Jan 19The Dishonesty of Despair: Reflections on “The Sunset Limited”I recently watched the HBO version of Cormac McCarthy’s play The Sunset Limited. Similar to Twelve Angry Men or Lifespan of a Fact,the play manages to convey both emotional intensity and philosophical depth through a long dialogue and minimal “action.” The only characters are an ex-convict named “Black” and a…Cormac Mccarthy5 min readCormac Mccarthy5 min read
Sep 17, 2022Why Real Adults Wonder if There are Sheep on AsteroidsI first read The Little Prince at the end of high school and was unmoved, although I think pronounced it “charming.” At eighteen I was busy trying to grow up. …The Little Prince3 min readThe Little Prince3 min read
Aug 27, 2022Can I laugh a lot and still be holy? Some Thoughts on St. Edith Stein’s “The Science of the Cross”“In Port William, more than anyplace else I had been, this religion that scorned the beauty and goodness of this world was a puzzle to me. To begin with, I don’t think anybody believed it. I still don’t think so. Those world-condemning sermons were preached to people who . …Catholic Church5 min readCatholic Church5 min read
Aug 20, 2022How does the “boy” grow up in a pressure machine?Thoughts on The Killer’s latest song The Killer’s song “Terrible Thing” (from “Pressure Machine” 2021) introduces a boy feeling trapped in a town where everyone seems to live by default. …The Killers3 min readThe Killers3 min read
Aug 15, 2022Christ Reenters the Desert in Plutenko’s PaintingThe closest place to a desert I remember visiting is Jockey’s Ridge in the Outer Banks of North Carolina. If you stand in the middle, enormous dunes stretch on every side and you imagine being on a caravan in the Sahara or with Obi-Wan Kenobi on Tatooine. At least, until…Stanislav Plutenko3 min readStanislav Plutenko3 min read
Aug 13, 2022You’re [Probably] Living LiturgicallyHumans fall naturally into ritual. Morning coffee. Weekly happy hour. “Self-care days.” Christmas. New Year’s. We are created in and bound by time. Societies all have ways of measuring time. We have significant days and seasons — birthdays, holidays — and we track our years by various calendars. The academic…Liturgy3 min readLiturgy3 min read
Aug 5, 2022The Gnomes that Marched for Polish FreedomYour eyes open in a slow squint as you come to consciousness under a harsh fluorescent light. As your vision adjusts, you see a grey cell, a wooden table with scratches, and — is that dried blood? A door slams and you start up. A tall man in a Soviet…Poland4 min readPoland4 min read
Aug 2, 2022“And the Fire and the Rose are One”: Shared Imagery in Dante and T.S Eliot, Pt. 3T.S Eliot imbues his poetry with a sense of longing for lost beauty. He describes an abandoned rose garden. Footfalls echo in the memory / Down the passage which we did not take / Towards the door we never opened / Into the rose garden (Burnt Norton 1.11–14). Both Eliot…Divine Comedy3 min readDivine Comedy3 min read
Jul 30, 2022Hell is Frigid and Heaven on Fire: Shared Imagery in Dante and T.S Eliot, Pt. 2Both Dante and Eliot use fiery imagery to as a symbol of passion, but the context and effect of fire differs between poems — sometimes it’s destructive, sometimes purgative, sometimes exhilarating. Passion causes fire and flames. Heat results from high energy. …Ts Eliot4 min readTs Eliot4 min read
Jul 29, 2022Windswept Commuters and Dancing Stars: Shared Imagery in Dante and T.S Eliot, Pt. 1In the early fourteenth century Dante Alighieri described himself having a mid-life crisis and taking a quest through Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise. In the early twentieth century, Thomas Stearns Eliot wrote about a world full of shattered monuments and a generation struggling to make sense of life. …Dante4 min readDante4 min read
