Over at Art House America, Christie Purifoy writes about life, death, and . . . vegetables: I look forward to the beets for weeks and then, inevitably, I ignore them for a moment only to find that they have grown to the size of softballs and must be fed to the chickens. I tell myself they are only vegetables and this is not the end of the world, but there are too many days when it feels like exactly that. As if overgrown vegetables... Read more
At the New Yorker, Maria Konnikova looks at how to become a better online reader: In new research that she and her colleagues will present for the first time at the upcomingconference of the International Society for the Empirical Study of Literature and Media, in Torino, Italy, Mangen is finding that that may indeed be the case. She, along with her frequent collaborator Jean-Luc Velay, Pascal Robinet, and Gerard Olivier, had students read a short story—Elizabeth George’s “Lusting for Jenny, Inverted” (their... Read more
At In Earnest, Jane Clark writes about discovering, on a road trip through Southern California, that it’s actually more fun to drive the speed limit . . . and considers why: This is counter-intuitive on every level. First of all, the speed limit is the rule, and following rules usually seems less fun than bending or breaking them. Second, going fast should always be more fun than going slow, especially when you’re piloting a massively complex technological wonder over some of the... Read more
There’s an interview over at Darling with Alice Kinyua, founder of the organization “Many Hopes,” which invests in the generation of children who can defeat extreme poverty in Kenya: Before working for Many Hopes (which is known as MUdzini Kwetu in Kenya) I was previously working in a commercial law firm. One day, a friend told me about this home in Mombasa that rescued children from difficult backgrounds. I travelled from Nairobi to Mombasa and spent one week volunteering at the home. While I... Read more
I’ve got a new column at Christianity Today, where I’m the chief film critic, called “Watch This Way.” Last week, after I saw the remarkable film Calvary, I posted some reflections on why being a Christian and making a good film requires being a wretch: When art is made in order to carry a message, it becomes a servant to ideology—to a system of abstracted ideas and ideals. Ideologies are not in themselves bad, but they often hit rough patches when they come... Read more
I publish almost exclusively on the Internet, and I’ve grown to like it: it’s easier to correct an error on the web, and it’s nice to feel like the distance between reader and writer has closed (since feedback – for good or bad – is more readily available through comments, emails, Twitter, and so on). But there’s a huge problem with writing for the web: it’s easy, in the mill of getting stuff out there, to write shoddily – or,... Read more
It’s that time of year again – the time when teachers (like me) are enjoying the summer, but still thinking about what we’re going to do in the fall. Here’s Nic Ripatrazone at The Millions on teaching Flannery O’Connor (the great American Catholic writer): As a Catholic, I find O’Connor less perplexing than illuminating. This is not to say that Catholics own her writing. A very lapsed Catholic, Joyce Carol Oates, says it well: “To readers and critics to whom life is... Read more
I rather like this 18-minute plan for focus – not just because it helps us to feel more organized and calmer, but also because ritual frees us up to do better creative work and serve one another more fully. Here’s the plan (it’s a short read!): We start every day knowing we’re not going to get it all done or fit it all in. How we spend our time is really a function of priorities. That’s why Peter Bregman argues in 18 Minutes:... Read more
In In Earnest, Laura Herrod writes about doing difficult things, and sometimes not getting recognition – but doing them anyhow: The road of difficulty seems to be the road less travelled. And yet, we all relate to its perils. The switchbacks and the cracks in the pavement catch us now and again. The hills we climb threaten to—and do—overwhelm us. When I think of the hard things of life, I am reminded of moving to new places, facing old shames, and... Read more
Mark D. Roberts
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Marriage — for the Common Good?
In Comment, James K.A. Smith looks at marriage from a different perspective: This romantic picture is already enacted in the honeymoon: to kindle your marriage, you need to “get away,” retreat from the drudgery of the workaday world (which is, apparently, matrimonial poison). For your marriage to last, according to this logic, you’ll have to keep planning dates and romantic escapes for just the two of you to “keep the fire alive.” And by all means, don’t have children too soon:... Read more