I’ve been in San Francisco for a few days enjoying a break from winter, but this polar bear is living her best life.
Currently half-nursing along an idea for a book—intellectual memoir, I guess?—called After Sustained Reflection, I Changed My Mind.
Coming your way soon if you’re a Comment subscriber!
A great salve to trudge through the tundra yesterday for the 5 pm mass.
The soup kitchen at my church has an ongoing Amazon wishlist of clothing items for guests. Deep winter is a good time to re-up it, if you’re looking to help.
It’s so good to see George Scialabba really read Christopher Lasch and understand his neither-right-nor-left critique of modernity. Lasch “insisted on the fact of human scale.”
Our daughter’s boyfriend 3D printed her a paintbrush holder. Romance!
One day I really will write about how going to Wheaton College — where dancing and drinking and sex and drugs were verboten — was an absolute riot of creativity among my friends. We just unearthed these tapes, just some of the many bands and solo acts who wrote and recorded original music.
“In such situations, I have to learn the meaning of simply standing by.” On an ethics of life and accompaniment at a Vienna hospital, in Plough. Thanks to @isaacgreene for the link.
Our little public domain symbol goes official in Massachusetts. Surprises from that project abound.
Is it…wholly accidental that my students struggle to find the bookstore plugin on Canvas to see their required paper book titles?
Friends: if you can think of an academic journal article in any field that is both well written and (sorta) accessible outside its subfield, I’d love a rec. (I don’t need to explain why finding these can be… difficult.)
Notable uptick in people reading paper books on the train. My love for my fellow human creatures abounds.
I’m in a podcast rut and would love some suggestions. I like conversations on: intellectual history, philosophy and theology, the craft of fiction and creativity generally. And strong narrative-led documentary production on literally any subject except true crime. If it’s told well, sign me up.
lost causes
Great to hear Matt Dinan further expound on his last couple of years in the classroom on Know Your Enemy (after publishing this post). Dinan’s experience echoes so much of my own, and it feels amazing to be starting 2026 with confidence and clarity about what I’m doing in the classroom, even if it’s rare in my institutional setting. And Dinan’s aside that he is hopelessly devoted to a triad of lost causes — cooperativism, the Catholic church, liberal education — made my heart swell.
Looking forward to George Scialabba’s forthcoming collection.
Went to see Brazil at the Brattle tonight. Wow!
I wrote about 2025 in scenes: gift economies, pattern languages, one kid getting lost and found, keeping the chatbots at bay.