“And potter is angry with potter, and craftsman with craftsman, and beggar is jealous of beggar, and minstrel of minstrel.” – Hesiod, Works and Days, ll. 25-26 Hesiod thought this jealousy between peers was “wholesome for men.” It encouraged “even the shiftless to toil” in hopes of gaining wealth. Jealousy, rightly understood, was a positive […]
Christianity started out in Palestine as a fellowship; it moved to Greece and became a philosophy; it moved to Italy and became an institution; it moved to Europe and became a culture; it came to America and became an enterprise. – Richard Halverson, former chaplain of the United States Senate (sometimes erroneously attributed to Sam […]
OK, maybe more than three. Maybe a lot more. But these three sola are doing a fantastic job without any help: The right wing generally (see, for example, its latest obsession with MOOCs) Higher education (which is basically a quisling for Corporate America) Artists themselves (this one merits its own blog, let alone a blog […]
This is kind of cool. It’s also kind of uncool humblebraggy stuff. I know that. I don’t care, but I thought I’d give those who object to that sort of thing an opportunity to stop reading. I’m fair like that. This week I learned that Point Of Ares is still getting airplay, or rather, Internet […]
Girl grasped light in her wounded palms and blackened eyes. Sun rained like coins on an open cross through the stained saint in the window. She’s learning to lean on the sun’s secret colors,to wash her feet in the invisible placesthat no one can pierce. Somewhere, years from now,in another life,she’ll gird herself with better […]
I’m feeling liminal and whimsical. Not an obvious pairing. Unless you feel like teasing out the thread of hardened whimsy that marks most borders. Anyway, here’s what keeps coming. (And this time it’s not a surreal Dutch image. By the way, nobody’s claimed it, but that one appears to have returned to wherever it came […]
