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September 2019

September 06, 2019

Prophesy: Wait and See

A perpetual error of humankind is to think that knowing the future would help us...

September 04, 2019

Dishonor, Death, and Jollification (Henry IV Part 1)

Being honorable, at least in death, is a hard calling, but not one that is...

September 02, 2019

The Failure of the Odyssey and the Need for Hope

We need hope, badly. Is there hope for a happy ending in reality? Can a...

August 2019

August 30, 2019

Don’t Be Elpenor: Some Ways of Failing the Hero with One Particularly Silly One

Once I was asked how people managed to hang around Jesus and miss Him. Having...

August 28, 2019

Ancient Witches XIV (Guest Voice: James Harrington)

I asked for new voices and got some outstanding writers! Today we hear from the...

August 27, 2019

Spoiling (Song of Solomon, Troy, and Movies)

Spoiled Films (Mild Spoilers of Pride and Prejudice Ahead) Say anything about a film, even...

August 26, 2019

On Rewinding a Video, Helen of Troy, and Being Kind

Be Kind, Rewind If you are a certain age (old), then you recall “videos” ....

August 22, 2019

Men Are Human, Women Are Human . . . An Insight from Homer

I read Iliad as a boy . . . Badly. I wished to see Helen,...

August 21, 2019

Never Marry An Angry Man: Achilles is not a Catch

Now I surely cease my anger; it is not fitting that I be wrathful, unrelenting...

August 20, 2019

Never Have Paris (Iliad)

He is so unbelievably shallow, he could only be played by Orlando Bloom: Paris of...

August 19, 2019

Small Beginnings

There was a time when the entire church was one woman and the child in...

August 18, 2019

The Good Man Gets the Last Word

Thus they tended the funeral of Hector, breaker of horses.* Iliad ends not as at...

August 17, 2019

The Endless War from the Missing Voice: the Male and Female and Troy

The missing voice destroyed even the victor. The war lasted year after year, long past...

August 16, 2019

‘Ware the Weasel Hat! (Iliad)

Hats used to make the man until, we are told, John F. Kennedy stopped wearing...

August 15, 2019

The Old Men of the Iliad: God Help Us

Listen to the old men and women, even if they tend to natter. So the...

August 14, 2019

All’s Well that Does Not End Well (Guest Voice: Jill Bergen)

I asked for guest voices and today I am pleased to introduce a voice that...

August 13, 2019

Ancient Witches XIII (Oh!) (Guest Voice: James Harrington)

I asked for new voices and got some outstanding writers! Today we hear from the...

August 12, 2019

A Prey for Dogs and Vultures OR Nobody is a Red Shirt to God

Captain Kirk famously went to planet, meeting green women and logical puzzles, but the men...

August 11, 2019

On Solving Problems in a Relationship: Wait Until Asked

When I called my Dad, he was honest: “That was silly. I thought you knew...

August 10, 2019

Victory to Vichy: A Final Thought

Winning can be fatal. No loss is greater than victory secured by exhausting the moral resources...

August 09, 2019

Vichy Irony: the Cowardice of the Intellectual Class

Irony is often the cowardice of intellectuals. Imagine the Big Boss is a horrible tyrant...

August 08, 2019

Vichy Values: Owning the Opposition.

France may have fallen to Germany in 1940, but at least the French liberals were...

August 05, 2019

Joining Vichy

To join Vichy is to survive without pride. Vichy France, is unheroic World War II,...

August 04, 2019

What will I give up? (The High Cost of Certain Forms of Materialism)

As a boy the Dallas Cowboys were led by the very admirable coach Tom Landry....

August 02, 2019

On a Minimum Wage, Prudence, and Justice

Cry Justice Justice matters, including justice toward those who are poor. This is not a...

August 01, 2019

She is Best (On Being Best)

She is Best. A daughter turns twenty-two. When she was small, for reasons having to...

July 2019

July 31, 2019

Red Shirts Don’t Justify Brown Shirts

“There is no longer any political question at issue here. This thing cannot be judged...

July 27, 2019

God’s Prime Directive (Or Contra Colonialism)

The old Star Trek series introduced a Prime Directive to the explorers of the Starship Enterprise....

July 26, 2019

A Father of a Daughter (Shakespeare’s Pericles)

A father of daughters hears a new voice every time his daughter speaks. He hears...

July 23, 2019

Don’t Get (Needlessly) Stirred Up

WE ARE DOOMED! SOMEONE IS DOOMED! THE NATION IS DOOMED! DOOM! This may be true,...