It is a mark of education to abhor the cliché. The educated person, the cultured person, feels repulsed by the outworn attempts at expression that pervade kitschy art, radio hits, social exchanges, and campaign-trail patriotism. These all bear witness to George Orwell’s claim in “Politics and the English Language” that “Modern writing at its worst …
It has become the fashion—almost, even, the mark of humility—to begin any communication of strong emotion with the tag, Words cannot express. As in, words cannot express how grateful I am, how sorry I am, how excited I am; words cannot express my surprise, my delight, my anger; words cannot express how much I regret, …
How to Write a Love Letter (Classically, of Course) Read More »
I have been learning, this month, to make sourdough bread. Perhaps you’ve eaten it. I doubt, though, you know what it takes to bake it; I, at least, did not. It was all supposed to be a jolly jaunt into a new region of cookery—a little reading, a little experimenting—and then, in short order, that …
Wild Yeast, the Wisdom of Bakers, and the Kitchen as Classical Classroom Read More »
December twenty-eighth is, in the liturgy of the church, the Feast of the Holy Innocents, the day of remembrance for the multitude of children—“all that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under”—who were slaughtered by King Herod as he sought to squelch the rumored threat of a …
Three weeks of another year’s Advent are past; the one that’s left is just a few days long—Christmas Day itself peeks ‘round the corner. The three weeks behind me have already been framed and filled and formed by a dozen dear traditions, from sacred to silly; the few days ahead hold the most cherished, even …
From Thanksgiving through to Christmas, our tables boast their finest display of the year. Turkeys roasted and basted to a gilt sheen, tenderloins encased in crusty herbs, rib roasts and crown roasts with their buttresses of bone; humble potatoes, green beans, carrots, squash transfigured with spices and sauces; crumby cakes mounded in velvety frostings, pie …
“As Grandmother’s biographer, I’d have to guess she was never really happy after, say, her thirty-seventh year, the last year when she lived an idyll in Boise Canyon.” “But she lived a long time after that,” Ellen said. “She lived to be ninety-one.” “But she wasn’t happy.” “She wasn’t unhappy, either. Do you have to …
Angle of Repose: Wallace Stegner, Thomas Aquinas, and the Dimensions of Happiness Read More »
Driving home from school one day, I passed a sight that smacked of Flannery O’Connor. In the drab parking lot of a storefront church was pitched a small white tent; within the tent sat a bearded man in a lawn chair; and beside the man was propped a sign that read “Need Prayer?” Save for …
“If a human being were a machine . . . the work of the educator would be simply to adopt a good working system or set of systems. But the educator has to deal with a self-acting, self-developing being, and his business is to guide, and assist in, the production of the latent good in …
“Every Capacity for Good”: Advice from Charlotte Mason for Planning A New School Year Read More »
“How to help your students fall in love with classical education” is a common theme of the classical renewal’s spokesmen. “How to help them once they do” is a more rare, yet equally pressing, issue. Consider: students who fall in love with the classical tradition inherit a wealth of wisdom, knowledge, beauty, and virtue; yet, …
