beckett...

Sep 11th

O, what a falling off was there

The transformation of the previously idyllic American Scene into a series of back-alley brawls is a...

Sep 11th

Finally: a candidate I can try but fail to believe in. Via...

Sep 11th

“It’s hard for me to pin the Scarlet Letter E for Egghead to...”
— Tim Burke

Sep 10th

in which I dare to suggest an experiment

If you are a partisan in the current political struggle, try this: for one week, talk and write...

Sep 10th

via Bibliodyssey

Sep 10th

“Curse the blasted, jelly-boned swines, the slimy, the...”
—  D. H. Lawrence, letter of...

Sep 10th

via Reference Library, which is awesome

Sep 10th

tweet update

The Twitter feed seems to be working only intermittently. Sorry about that.

Sep 10th

“A Checkpoint Charlie of the Mind” (2008), oil...

Sep 10th

I’m horizontal and liking it.

Sep 9th

This morning I will weep over the tragic death of Homer before the gates of Troy.

Sep 9th

“The prophet is a realist of distances.” — Flannery O’Connor

Sep 9th

Carrot cake at the dining hall. Score.

Sep 9th

5 myths about American voters: http://tinyurl.com/5bvgbk (via A&L Daily)

Sep 9th

HItchens on SP: “Her local shout-and-holler tabernacle apparently believes that Jews can be...

Sep 9th

Dorothy Parker, asked to use the word “horticulture” in a sentence: “You can lead...

Sep 9th

Fun fact of the day: It’s possible to think that a candidate is being treated unfairly even if...

Sep 9th

Got that line from a nice Tim O’Reilly post on Twitter wit: http://tinyurl.com/6jykyz

Sep 9th

My mother-in-law, in hospital here, is trying to cope, not with her doctor’s skin color, but...

Sep 9th

“In its etymological origins, integrity refers to wholeness,...”
— Leon Wieseltier

Sep 9th

“The DNA of the comedian Stephen Colbert will be digitized...”
— NYT

Sep 9th

“I am not denying that Sarah Palin may have great skills. She...”
— David Frum

Sep 9th

Hurricanes as seen from space. I know I link to The Big...

Sep 8th

a small thought

It’s actually possible to have some sympathy for a political candidate — to think that a...

Sep 8th

Alan Wolfe on family values

I have a world of respect for Alan Wolfe, who has been very kind to me over the years, but I do...

Sep 8th

Purgatory Mates

Sep 8th

tweeting

I find that lately I’m tweeting more than I’m posting here, and since some of the people...

Sep 8th

too good not to quote at length

My colleagues in the American liberal press had little to fear at the start of the week. Their...

Sep 7th

Peter Brooke

Sep 6th

“I count myself as something of an expert on what writer...”
— Hitch

Sep 4th

“Calm down, everybody, please. It’s only politics, for...”
— John Derbyshire

Sep 3rd

“The angels laugh at old Karl. They laugh at him because he...”
— » Karl Barth, on himself,...

Sep 1st

listening to The Voice of Reason

Andrew Sullivan, acting in his usual capacity as The Voice of Reason, thinks it perfectly normal to...

Sep 1st

At the entry of the Cao Dai Holy See, a painting depicting...

Sep 1st