These poems focus on the idea of children as our future, taking inspiration from William Blake. Ring Around Darkness is my portion with the beating of her heart, Her muffled voice that sang and cries and wavers in the dark. I curl around our lifeline, lulled into my rest, And dream she’s holding onto me, I’m nestled on her chest. One day I’ll see her … Continue reading Hillsdale Forum Poetry Contest Winner

Dear Reader, Today, there exists a pervading notion that people who lived thousands (or even only hundreds) of years ago were drastically different. We tend to disregard their traditions as barbaric, their beliefs as primitive, and, worst of all, their existence as largely irrelevant. Issue 54 attempts to dispel that view. As science fiction author Michael Crichton once said, “if you don’t know history, then … Continue reading Letter From the Editor | Issue #54

With the model of self-government Hillsdale College professes to uphold, one might assume the College trusts its students are capable of developing the capacity for such a thing. Furthermore, one would think that Orwellian measures associated with surveillance states do not fit well with the strengthening students’ senses of the responsibilities that come with freedom. Despite all this, there is a real danger that an … Continue reading Panopticon

I admired the vining ivy for its tenacity, I suppose. It had a sort of inevitability that was strangely comforting. When the groundskeeper of the old factory was around, he was always at war with the vine. He had his victories, but it was a war of attrition. Now he is dead, and the smoke no longer issues from the smokestacks, and there is a … Continue reading My Tears Water Nothing

Humankind no longer lives in the Edenic garden, for we have lost the beginning. Even the mechanical wonders of the man-made city are said to have been first built by Cain. The question of whether technological progress inevitably breeds alienation from the presence of God merits deep consideration. For God’s fragile and freely spoken Word is threatened by those tempted to sacrifice the Word on … Continue reading “Anathema to the true angel in Heaven”: Norman Mailer’s Of a Fire on the Moon

By Aidan C. Jones When I first told my father I wanted to follow in his footsteps, he’d seemed pleased. “You’ll make a good farmer, Peter,” he had told me. “You have the heart for the thing, and this land is part of you… it’s in your blood.” But he also warned me that a man doesn’t always get to choose his own path. “After … Continue reading Barrett’s Battle

By Frederick Woodward For anyone who has contemplated what it means to truly exist in a state of freedom, a state of self-sufficiency often appears as the sine qua non, or the essential element for such a condition. Respected figures throughout the Western tradition have long grappled with the practical implications of such an ideal. Henry David Thoreau’s glorification of life “alone… in a house … Continue reading The Psychology of Self Sufficiency

In this Forum interview, Professor of History Bradley Birzer sat down with Leon Rapoport to discuss the great thinkers of history, what our past means for our present, and what we can learn from history. 1. What is the biggest lesson that we can learn from history? I think there are so many things we can learn. We learn most particularly and immediately that human … Continue reading An Interview with Dr. Bradley Birzer

By: Blake Schaper Εν αρχη ην ο Λογος, και ο λογος ην προς τον Θεον, και Θεος ην ο λογος. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word. “Word” is how we usually translate λογος (logos) in the immortal lines from the gospel of John, but the story behind this Greek word is so much richer. … Continue reading Unpacking the Logos of John