This post, on the rift between the White House & the State Department on Qatar, confirms that foreign policy is turning out to be the most terrifying part of a terrifying presidency.
Current listening: Sun Ra, Monorails and Satellites, vol. 1. Inspired by the remarkable NYT Magazine portrait of Craig Taborn published Sunday.
Current listening: Jobim’s Stone Flower, a melancholy masterpiece of the late Jobim.
These two rascals let themselves out of their beds, and their bedroom, this morning at 6:25. We’re doomed.
Tyler Cowen’s interview with Jill Lepore is, like all his conversations, fascinating and wide-ranging.
This one is particularly recommended for its focus on writing, on the ways we understand and interpret history, and on time-travel.
Lucky enough to catch the second set of the Chris Potter Quartet at the Dakota last night. Incredible show—I’d highly recommend his most recent albums.
If you are in the habit of kissing your kids' owies to help them feel better, you better also prepare yourself for the day when they bite their tongues while chewing soggy Cheerios. #YouReapWhatYouSow
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 hours.
Two years old today… Their day included 3/4 grandparents, a singing Elmo birthday card (thanks @monnytam!) tons of cake (thanks @deborahkaul!), a giant cardboard box, puddle splashing, and Chuck E. Cheese. So, an amazing day for two amazing boys.
Exciting news: Jeffrey Stout will give a series of Gifford Lectures this May 1-11. Entitled “Religion Unbound: Ideals and Powers from Cicero to King,” the lectures will “trace the ideal [of ethical religion]‘s history and explain how its defenders have defined and criticized religion.” Follow the lectures (they’ll stream live) on the Gifford Lectures site.
#theboys
The road less traveled.
I’m very proud to have helped edit one of the essays that became this book, Reaping Something New: African American Transformations of Victorian Literature, while I was managing editor of Victorian Studies. The essay, “Wild Charges: The Afro-Haitian ‘Charge of the Light Brigade’,” was among my favorite of the many, many critical essays I read in the course of my graduate studies.