Philologist, critic, choir geek, opera fiend. Great books, liberal education, weird Greek stuff. Opinions solely my own. Go Blue 〽️
a library somewhere
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For @the_point_mag I wrote one if the most personally important essays I’ve ever written. My experience teaching great books has been utterly transformative, and I think that if you’re on the left you should be all in on it. thepointmag.com/examined-lif…
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The model absolutely does not assume six-figure salaries. Anybody telling you this is either ignorant or lying to you.
The higher ed industry is contracting at a fast rate, and scholars in some fields (English, Classics) are facing something even worse than contraction. And yet the model assumes 6-figure salaries and reasonable teaching schedules.
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Honestly as American western civ lists go it’s pretty good. I’d probably add Edith Wharton and Emily Dickinson.
A faculty member shared this with me today: a preliminary list of 50 “foundational authors” for @UTAustin’s proposed Great Questions of Human Life core courses. At least two-thirds of each course would draw from the list. What do you make of this list?
texastribune.org/2026/08/13/…
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Strolling through upper Montclair with a hot pour-over in hand, wearing a fall jacket and listening to Puccini…I am ascending to my true form.
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Almost anybody who goes to the opera more than twice a year and is under 65 is probably some kind of hard left socialist or communist. The working artists have all radicalized and so have the people for whom this art is as necessary as breath.
It should be an embarrassment to the entire conservative movement that a self-proclaimed socialist did this instead of them.
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Oh no, they're gonna hear Juliana Grigoryan screeching and wobbling her way through Bohème and demand that we close down the Met for good.
(This is an excellent program, I just wish Peter Gelb hired people who could sing.)
Never been to the opera before?
Now’s your chance. We’re giving away 70,000 free tickets to the @MetOpera at the iconic Lincoln Center. Go to on.nyc.gov/opera to enter the lottery. There’s not a bad seat in the house.
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These behaviors happen in a lot of places; they’re allowed to flourish in any situation where people are afraid of open conflict/feel compelled to pretend everyone is friends with one another. Educational institutions are highly prone to them as well.
there's a range of rabidly antisocial behaviors that have been allowed to flourish in lefty-land that are only acceptable to talk about when there's An Incident of such clownish proportions that a temporary "letting out of steam" is permitted until Ted Cruz weighs in
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Friends, one of my colleagues has written an original musical rooted in medieval Neoplatonism. It’s going up in early October. I know enough of you sickos live in New York to give it a look.
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The premise is a gathering of the planetary intelligences. It’s called Starcadia and you can buy tickets here: welcometostarcadia.com/
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Dan Walden retweeted
Francis Fukuyama on AI and the loss of thymos.
Why I Changed My Mind About AI Risk open.substack.com/pub/persua…
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Still can't get over finally seeing The Invention of Love last night after 17 years of wishing to. What an absolutely stunning play. It might actually be Stoppard's best.
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The key to understanding the Augustinian view (and how obviously correct it is) is realizing that individual moral goodness isn’t the only kind of goodness there is, and that it’s actually not usually the basis for our love for someone.
To clarify I obviously did not/do not believe my daughter is individually morally responsible. But the idea that our passions are disordered, our appetites rebel against reason, that they tyrannize both ourselves and others of their own nature, all seemed more not less credible.
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Dan Walden retweeted
non zero chance that world war three happens because LLMs were all trained on, amongst everything else, hacky airport natsec thrillers
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If anybody knows how I can get tickets for The Invention of Love any night except tomorrow I will compose an epic poem in your honor, monumentum aere perennius.
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C. S. Lewis space trilogy with muppets
It's too bad there wasn't at least one more Muppets movie in this format, honestly I wish they were still putting out one every few years to this day. It's a perfect film format for them: classic literature with muppets in the supporting roles & a juicy role for a "real" actor. Muppet Treasure Island actually did even better at the box office than Christmas Carol so I don't get why they bailed on the concept for the forgettable "Muppets From Space" next
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This is culture-as-museum-piece. This is a set of mothballed signifiers clumsily arranged into the appearance of music. There's no living tradition here; there's no exploration of what music can say and do and mean, just costumes conveying the Importance of what's happening.
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Lise Davidsen is singing today! Her Isolde was a life-changing experience! piped.video/watch?v=ZFfCN6ON…
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Path of Miracles was composed in 2005! It's a strange and unsettling and absolutely transcendent piece! New music is being composed all the time by composers aiming to touch something real! piped.video/oSNMhg5vUog
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