Matt Kaul

Matt Kaul

'What man needs is silence & warmth; what he is given is an icy pandemonium.' ~Simone Weil

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2025

  • I wrote a short essay on Chinese architect Liu Jiakun for my newsletter. Liu, who won this year’s …

  • Latest issue of my newsletter: “The Wolrd is Run by Brilliant Idiots” and what we can learn from …

  • One of the real problems in modern life is that people who are good at being civil lack strong …

  • The story of the foolish wiseman—on Thomas More, Niels Bohr, & the power of paradox in a …

  • Finished reading: Vita Contemplativa by Byung-Chul Han 📚

  • Currently reading: King Lear by William Shakespeare 📚

2024

  • Finished reading: Concerning the Future of Souls by Joy Williams. Subtitle: 99 Stories of Azrael. …

  • Finished reading: Lord Emsworth and Others by P. G. Wodehouse 📚

  • Currently reading: Collected Fictions by Jorge Luis Borges 📚

  • Currently reading: Concerning the Future of Souls by Joy Williams 📚

  • Two absolutely killer albumss released today. One could do worse than spend the weekend listening to …

  • Hollis Robbins, "AI & the Last Mile" Here’s a very insightful essay on the changing role — and increasing importance of — human …

  • Parables are strange; finding your life transformed into a parable, even stranger.

  • Boy do I wish I had been in Chicago last Friday 🎵

  • Currently reading: The Power Broker by Robert A. Caro. It’s time. Let’s do this. 📚

  • It’s a glorious time to be an American tennis fan. Half of the US Open men’s & women’s …

  • Currently reading: All Things Are Full of Gods by David Bentley Hart 📚

  • Finished reading: Middlemarch by George Eliot 📚

  • Currently reading: Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake 📚

  • Currently reading: Range by David Epstein 📚

  • The wisdom of simplicity: an interview with Uruguya's former president José Mujica 🔗 A brief, powerful interview with Uruguay’s former philosopher-president, who is now battling …

  • The power of journalism rises & falls inversely to journalists' belief in the power of …

  • Get out there right now & watch Esperanza Spalding & Milton Nascimiento’s beautiful …

  • Currently reading: The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron. Oft recommended; I’m reading it & …

  • Current listening: Pat Metheny’s beautiful new solo guitar album, Moondial. The album includes …

  • Loving Rick Rubin’s two-part interview with Ezra Koenig of Vampire Weekend (my family’s …

  • Luke Burgis offers a reading list for creators & entrepreneurs. Personally, I’d replace Mill …

  • Current listening: Ron Carter, All Blues. Roland Hanna’s solo on “Light Blue” is a beautiful little …

  • Finished reading: When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi. What a remarkable book. I love academic …

  • We’ve got a trip to Yellowstone & Grand Tetons coming up next month. Any recommendations …

  • Currently reading: Middlemarch by George Eliot. An old favorite. Profound from the first paragraph. …

  • Finished reading: Moonbound by Robin Sloan. So great! Handed it off to my daughter—she’s 11; I’m …

  • Finished reading: Night Train by A. L. Snijders. Wonderful microstories, translated by Lydia Davis. …

  • Currently reading: When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi 📚

  • Cleaned like a zillion ants out of our mailbox today. (!?!) Now spending the afternoon creeped out …

  • Matt Levine is hilarious & spot-on, exhibit 389247 🔗 Matt Levine is hilarious & spot-on, exhibit 389247 (likely paywalled unless you subscribe to his …

  • Currently reading: Moonbound by Robin Sloan 📚

  • The pizzas turned out very well. I made four different pizzas, 5 pizzas of each style—turned out to …

  • Father’s Day Special: Wordle 1,093 2/6 ⬛⬛🟩🟨🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

  • Prepping a whole lotta pizza for tomorrow… #pizzaparty 🍕

  • Jeff Koons and T.J. Maxx: a match made in heaven.

  • Want to read: Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake 📚

  • Thomas Chatterton Williams pens another chapter in the story of how every sport is breaking under …

  • Ran my first 10k this morning at the Fargo Marathon. I beat my goal, finishing in 54:25. More …

  • Our first pizza night with the wood-fired Ooni was a great success! Can’t wait to start using …

  • Finished reading: Cahokia Jazz by Francis Spufford. This book is incredible—it connects many of my …

  • Currently reading: Night Train by A. L. Snijders. Very short stories translated from Dutch by Lydia …

  • Currently reading: The Shield of Achilles by W. H. Auden 📚

  • Currently reading: Cahokia Jazz by Francis Spufford 📚

  • I love the impulse toward community in the work of the great Japanese architect Riken Yamamoto, …

  • Finished reading: The Dark Forest by Cixin Liu 📚

  • Currently reading: A Time to Keep Silence by Patrick Leigh Fermor 📚

  • Currently reading: Aspects of Truth by Catherine Pickstock 📚

  • Happy Feast of the Epiphany! Our Rosca de Reyes turned out exceptionally well 😋🏡

  • I think this year would be a good year to listen to Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers straight …

  • Exodus 90: readings ✝️ Try to read each week’s Scripture once each day. Week 1: 8-14 Jan Reading: Exodus 1-4 Week …

  • Exodus 90: Mental prep ✝️ I have a very general, easy schedule of readings for the next 12 weeks. A few chapters each week—it …

2023

  • Currently reading: If On A Winter’s Night A Traveler by Italo Calvino. Christmas: the perfect …

  • Finished reading: The Blue Flower by Penelope Fitzgerald Another Penelope Fitzgerald book I love.📚

  • Currently reading: The Blue Flower by Penelope Fitzgerald 📚

  • Highland Advent vibes this morning. 🏡

  • Exodus 90: spiritual discipline between New Year's & Easter ✝️ Several times in the last five years, I’ve participated in Exodus 90, a 90-day program of …

  • Current listening: *The Incomparable Bola Sete 🎶

  • A new Geri Allen album?? Sure, it’s just a live recording, but I’m here all day for this one. Heck, …

  • Finished reading: Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel 📚

  • Great day at the used book store 📚

  • I’ve been working on an essay on Sam Bankman-Fried and Sam Altman for a couple weeks now. …

  • I like the new Wikipedia app… but it doesn’t always get everything right:

  • Finished reading: *The New Leviathans* by John Gray Finished reading: The New Leviathans by John Gray. A book with no single overarching thesis beyond …

  • Current listening: a new Arvo Pärt album, Tractus, featuring a new, chamber-choir arrangement of …

  • Rest in peace, Terence Davies. 🎞️ The first film I saw of his was his relatively recent documentary …

  • No words strike fear into a Minnesota United fan’s heart quite like “must-win home game.” #COYL ⚽️

  • Currently reading: Your Face Belongs to Us by Kashmir Hill 📚

  • Currently reading: Toward the Winter Solstice by Timothy Steele 📚

  • Perfect night for a fire. A zillion stars in the cloudless sky. Some Wolfgang Muthspiel on the …

  • Finished reading: The Bible and Poetry by Michael Edwards. A fascinating and very idiosyncratic look …

  • Finished reading: Meet Me at the Lighthouse by Dana Gioia. A delightful collection of poems, songs, …

  • Tyler Cowen draws attention to the remarkable life and work of the Catholic religious scholar R.C. …

  • Currently reading: The Bible and Poetry by Michael Edwards 📚

  • Finished reading: Zen in the Art of Writing by Ray Bradbury. I love Bradbury’s simple, relentless …

  • A beautiful evening by the lake. I read; the kids built driftwood boats. 🏡

  • One should act like a man of thought, and think like a man of action. ~Henri Bergson, quoted by …

  • Can’t wait to dig into this one. 📚

  • Some days, you get lucky. Very, very lucky. Wordle 785 2/6 ⬛⬛🟩🟩⬛ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

  • Current listening: Johnathan Blake, Passage. Blake is a master. Always brings the fire. 🎶

  • True confession: I’m so inept at using the MacOS Photos app that if I want to use a photo, I …

  • Do not hurry; do not rest. ~Goethe; h/t Annie Dillard 📚

  • Currently reading: Zen in the Art of Writing by Ray Bradbury 📚

  • It’s incredible how many good book groups, seminars, & tutorials the Catherine Project is …

  • Currently reading: In Search of Lost Time Volume I Swann’s Way by Marcel Proust. It’s been a …

  • Current listening: Tyshawn Sorey Trio, Continuing. Four tracks, 53 minutes. As wide-ranging as ever …

  • This desk. Click through for more detail—it’s worth it. Suddenly considering a trip to the …

  • Finished reading: The This by Adam Roberts. Lots to think about with this delightful book. Roberts …

  • A beautiful summer morning 🏡

  • Rest in peace, my dear old friend David MacKay David MacKay, 1944–2023. David was already retired from IU by the time I started grad school there, …

  • Currently reading: The This by Adam Roberts 📚

  • Finished reading: Mansfield Park by Jane Austen. Rather sobering to have finished it on Father’s …

  • I just love these essays that so confidently tell me what my own brain is doing to me. Undoubtedly …

  • My friend Rick recently helped design a book of poems about Parkinson’s disease. The book is …

  • R.I.P., Astrud Gilberto—one of the most ethereal & beautiful of all singers, IMO. 🎶

  • There are some compelling resonances between Tara Isabella Burton’s New Atlantis essay …

  • Currently reading: Mansfield Park by Jane Austen 📚

  • Well, gotta say I’m glad I forgot my Loons had a US Open Cup match tonight… Houston 4-0 MNUFC. 😳⚽️

  • NB, publishers: describing an author as a “Forbes 30 Under 30 scientist” makes me want to read their …

  • Current listening: Danish Rain, the new album from a duet of wonderful musicians: pianist Justin …

  • A wonderful essay by Tara Isabella Burton in The New Atlantis on Effective Altruism, the rationalist …

  • Current listening: Brian Blade, Mama Rosa. I’ve loved this singer-songwriter-Gospel album from a …

  • Finished reading: Laurus by Eugene Vodolazkin. My second read; it’s as beautiful and profound as it …

  • The Temptation in the Wilderness, part 1 (Good Teacher #3) ✝️ Original post here Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the …

  • Baptism & new life (Good Teacher #2) ✝️ Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. John would have prevented …

  • I’m heading to Chicago this weekend for a birthday celebration with my father & brother. …

  • Welcome to the Good Teacher (Good Teacher #1) ✝️ In this newsletter, the goal is to consider Jesus’ teaching: what makes it worth following now, …

  • Realizing I should be maintaining issues of my newsletter here on my blog, not just on Substack, in …

  • Austin Klein won’t be hiring a virtual assistant anytime soon. 🔗

  • R.I.P. Ahmad Jamal, one of the greatest and perhaps my absolute favorite jazz pianist. My dad used …

  • The best AI app wouldn’t be an everything app. It would be a nothing app—so smart it helped me do …

  • Everything Iain McGilchrist has to say is worth considering, but I can’t recommend his conversation …

  • On Brad East’s blog, Denise Levertov’s Good Friday poem “On a Theme from Julian’s Chapter XX”: …

  • [Early book collectors] supported the lively culture of book hunting that still goes on, diminished …

  • Yeesh. For Minnesota United fans, things are not looking good on the Bebelo front. Fortunately, …

  • Currently reading: The Secret Commonwealth by Robert Kirk A gloriously strange book from …

  • Blue Note Records is absolutely crushing it lately: Julian Lage, Charles Lloyd’s trio of …

  • Current listening: Charles Lloyd, Trio of Trios 🎵 Three fantastic trio albums, each with a different …

  • Current listening: Charles Lloyd, Trio of Trios. 🎵 Three fantastic trio albums, each with a …

  • No world / wears as well as it should but, mortal or not, / a world still had to be built. ~Auden, …

  • What is mobile is always the most just. ~Robert Walser. So many great sentences in Walser. 📚

  • Every last silly little thing has its unspeakably swift justification, its good clever grounds. …

  • Jaron Lanier, being typically insightful: “We have to say consciousness is a real thing and there …

  • Then, in all labyrinthine economies there are obscure nooks into which Authority never pokes a …

  • What has become of us as a people that we can possess the beautiful only in dreams. ~Robert Walser

  • Currently reading: Berlin Stories by Robert Walser 📚

  • The cultivation of taste, in morals as well as in art, is neither snobbish nor elitist; it is, …

  • I encountered a stunning book of photos on the Getty’s website today: Kazumasa Ogawa’s …

  • Currently reading: The Battle for Your Brain by Nita A. Farahany 📚 Her contention is that control …

  • Rest in peace, Kenzaburo Oe. My friend Caleb introduced me to Oe back in 2004 or 2005, and I came to …

  • Rest in peace, Wayne Shorter, one of the very greats. 🎶

  • Current listening: Kendrick Scott, Reverence. A 2009 album featuring some incredible players: not …

  • Attention is how one disposes oneself to the world. ~Iain McGilchrist, The Matter with Things

  • The more I use Arc Browser the more I love it—and I’ve been using it a lot! It restores some …

  • Start of a new season for my beloved MNUFC tonight. I’m not optimistic about the season, but I am …

  • Finished reading: How Big Things Get Done by Bent Flyvbjerg 📚 For the most part, a very good and …

  • Currently reading: Dubliners by James Joyce 📚 Chiefly, “The Dead.” Is there a more beautiful story?

  • Nicholas Dames on literary studies 🔗 📚 What happened to literary studies? If professionalization was the flaw in the construction of the …

  • Finished reading: Skin in the Game by Nassim Nicholas Taleb 📚

  • Currently reading: How Big Things Get Done by Bent Flyvbjerg 📚

  • Current listening: Chris Potter, Got the Keys to the Kingdom. 🎵 Absolutely scorching live set …

  • Currently reading: Night Train by A. L. Snijders; translated by Lydia Davis 📚

  • Reading stories about Davos attendees’ optimism, I’m reminded of Iain McGilchrist’s …

  • Currently reading: War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy 📚

  • Currently reading: Skin in the Game by Nassim Nicholas Taleb 📚

  • Still excellent advice, on the whole, though I’m not sure what Auden would replace “Read …

  • Aesthetic judgments in an anti-aesthetic age 📚 🔗 Just because we don’t believe in aesthetic standards as a culture doesn’t mean we …

  • Rowan Williams on Iain McGilchrist 📚 Rowan Williams reviews Iain McGilchrist’s The Matter With Things. A masterful and appreciative …

2022

  • The result of more free time for the masses is not more leisure, as Aristotle conceived it, but more …

  • Finished reading: A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles 📚

  • Finished reading: The Nature of Oaks by Douglas W. Tallamy 📚

  • It seems like the people most awed by “generative AI” art are those least familiar with humanity’s …

  • Don’t come at me with some “philosopher test” if Hegel’s not one of the …

  • My friend Patrick worked with his daughters to make an awesome collaborative card game—Nature …

  • This World Cup’s group-stage matchday 3 has produced absolutely scintillating, wild, …

  • World Cup update: 🇺🇸 and 🇦🇷 are through, so I’m happy. I can enjoy the rest of the group stage …

  • Not surprised—it’s a great album! 🎶

  • Alan Jacobs on your lies, and mine: In any given community, there will be a profound divide between …

  • Despite EA & crypto, we're still living in the Victorians' world 🔗💰📚 Derek Thompson’s short, pensive essay on his own entanglement with effective altruism (EA) and …

  • Excited for 🇧🇪-🇨🇦. I spent 90 terrifying minutes several years ago watching Alphonso Davies tear …

  • So far, this World Cup suggests that it might not be quite the disaster I expected to expand to 48 …

  • Jacqui Oakley and Warren Barton are hands-down the best commentators in this Fox squad for the World …

  • I’ve loved Argentina since I studied abroad there in 2005. That’s a crushing defeat. But …

  • ¡Vamos Argentina! 🇦🇷⚽️

  • Halfway through 🇺🇸- 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿, I’m thrilled. We’re playing great; creating some good chances. I’m …

  • My heart-over-head bracket. Really had to get speculative to get the final I wanted… 🇧🇷- 🇦🇷 ⚽️

  • Everyone can’t look away from the story of the spectacular failure of crypto …

  • All of humanity’s problems stem from our inability to sit quietly in a deer stand alone. ~ Pascal, …

  • Currently reading: The Nature of Oaks by Douglas W. Tallamy 📚

  • Decided recently to start a newsletter about Jesus' teachings. It won’t be religious, or even …

  • Tomorrow, the Premier League starts a six-week mad dash prior to the World Cup; some teams will play …

  • D.C. Schindler on beauty and hospitality 📚 Instead, beauty effects a completeness that strengthens our capacity to be open and hospitable. It …

  • Is there any better illustration of Iain McGilchrist’s theory of the left brain’s …

  • Sure, I’d love to be your start-up’s Chief Metaverse Officer. Here’s my cover …

  • Saddened to learn of Hilary Mantel’s sudden and untimely death at the age of 70. Her Wolf Hall …

  • So, apparently there are 20 quadrillion ants in the world. That’s a cool 1.5 million per person. 🐜 🔗

  • Current listening: Brian Blade & the Fellowship Band, Season of Changes 🎶

  • Finished reading: The Elementary Particles by Michel Houellebecq. Profoundly bleak, even for …

  • Finished reading: Darkness at Noon by Arthur Koestler. An amazing novel of revolutionary …

  • Finished reading: The Life We’re Looking For: Reclaiming Relationship in a Technological World …

  • Finished reading: Purgatory Mount by Adam Roberts 📚

  • Finished reading: Bells In Winter by Czeslaw Milosz 📚

  • Bill Russell, Track & Field, & Learning to Learn 🏀🔗 R.I.P., Bill Russell—an amazing athlete and man. Tributes to Russell reminded of an essay by a …

  • In life and work alike, his contradictions are pressed together like layers in metamorphic rock. It …

  • Finished reading: McGilchrist, *The Master & His Emissary* 📚 I finally finished Iain McGilchrist’s The Master & His Emissary this morning. It’s taken me …

  • Thanks to MinnPost for publishing this rich, illuminating portrait of MSP drummer Dave King (of The …

  • Pulitzer Committee: Award Duke Ellington the 1965 Pulitzer Prize he was denied. 🔗🎶

  • Tanner Greer on substance, not procedure 🔗 The trouble is that the national problems that the extremists fixate on are, for the most part, …

  • Max Richter, giving Auden pride of place in his Recomposed Four Seasons headshot. (The album is very …

  • “The Technocrat’s Dilemma” is as concise a framing of our current …

  • I basically agree with Gruber’s take on Netflix: Netflix would be better-served by focusing …

  • I relished Roy Foster’s Conversation with Tyler on Irish history, economics, and culture. I …

  • “We’re moving towards disaster, guided by a false image of the world; and no one realizes.” ~ Michel …

  • Glad to see a third-party candidate enter the MN governor’s race. I don’t expect …

  • Put the Oscars out of their misery 🔗 🎞 Most of the ceremonies feature flickers of genuine emotion amid hours of sanctimonious, self-serving …

  • The world needs more Cavafy 📚

  • On the absurd counter-productivity of cancelling Russian culture. 🔗 The last thing we need is to …

  • In order for people to use social media responsibly—i.e., not get addicted—we essentially have to …

  • Finished reading: Tradition and Apocalypse by David Bentley Hart 📚 Unsurprisingly if you’ve read …

  • Finished reading: London’s Fields by Mark Waldon 📚 ⚽️ A delightful oral history looking at …

  • Review: *The Future of Money: How the Digital Revolution Is Transforming Currencies and Finance* by Eswar S. Prasad 📚 Eswar Prasad, The Future of Money Reading Eswar Prasad’s The Future of Money was an odd …

  • Everything about central bank digital currency (CBDC) is the stuff of totalitarian nightmare. ~A …

  • Expert ≠ leader (or vice versa): The pandemic has shown us the dangers of expert rule, and the …

  • Social media & the human heart 🔗 From Mallory Owens’s review of Bruno Maçães’s History Has Begun: It would be disturbing …

2021

  • When was the last time I link to a Slate article? Maybe never. In any case, their “Best Jazz …

  • Tyler Cowen’s conversation with biographer-historian Ruth Scurr is delightful—bookstores, Cambridge, …

  • Beautiful light in my office this morning.

  • A fresh layer of snow overnight + fire-red sunrise.

  • Incredibly excited for the future of Slant Books. They have some wonderful titles coming in their …

  • R.I.P, Robert Bly, one of Minnesota’s great poets. I’ll remember him most for his …

  • A beautiful obituary of Chinese philosopher and aesthetician Li Zehou. 🔗

  • This sunrise this morning… unreal. 💥 🏡

  • Alan Jacobs on distributism & the need for new institutions 🔗 In the Hedgehog Review, Alan Jacobs describes the potential for “A New Guild System”: I envision a …

  • Bitcoin & the US fiscal reckoning 🔗 Bitcoin and the U.S. Fiscal Reckoning - National Affairs Until and unless Congress reduces the …

  • A first post in my shameless theft of Robert‘s Last/Next notebook category. I’ll enjoy looking back …

  • Daniel A. Kaufman defends “The Good Old Liberal Consensus” against its foes on both right and left. …

  • Currently reading: The Future of Money: How the Digital Revolution is Transforming Currencies and …

  • "Homeward Bound (for Ana Grace)" 🎵 The title track from Johnathan Blake’s upcoming album Homeward Bound is a beautiful …

  • This is a wonderful appreciation of Norm MacDonald—the best I’ve read so far. 🔗

  • “Destiny waits in the hands of God, not in the hands of statesmen / Who do, some well, some ill, …

  • MNUFC old-timer Brent Kallman provides the context behind the “Nicest Rivalry in Sports” moniker. …

  • Another beautiful sunrise on Rish Lake🏡

  • Current listening: the Danish String Quartet’s Prism III 🎶

  • R.I.P., great author, publisher, and literary scholar Roberto Calasso 📚 🔗

  • Amen: “Simone Biles Doesn’t Exist To Make America Proud” 🔗

  • In “The Future is a Decentralized Internet,” Olaf Carlson-Wee explains the theory behind DAOs and …

  • There’s no world in which I sign up for a newsletter hosted by Bulletin, just like there’s no world …

  • Currently reading: Bill Evans: How My Heart Sings by Peter Pettinger 📚

  • Stop whatever you’re doing and go listen to Glenn Loury’s podcast conversation with Cornel West. H/t …

  • Current listening: Squint, jazz guitarist Julian Lage’s new album, which features the trio Lage has …

  • Current listening: Another Land by Dave Holland, featuring Robin Eubanks on guitar and Obed Calvaire …

  • Weekend project: cleaning out the garage, the last holdout/dumping-ground from our Oct move. Wish I …

  • A beautiful sunrise over Rush Lake this morning. #nofilter 🏡

  • I’m not interested in the decision of the Facebook “oversight board” on Trump. A foregone conclusion …

  • Management as marketing I’m no management guru, but my takeaway from the drama at Basecamp is “Don’t confuse your management …

  • It was a beautiful foggy morning at Whispering Woods 🏡

  • Currently reading: The Master and His Emissary by Iain McGilchrist 📚

  • The European Super League™️ Sponsored by JPMorgan Chase® is an affront to soccer fans around the …

  • Conversion in modernity Continuing on the theme, here’s Pierre Manent on why conversion can seem so objectionable to us …

  • Varieties of Conversion 🔗 Two interesting pieces on conversion: A review of Neil Price’s history of the Vikings, Children of …

  • Who is Wanchope Ábila and what does his nickname mean? ⚽️ Minnesota United’s new striker, Ramón “Wanchope” Ábila is an old friend of our superstar midfielder …

  • Dropped yesterday: Uneasy by Vijay Iyer with Linda May Han Oh & Tyshawn Sorey. Three jazz …

  • What happened to the ACLU? 🔗 A fantastic story in Tablet about how the organization abandoned long-held principles in pursuit of …

  • Robert Pogue Harrison reviews several recent books by and about the wonderful Shirley Hazzard. 📚 As …

  • Freddie deBoer’s Substack has been excellent lately. From a recent post of thoughts for new writers: …

  • The NYT obit for Adam Zagajewski is quite touching. I remember talking with a peer at a conference. …

  • RIP Adam Zagajewski, my favorite contemporary poet. 📚

  • Happy new year / public-domain day! 🎶 📚 Happy new year & happy public-domain day! The works coming out of US copyright protection this …

2020

  • Your annual reminder that Geri Allen’s A Child is Born is the pinnacle of Christmas jazz, and the …

  • Busy morning on the river

  • The Charthusian monks: brewing Chartreuse in the Alps during a pandemic A fascinating essay in the NYT on the Charthusian monks, brewers of Chartreuse: “An Elixir …

  • My favorite year-end list is always Ted Gioia’s 100 favorite albums of the year. I guarantee you’ll …

  • Leibovitz on the Supreme Court & religious liberty 🔗 Supreme Court decisions rarely make for page turners, but the one handed down last night, siding …

  • Shouldn’t it be “philosophy schimosophy”? 🔗 Is there an anecdote that better describes our current moment than this one? Probably. But this one …

  • The Politics We Don't Have 🔗 Most Americans want secure work, safe streets, healthcare, dignity, freedom, and a governing class …

  • Out this week: Songs from Home, beautiful solo piano from Fred Hersch. 🎶

  • A beautiful day to prep the garden for winter. 🏡

  • You think it is helpful having a fluorescent praying mantis coming into their office, telling them …

  • Currently reading: Montaigne: Life Without Law by Pierre Manent 📚

  • Moving day. Our first day of snow for the season, too. 🏡

  • Currently reading: Jane Austen: Writing, Society, Politics by Tom Keymer 📚

  • The Big Move 🏡 Our family is getting ready to move from the Minneapolis – St. Paul metro area up to central …

  • UMN professor of history Jon Butler has a fascinating new book out: God in Gotham: The Miracle of …

  • Liz Bruenig on Catholicism & American power Elizabeth Bruenig has written a couple of amazing columns this week for the NYT, columns that focus …

  • Coffee + grading while listening to Mahler’s Sympony No. 5, prompted by this touching anecdote from …

  • I watched The Booksellers this evening. It’s a delightful documentary about the passionate folks in …

  • Here’s 58.5 hours of Glenn Gould playing Bach for y’all. See ya next week. 🎶

  • R.I.P. Fr. Edward Sthokal Show me what you give your time and attention to, and I’ll show you what you love. ~Fr. Edward …

  • It’s finally Minnesota’s turn in the Atlantic’s series of photographs from each of the 50 states. 🔗 …

  • Catching up on some soccer highlights: Alphonso Davies had a ridiculous assist for Bayern in their …

  • At the very center of his identity, Kushner is a Good Son. He’s run the country in a spirit of …

  • Just behind the kingdom that failed ran a nice little river. It was a clear, lovely stream, and many …

  • Tonight’s MNUFC win shows a deep team that’s well-coached. Some of our best players—Opara, Molino, …

  • Visit to Como Zoo / RIP Buzz Abe, Sam, & I visited Como Zoo today. It opened a few weeks ago, and I was impressed with how …

  • In the years to come, New York and the United States would eventually recognize and embrace Derek …

  • “Same as it ever was”: On heaven & the Talking Heads 🔗 The traditional imagery of heaven is …

  • Early Morning Nature Hike Silverwood Park, Saint Anthony, MN

  • A delightful story about an initially failed, but remarkably persistent, fantasy writer: Brandon …

  • The promise of politics is that, within and through our differences, some form of common life can be …

  • On the nihilism of Harari’s *Sapiens* 🔗📚 Sapiens is a distinctly nihilist tract, rejecting every sort of theism, every claim that life has …

  • Malick’s technique 🔗 🎞 🎥 The effect is to situate the actors within the world; even with closeups, the individual is never …

  • Appiah on race, language, & capitalization 🔗 A compelling essay by philosopher Kwame Anthony Appiah that argues for why it’s so problematic to …

  • Ismail Muhammad on Coltrane’s “Alabama” 🔗 🎷 In The Paris Review Daily: The quartet recorded the track in November 1963, two months after the …

  • Adam Zagajewski on poetry in an age of mass culture & popular pseudo-science 🔗📚 The central issue for us is probably the question of whether the mystery at the heart of poetry (and …

  • Joshua Hochschild on communal life & the life of the mind 🔗 📚 Today an authentic intellectual life seems more natural in the flaneur than the professional …

  • Billy Hart Quartet, Live Streaming at the Village Vanguard 🎶 I just caught the Billy Hart quartet live at the Village Vanguard, thanks to the club’s streaming …

  • Weekend project: building new beds for the boys. All that remains is to add a bed skirt to cover up …

  • Morgan Meis on a highly questionable paraphrase of Auden in the NYT: “We must assist one another or …

  • Ahhh… back in the outdoor office at last.

  • R.I.P., Lee Konitz. Here’s jazz pianist Ethan Iverson’s tribute to Konitz, insightful as always.

  • A sure way to establish enduring significance as a thinker is to combine sophistication with …

  • Today (Mon 6 Apr) at noon CST: “Christian Ethics & Pandemic Ethics”.

  • My colleague Pilar’s 86-year-old father has been hospitalized with covid-19 in Spain. His last wish …

  • A stunning New York Times photo-essay on how coronavirus has devastated Bergamo, Italy. In high …

  • How Texas supermarket chain H-E-B has prepared better than just about anyone for the pandemic. 🔗 …

  • There is no afterwards. 🔗 A profound, honest reflection on COVID-19 and our mortality. Written for …

  • The World's Best Virtual Art Galleries A follow-up to last week’s post: for those who don’t want to sift through 2,000+ options, here are …

  • Current listening: Pat Metheny, *From This Place* 🎶 I’ve been listening to Pat Metheny’s outstanding new album From This Place. From the compositions, …

  • Sunday Morning Biscuit-Making

  • Singers, among many others, have had their livelihoods cancelled or postponed indefinitely due to …

  • In my extra reading time these days, I’ve been taking @ayjay‘s suggestion to read essays and short …

  • 🔗 2,500 museums you can visit virtually I’m planning on visiting many museums in this way with my …

2019

  • My selections from our trip the Shoreview Public Library today. Looking forward to some reading time …

  • DL: 270x3 OHP: 102.5x5 🏆

  • Sq: 225x6 BP: 180x3 🏆

  • Learning to play the piano without a piano 🔗🎶 This is a remarkable story, though disappointingly …

  • OHP: 110x3 🏆

  • “Chelsea are back in fashion – but Roman Abramovich is out in the cold” 🔗 ⚽️ Speaking of Chelsea FC, here’s a fascinating essay by David Conn on owner Roman Abramovich’s rise to …

  • Martin Filler on the MOMA’s expansion 🔗 🖼 The mindset that bigger and more are preferable to less but better has incrementally eroded the …

  • The Poverty of Economics & The Wealth of Religions: an essay on the limits of the economic …

  • I’ve never like Chelsea FC—I’ve actively disliked them, in fact. But now, with Pulisic …

  • “Miguel Ibarra’s My Friend” ⚽️ 🔗 He played his heart out on the pitch and quite fittingly wore his heart on his sleeve. He would …

  • Nothing too surprising in MNUFC’s contract-deadline-day decisions… other than the club …

  • Money & Government: Against Economics 🔗 From a long, but very readable review by David Graeber of Robert Skidelsky’s new book, Money & …

  • Andrew Delblanco on Rethinking the Puritans 🔗 From a review essay in The Nation entitled (brilliantly) “Vexed and Trouble Englishmen”: Rodgers’s …

  • Wendell Berry’s essay “The Pleasures of Eating”—beautifully illustrated and with a new introduction …

  • Two Views On Art and Politics 🔗 Will Arbery: It basically boils down to a dissatisfaction with the ending, on both sides. People …

  • Hjemkomst Spent the morning at the Hjemkomst Center in Moorhead. It’s a history museum centered (literally) …

  • I was in Fargo for a couple days for my mom’s birthday. While there, I enjoyed an all-too-rare gift: …

  • Ethan Iverson's ECM Artist's Choice Playlist 🎶 I’ve been exploring the ECM Artist’s Choice playlist curated by pianist Ethan Iverson …

  • Silence & Music: two of my favorite things. Also the name of a beautiful album by the Gabrieli …

  • Daylight savings time: my semi-annual reminder that the government delights in tormenting parents.

  • I voted today after work. The poll workers seemed genuinely surprised when I walked in—I bet fewer …

  • Lots of news regarding my beloved MN United today ⚽️: Rookie defender Chase Gasper called up to the …

  • Early morning nature hike. 📷🍁

  • MInnesota United ⚽️ declined contract options on five players today: Carter Manley Collin Martin …

  • The Trees of Windsor Green 📷🍁

  • MN United FC: Season Recap and Roster Notes ⚽️ Last night’s heart-breaking loss to LA Galaxy brought an end to a pretty exciting, encouraging …

  • Current reading: Waugh & Engelmann 📚 Waugh’s satire of Hollywood doesn’t hold up particularly well; still, there are some …

  • Fall at Silverwood The trees at Silverwood Park are beautiful today. The photos don’t do them justice.

  • A fall week in Minnesota. 80° ➡️ 30°.

  • I’ve been intrigued by Derek Parfit’s photos of Venice and St. Petersburg since learning …

  • Autumn in New Brighton Monday

  • Autumn Leaf One of Ruskin’s early lessons in The Elements of Drawing is to draw a leaf, as carefully …

  • English is Not Normal 🔗 When saying ‘eeny, meeny, miny, moe’, have you ever felt like you were kind of counting? Well, you …

  • I hadn’t heard of Inktober till it was mentioned in the Micro.blog community. But I recently decided …

  • So incredibly proud of my brother Andrew Kaul for launching a new design studio, Buddy-Buddy. He and …

  • Recently attempted, & abandoned 📚: David Graeber, Bullshit Jobs: A Theory (should’ve stayed an …

  • Current reading 📚: David Bentley Hart, That All Shall Be Saved: Heaven, Hell, and Universal …

  • These two pieces complement each other quite nicely: First, in FiveThirtyEight: “The Christian Right …

  • Morning dinosaur-puzzle time. 📷

  • A day when one’s surroundings reflect one’s heart: dreary & a bit deflated.

  • If you use Apple Music and you like top jazz, give my ¡¡¡ Top Jazz !!! playlist a listen. (Shuffle …

  • Shirley Hazzard's *Greene on Capri: A Memoir* 📚 Shirley Hazzard’s Greene on Capri recounts the relationship that Hazzard and her husband, the …

  • San Diego atheist noir: On Patrick Coleman’s *The Churchgoer* 📚 The Churchgoer I stayed up late to finish The Churchgoer, a new novel written by Patrick Coleman. …

  • I made an Apple Music playlist of Hans Castorp’s favorite music in the “Fullness of Harmony” chapter …

  • An Anglo-Catholic literary tradition This piece by Tara Isabella Button, In Brooklyn, ‘tradpunk’ Christianity meets millennial …

  • Today’s listening: on a recommendation from my father, Pat Methany’s Still Life (Talking), a …

  • Oxford’s Schwarzman centre for the humanities I’m excited about the new Schwarzman centre for the humanities at Oxford, which will provide a hub …

  • I really like Ezra Klein’s podcast about half the time. He’s fair-minded, listens carefully, asks …

  • I’m excited to be co-leading a reading group on Thomas Mann’s wonderful novel The Magic Mountain …

  • A beautiful day at the office.

  • It was a beautiful morning for a bike ride to school—perfect, in fact.

  • Brad Mehldau’s new album, Finding Gabriel, is apparently the fruit of an intense reading of the …

  • I’d listen to Clifford Jordan’s Glass Bead Games just to have a chance to look at the gorgeous cover …

  • I wanted to create something useful and practical, you see… And since I also loved books, I …

  • Today’s listening: gotta be the new Vampire Weekend album, Father of the Bride. 🎶

  • #MNUFC It was a beautiful first match for me at Allianz Field, celebrating my birthday with my father, …

  • Publicly manifested prosperity might well hide a deeper sorrow than we at first could imagine. ~ …

  • Agnes Callard on losing philosophical fights When you lose, you experience just how far your capacity to think takes you, which is to say, you …

  • Riding with the gauchos of Argentina Riding with the gauchos of Argentina: A photo-essay (h/t Gray Areas I studied in Buenos Aires in the …

  • I’m re-reading a favorite novel, Thomas Mann’s The Magic Mountain, preparing for a reading …

  • The St. John Passion at the Lab Theater I’m proud of my sister-in-law, Krista Costin for her role in the Oratory Bach Ensemble’s production …

  • The Acropolis vs Mount Athos Monasticism is not a theology; it is a way of life. Abbot Eliseus told me that there are two …

  • I’ve been listening to a lot of Third Stream recently. So far, though, nothing I’ve found has come …

  • Here’s a delightful symposium on personal libraries. The best entries, in my opinion, are those from …

  • A disappointingly short, but still worthwhile, portrait of editorial illustrator Anna Parini, whose …

  • “Zuckerberg says Facebook will shift focus to private sharing” via the New York Times I’m sure they’ll be completely transparent and absolutely vigilant, whatever …

  • Recommended: this excellent review of a book I plan to read as soon as possible: Martin Hägglund’s …

  • I finally cancelled my Twitter account. It was time—I had my fill of toxic nastiness & …

  • I haven’t seen The Green Book, and don’t plan to, but still highly recommend reading Ethan Iverson …

2018

  • Grateful for some time this morning to read by the fire. More grateful still for a new book by a …

  • The incomparable Brian Phillips is featured on the latest episode of Bookworm, alongside man-eating …

  • “How Facebook Deforms Us” - a thorough, thoughtful review by LM Sacasas of Siva Vaidhyanathan’s …

  • Just discoereved @motyar’s MarkShow: Markdown to Slideshow app. It’s wonderful! I lesson-plan in …

  • Recommendation: Spectacle App In my day job as a technical writer, I use Windows; it’s really not been a great experience, …

  • I read a wonderful novel tonight, Patrick DeWitt’s very dark & very comedic “tragedy of …

  • I hadn’t heard of translator Anthea Bell until I read her obituary yesterday. But then I realized …

  • The implausible idea of a "chief ethics officer" I read Kara Swisher’s recent column on the need for chief ethics officers in Silicon Valley …

  • A wonderful short essay on soccer & politics in Brazil, from Andrew Downie in the London Review …

  • Joan Barry & two forms of political belief This article is fascinating. It follows Joan Barry, a Missouri Democrat whose politics don’t …

  • Fall Walks, Silverwood Park 2018-10-17 2018-10-18

  • Truth vs useful knowledge: Teaching business students *How to Think* I’m teaching Alan Jacobs’s book How to Think to my business communication students this …

  • I work with a lot of different foreign languages, & Korean is my favorite, hands down. The font …

  • Everything you need to know about Facebook’s understanding of journalism—in one useful ad!

  • Happy 85th birthday to the great Wayne Shorter! We mere mortals can celebrate by reading Ethan …

  • Craigslist purchase of the year. $30!

  • In a remarkable essay for NYT Magazine, Ilya Kaminsky revisits Odessa, city of his birth. Time & …

  • Centrist Democrats in the Age of Trump Yesterday, the NYT published an interesting, and beautifully photographed, article on ND senator …

  • The vast majority of electricity used in the world’s data centres comes from non-renewable sources, …

  • Thoreau in Minnesota. I had no idea about this voyage of Thoreau’s; thanks, @rnv, for the link!

  • Cavell on citizenship as conversation Today’s a good day to reflect on the demands of citizenship in our troubled nation. And there’s no …

  • A sobering look at how tech companies conquered America’s cities, by the excellent Farhad Manjoo. As …

  • Friends in Europe: there is some excellent jazz coming your way this summer. The Billy Hart Quartet …

  • Trump’s description of his parallel reality unwittingly calls to mind his most reckless and …

  • *Of Farming & Classics: A Memoir* 📚 I recently finished re-reading David Grene’s memoir, Of Farming & Classics. Grene balanced …

  • Please read my friend Bharat Ranganathan’s essay on Scripture, immigration, and Christian ethics. …

  • So excited for the World Cup, starting today. ⚽️ My prediction for the final: 🇦🇷 3:2 🇧🇷 Dark …

  • Michael Dirda, typically excellent, recommends two recent books on Stoicism and ancient philosophy …

  • #CINvMIN ⚽️ My beloved #MNUFC ground out (truly—it wasn’t fun to watch) a US Open Cup win in penalties against …

  • View from the desk this morning.

  • Children’s Museum Rainy day in MSP—perfect day for a day at the Children’s Museum with grandma.

  • I’m a sucker for gossip & insider info on editors & publishing. This NYT piece on TLS editor …

  • Teju Cole, in conversation with Krista Tippett I had the great privilege to listen in on Krista Tippett’s conversation with Teju Cole this evening. …

  • Finished my first Muriel Spark novel this morning, Aiding and Abetting, and greatly enjoyed its very …

  • This morning’s listening: the Cedar Walton Trio’s Ironclad: Live at Yoshi’s (Apple Muisc link), …

  • All holy books are works of fiction. Saw this bumper sticker today (on the way to church, of …

  • My good friend Brad wrote about Mississippi’s Yazoo River, where attempts to prevent flooding …

  • Just wrote a long post on awkwardness in Vodolazkin’s “novel” Laurus — …

  • From the NYRB, a fascinating essay on Berenice Abbott, jazz-age photographer in NYC and Paris. …

  • An exceptional essay by Garnette Cadogan, “Due North”—an oddly edited, but also delightful and …

  • These photos of Lake Baikal are absolutely stunning (though I could do without any of the ones with …

  • *Laurus* and Dostoevsky The further I go in Laurus, the more I see Dostoevsky all over the place. That’s not …

  • Addendum to my Cecil Taylor post: Ethan Iverson’s essay on Taylor is remarkable, and does justice to …

  • Where Are You, Spring? Latern Waste; or, April in Minnesota

  • I’m finally starting Eugene Vodolazkin’s Laurus, in anticipation of the Anselm House …

  • Christian Democracy in Europe—and America? This short essay in the Guardian makes a case for a Christian-democratic movement in the US to …

  • The a-fore-quoted interview with Cecil Taylor harmonizes with this interview with Ursula K. LeGuin, …

  • Cecil Taylor, RIP Start with Ben Ratliff’s obituary for the NYT. NPR’s coverage of Taylor’s life and work is also …

  • Building Anglo-Saxon England A fascinating new release from Princeton University Press: John Blair’s Building Anglo-Saxon …

  • Timothy Murphy's *Devotions*: Art and Death Reading Anthony Domestico’s review of Timothy Murphy’s latest book of poems, I was …

  • I recommend this conversation in Democracy on whether political parties are dying or strengthening, …

  • Robin Sloan’s Sourdough: like Mr Penumbra, simply delightful. I’m half done, and can’t put it down. …

  • Alan Jacobs makes a powerful and persuasive argument for the open web in The Hedgehog Review: We …

  • A wonderful essay in the TLS on Arnold as poet—his (deliberate) awkwardness, off-rhymes, and the …

  • Robert Caro’s responses in this NYRB interview are profound, fascinating, and inspiring—as is the …

2017

  • Rebecca Solnit on writing and agency The process of making art is the process of becoming a person with agency, with independent thought, …

  • Les Murray, “Animal Nativity” The Iliad of peace began when this girl agreed. Now goats in trees, fish in the valley suddenly feel …

  • Restoring the Democrats’ foreign-policy vision Samuel Moyn calls for Democrats to restore the liberal internationism that formed the core of its …

  • Rereading Mary McCarthy B.D. McClay’s review essay on Mary McCarthy is excellent, homing in on precisely those qualities of …

  • This delightful essay from Sven Birkerts describes his time with a trio of poet-pals who lived & …

  • More from that essay on Paul Thomas Anderson: Such restorative attachments are one response to the …

  • Paul Thomas Anderson’s “casually Catholic,” Californian upbringing Wonderful essay in The Point on Paul Thomas Anderson: Anderson describes himself as shaped by a …

  • A single poem in your head Seamus Heaney has noted that if a person has a single poem in his head, one that he returns to and …

  • Adam Gopnik on Parents’ Greatest Gift I still think the greatest gift you can give your kids is easy exposure to interesting things. Not …

  • Imagine if the New York Review of Books had hired a slightly stoned Edwardian fop as art director …

  • Very proud of my sister-in-law, Krista Costin, who is performing Bach’s Christmas Oratorio with the …

  • Snack time, listening to and imitating Auntie @kristacostin live on #classicalmpr. Sounds wonderful! …

  • This interview with Sonny Rollins is amazing. The idea of jazz is so spiritual, and it has such …

  • I loved fishing and silence. Walking in the hills…. I didn’t talk much. Had opinions about …

  • Tonight’s listening: Emerson String Quartet, Chaconnes and Fantasias: Music of Britten and Purcell. …

  • Recommended reading: Moyn & DBH Two exceptional recent Commonweal essays: David Bentley Hart demolishes an attempt to defend the …

  • The Brad Mehldau Trio @ the Dakota The Brad Mehldau show tonight at the Dakota Jazz Club was so, so good. Among the highlights from a …

  • Really looking forward to this book. Ecklund is an excellent scholar and writer, and this is a …

  • Current listening: Hudson, with Jack DeJohnette, John Scofield, & Brad Mehldau Larry Grenadier …

  • Ted Gioia’s albums-of-the-year lists are always long and excellent. This year’s list is no …

  • Camus, quoted by Izzo: The love we share with a city is often a secret love.

  • Current listening: Mavis Staples, One True Vine: I can tell when something’s going on, And …

  • A pleasant surprise after a looooong weekend of grading. Reading and writing: I’m easy to please.

  • The three little Octonauts. Enjoying this Halloween—undoubtedly the last one they’ll choose …

  • The three little Octonauts.

  • Lanchester on Scott, Suzman, & Civilization More John Lanchester: his latest, a review (with wonderful cover image) of James C. Scott and James …

  • October in Minnesota.

  • I love these three brave explorers.

  • This girl takes her sleep very seriously. #hermothersdaughter

  • New arrival!

  • On wrath, contemptuous smugness, and slower thinking: Alan Jacobs interviewed by Emma Green for the …

  • Beautiful mist on the lake this morning.

  • Big leaf pile, beautiful day

  • The wonderful Andrew O’Hagen on literature vs. “the dark babble of social media."

  • The London Review of Books has a new podcast up, on Auden. It’s excellent. Supplement with …

  • Current listening: two albums from London’s jazz scene: Nubya Garcia’s Nubya’s …

  • If forced to pick the greatest song of all time, I might choose “I Want You Back”. That …

  • Turns out things are pretty much the same, except wetter, and Siri works better.

  • Captain Abemerica. Saving the world, and stopping to smell all the flowers.

  • So glad to be present at a very full @AnselmHouseUMN for a talk by Dan Siedell on modern art.

  • Current listening: Tyshawn Sorey’s Verisimilitude, a beguiling fusion of jazz & classical …

  • “You are the Product." John Lanchester, brilliant as always, in the London Review on why …

  • D is for dreary.

  • Stunning: “The Majestic Marble Quarries of Northern Italy”, h/t Prufrock News.

  • Sandbar, with canoe. Cross Lake, MN.

  • “The Economics of the Protestant Reformation”. (I love when academic research like this …

  • Current listening: “Lazarus”, from Bowie’s late, great Blackstar.

  • Current listening: Matthew Shipp, I’ve Been to Many Places. I especially like his version of …

  • Success! Finished uploading old WP posts to my new Jekyll-based site. Next adventure: a custom …

  • J.M. Coetzee’s early poetry was written in binary, hex, & FORTRAN, anticipating the …

  • On my commutes, I’ve been listening to Tony Judt’s Postwar. It’s a remarkable …

  • Digging moss with Nana.

  • Current listening: my local symphony orchestra’s recordings of Beethoven’s symphonies.

  • Two of the great moral philosophers of recent history are Bernard Williams and Alaisdair MacIntyre. …

  • Joshua Cohen is the guest on this week’s episode of Bookworm, discussing his new novel, Moving …

  • Spending a big chunk of the afternoon trying to set up my personal site and microblog with Jekyll …

  • Polos. Bed head. Ready for their first day of business school.

  • This post, on the rift between the White House & the State Department on Qatar, confirms that …

  • Current listening: Sun Ra, Monorails and Satellites, vol. 1. Inspired by the remarkable NYT Magazine …

  • Current listening: Jobim’s Stone Flower, a melancholy masterpiece of the late Jobim.

  • Current listening: Max Richter, from Sleep. Beautiful music, composed about, and for, sleep.

  • These two rascals let themselves out of their beds, and their bedroom, this morning at 6:25. …

  • Tyler Cowen’s interview with Jill Lepore is, like all his conversations, fascinating and …

  • Lucky enough to catch the second set of the Chris Potter Quartet at the Dakota last night. …

  • If you are in the habit of kissing your kids' owies to help them feel better, you better also …

  • Abraham #bossinrainboots

  • At last… sprinkler season.

  • Bravest explorers.

  • Wandering and river-watching on a dreary Good Friday.

  • Remember that you are dust, and to dust you will return.

  • Fire sunset #nofilter

  • More birthday festivities: morning at the zoo. Sam was rapt—he could have watched the giraffes for …

  • Two years old today… Their day included 3/4 grandparents, a singing Elmo birthday card …

  • Exciting news: Jeffrey Stout will give a series of Gifford Lectures this May 1-11. Entitled …

  • #theboys

  • The road less traveled.

  • I’m very proud to have helped edit one of the essays that became this book, Reaping Something …

  • [gallery size=full ids=‘186’ columns=1]

  • Krista Tippett’s conversation with Anil Dash is a classic—one of my On Being all-time …

  • The indignity of Minnesota winter: when you drop a glove & then, upon stopping to pick it up, …

  • Auden on Attention Choice of attention—to pay attention to this and ignore that—is to the inner life what choice of …

  • Geoffrey Hill on Making and Self-Making The world is full of noise, the noise of opinion. Are you going to be able to master some small …

  • Commiseration & consolation for Minneapolis in winter.

  • Observing New Year’s Day at the Conservatory. (And zoo.)

2016

2015

2014

2013