Stand beside her, and guide her,Through the night with a watch from a blog… But first… context. I sometimes forget that not everyone reading my blog is also reading my email, you know? So I should probably say that the two Palin posts, below, are not an endorsement, nor were they intended as such. I’m not registered to vote (…I live in DC), do not plan to vote, and have no idea what I would do if I did plan... Read more

“…Quite a few historians and biographers, to say nothing of journalists, consider this ability to divine and seize upon a historical moment–in other words, temporary success–as in itself a mark of greatness. The corporal who becomes a dictator overnight, or the courtesan who for a while controls the good or ill humor of a ruler of the world, are favorite figures of such historians. And idealistically minded youths, on the other hand, most love the tragic failures, the martyrs, those... Read more

I THANK GOD THAT MY SINS ARE NOT AS THE SINS OF THIS REPUBLICAN. I should really save that headline, you know? I’ve been saving it for years. And only Alan Wolfe’s ostensible belief that evangelicals don’t know the word “forgiveness” finally got me to use it. Read more

NAT HENTOFF WANTED PALIN IN MAY. Via Thunderstruck. Interesting. And you guys know how important I think this line is: “Still unknown is whether Mrs. Palin would be as flip-flopping as Mr. McCain on the Bush torture policy that has so blighted our reputation in the world.” Radley Balko also seems to be holding fire, and Jim Henley hasn’t really tried to sway me against her yet (I could be swayed!), so… interesting. Read more

“To study history one must know in advance that one is attempting something fundamentally impossible, yet necessary and highly important. To study history means submitting to chaos and nevertheless retaining faith in order and meaning. It is a very serious task, young man, and possibly a tragic one.”—The Glass Bead Game (Father Jacobus) Read more

THREE KINDS OF MULTIVOCALITY: This post mentioned the idea of multivocality, and now I think maybe I should explain what I meant by it. It’s obvious that our world is characterized by conflict, by conflicting loves and loyalties and definitions and norms. There are at least three ways to respond to that conflict. #1: Heighten both sides as much as possible, and then reconcile them in some beloved. This is the basic philosophical movement of the Catholic Church. Everything gets... Read more

CHASTE GIRLS ARE EASY: Some postscripts to my paean to chastity, below. First: When I reflected, I found that the cruel intensifying of drama I associated with sex really only took place in heterosexual couples. Gay guys seemed to do okay. You all know that I don’t recommend gay sex! But I need to be honest, and say that sex between gay guys didn’t seem to ratchet up the melodrama nearly as much as sex between girls and guys. …I... Read more

This type of hope has been subjected to an increasingly harsh critique in modern times: it is dismissed as pure individualism, a way of abandoning the world to its misery and taking refuge in a private form of eternal salvation. Henri de Lubac, in the introduction to his seminal book Catholicisme: Aspects sociaux du dogme, assembled some characteristic articulations of this viewpoint, one of which is worth quoting: “Should I have found joy? No… only my joy, and taht is... Read more

HOW TO GO TO COLLEGE. Busted Halo has a guide for freshmen here. It might not surprise you to learn that my own college experience is evidence against at least half the items on their list. I’d be pretty interested in other people’s reactions to my reactions, since I know my college experience was weird. That’s due to my situation, and I know that. My impression is that Yale is (or was–I just turned thirty, and now I’m even older)... Read more

RECONCILING THE SEEMINGLY DISPARATE: I posted a ton of links on MarriageDebate today, and I will feel bad if no one goes and checks them out. Don’t make me emo! ;_; WOE. No, actually, there’s a lot of interesting stuff up today, all circling more or less silently around the question of sex differences. If you disagree with the links–or with my assessment of their underlying common theme–BLOG ABOUT IT, so I can link you on the site! Read more