Tiptoeing Around Our Stories
In the best of times it is impossible to know other people fully. Even if we wish to act in good faith, it is hard to express to others who we think we are—and we may not know who we are.
Society & Culture
Take an Umbrella….
Mary Poppins' umbrella was all about Sufi mysticism, and a Bulgarian umbrella will kill you.
The Slow, But Powerful, Erosion of Flattery
Flattery flattens a person, robbing us of complexity and crippling our will and ability to exchange and understand truths—even the hard ones—we might gain from others.
The Vanities of Age
Want to grow old gracefully? Less striving, more love.
Living at Odds With One’s Country
How do we stay plugged into a society that is fast losing any moral compass—and keep our own?
The Patriotic Glamor of Short Hair, Brooks Brothers Suits, and West Civ Classes
Lauren Lassabe Shepherd reminds us that we are still living with the impact of the conservative campus activism of the 1960s and 1970s. And she argues that the current leaders of the right are the natural heirs to their ideological forefathers, not an aberration as some maintain.
How the Wreckage of Slavery Washes Upon the Shores of a Small Island
This island is extraordinary, and indifferent to that fact. The past is alive wherever you turn, though with few historic markers and little protection. Artifacts, ruins, and human remains have been tossed aside, laid claim to, or layered over, yet they refuse to be erased.
Why We Surrender to Logos
Should we not be grateful that companies care enough to hire skilled graphic designers educated in the ways of soft-selling via design and color, and not the bark of street hawkers?
Dare We Say It? The Bible Is a Messy Book
Somehow I had come to think of the Bible as stuck together from the start, a sacred, ordained book on which we speak our oaths...
Locked Out
For eighteen years, I have been returning home, sliding that brass key into the lock, and stepping into comfort. Now I tense before I even try.