Reflections on the Intellectual Life by Irina S.
In one of my classes, we are reading a variety of books on the love of learning. I asked Irina (a nom de plume) if she’d be willing to share a few reflections on Zena…
Author: Mark J. Chmiel
January 12, 1996
The first week of January was bright and bitterly cold. Pat Geier and Cristobhal, our friend from Guatemala, had spent Christmas and New Year’s with us and had already left for Louisville, but she was…
These Are a Few of Our Favorite Things—A Winter Class to Take Us into Spring
Somehow [Bonnie] forced you to see yourself at your most amazing. Most precious. And believe in what you saw. She saw. A ll obstacles fell into shadow, disappeared, backlit by the blaze of what could…
Birds of a Feather
From Matt Taibbi’s article today at Substack–Which brings us back to Cheney. All those things Trump is rumored to be, Dick Cheney actually is. That’s why it’s so significant that he appeared on the floor…
Letter, 19 August 2014
Dear Candice, Yesterday, even as I was contemplating taking a break from Facebook, I noticed that there was an event calling for people to come downtown for a protest re: Ferguson. The goal was…
Two Books I Finished Reading Today
A Flash of Lightning in the Dark of Night: A Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life [A commentary on Shantideva’s great manual], by His Holiness the Dalai Lama. We Were in Auschwitz / 6643…
Dirda on Proust
Dear CK Michael Dirda is one of my favorite bibliophiles. I have several of his books, which, like Mustich‘s tome, I regularly browse in utmost delight. This morning in his Bound to Please, I came…
For ZG
Poetry as no big dealPoetry in 2 1/2 minutesPoetry to send to yr maPoetry as an escape into realityPoetry the realest it getsPoetry better than falling in lovePoetry the universal tribePoetry made of tears of…
Not Flustered, Not Melancholy, Not Anxious
James Laughlin, Ezra Pound’s publisher, observed that “Pound’s translations of Confucian texts, beautiful as is their language, are seldom applauded by Sinologues.” But we common readers may appreciate such versions from the Analects, when they…
This Month’s Header Photo: Oyster Dome Trail
My friend Cami Kasmerchak shared the photo above. Check out her website and Instagram!