At the very center of his identity, Kushner is a Good Son. He’s run the country in a spirit of filial devotion to an implacable father. It’s a role that he thrives at playing, because he’s spent his whole life rehearsing for it.

~Jared Kushner, …

Just behind the kingdom that failed ran a nice little river. It was a clear, lovely stream, and many fish lived in it. Weeds grew there, too, and the fish ate the weeds.

~Haruki Murakami, “The Kingdom That Failed” 🔗 📖

Tonight’s MNUFC win shows a deep team that’s well-coached. Some of our best players—Opara, Molino, Metanire—were out, but we dominated a surging San Jose team. And as usual, Hassani Dotson dominates wherever he plays. Can’t wait for the Adrian Heath …

Abe, Sam, & I visited Como Zoo today. It opened a few weeks ago, and I was impressed with how seamless and enjoyable the experience was. It was one way, with some sections completely cordoned off, but clearly marked and easy to navigate.

We saw …

In the years to come, New York and the United States would eventually recognize and embrace Derek Walcott. The disappointment of this early encounter with New York would be replaced by a fuller and more satisfactory relationship with the city.

~ …

“Same as it ever was”: On heaven & the Talking Heads 🔗

The traditional imagery of heaven is ribbon-wreathed and rococo, but “Heaven” is almost severe in its simplicity.

Silverwood Park, Saint Anthony, MN

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

Brandon Sanderson: ‘After a dozen rejected novels, you think maybe this isn’t for you’ 🔗

The effect is to situate the actors within the world; even with closeups, the individual is never alone in front of the camera. So Fani’s anguished face is set against the backdrop of the people enforcing her isolation.

From a review of Terrence …

A compelling essay by philosopher Kwame Anthony Appiah that argues for why it’s so problematic to capitalize “Black” but not “white”:

One reason that the MIT philosopher Sally Haslanger prefers to capitalize the names of races is, she explains, “to …

In The Paris Review Daily:

The quartet recorded the track in November 1963, two months after the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, made an absence of four little black girls. When I listen to Coltrane playing over …

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

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

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 carefully constructed ambiguity and, if necessary, outright contradiction.

~ “Can Schmitt’s Political Theology Be Redeemed?”

(But it depends on how …

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 is to find a friend of his from Folkstone, Kent, England. I’m posting an article about his search here just in case anyone can help.

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

In high school, my family hosted an Italian exchange student. His hometown? Bergamo. I never imagined it would return to my mind, or enter the global …