by Clare Horvath Before I went to Rome this summer, I had heard that Europeans tend to dress more formally than Americans, so I wasn’t too surprised when I found that to be the case. What I didn’t expect, however, was how much my summer would prompt me to think about how one ought to dress. In most of the churches I visited in Rome … Continue reading Dress for the Occasion
by Jameson Payne There is a specter haunting Michigan—haunting the whole world. One by one, our venerable institutions topple, swept away by the tide of hubristic reformers, new-fangled utopians, and latter-day fanatics. Harvard has fallen to the Bolshevists, Yale to the Hegelians, Berkeley to the Gnostics. The situation is grim. But, it is in being a solitary light within this dark that Hillsdale finds its … Continue reading A Humble Suggestion
by Aidan Jones Among my many pet peeves is when self-proclaimed “artistic types” scoff at the great artistic achievements of our ancestors. “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder,” they snort, scorning a simple pastoral painting in favor of a meaningless combination of colors that some tortured soul was inspired to plaster across a canvas. They grin determinedly through an atonal opera, explaining that … Continue reading Beauty for the Common Man
retrospect (re-truh-spekt) verb 1. (without object) to look back in thought; refer back (often followed by “to”) 2. (with object) to look back upon; contemplate The end of another semester is upon us and with it comes the call to look back and contemplate the semester — the lessons learned, the conversations had, and the friendships deepened. The Forum also calls for retrospection. Whether on … Continue reading Letter from the Editor | Issue #45
One of my favorite experiences is the sense of awe that washes over me when I walk into a beautiful church. I love being called to prayer through seeing the beauty of stained-glass windows, stone arches, painted statues, and lifelike images of biblical scenes. All these things work together to communicate to me that I am not in an ordinary place, but rather in the … Continue reading A Defense of Beautiful Churches
by Jonathan Schulz In a new place or a place where the usual population has significantly shifted, one may easily mistake new faces in the crowd for familiar faces from elsewhere. These faces become ghosts of an old reality within a new reality. Even so, one is not always wrong to see similarities in unlikely places. The familiar face in an alien crowd may be … Continue reading Ghosts in the Crowd: Human Apprehensions of Similarity and Difference
By Dr. Matthew Mehan Weird Al Yankovic is still weird. And thank God he is. Recently, he had me worried that he somehow un-weirded himself after his 2014 album Mandatory Fun briefly topped the charts at number one — a feat previously unknown to that “White & Nerdy,” polka-playing parodist. But I think his more recent rise to general popularity is not a sign that … Continue reading Weird Al Yankovic is Still Weird
by Caroline “Anne” Love The question on all of our minds is whether anyone can really succeed in all these so-called important parts of life. Why is everyone afraid of growing old? Yet why do we simultaneously celebrate every milestone in that journey of growing older? Could it be because, especially as Americans, we want to “win” in life? In this culture if you do … Continue reading Wilting Flowers: A Reflection on the Futility of Age
by Jacob Schulz While Congress debates whether to ban Tik-Tok for involvement with the Chinese Communist Party, now seems like a good time to consider the impact of social media in general on our society. Many people find Tik-Tok’s claim to fame rather odious—that infinite feed of short and often meaningless videos—but the same or similar features are now firmly entrenched in nearly every social … Continue reading Dangers of Social Media: Using the Looming Tik-Tok Ban to Take Another Look at Social Media
Let me say first that I think abortion an admirable practice with many benefits. It preserves the free choice of all people and saves women the pain and emotional trauma of having a part of their own body forcibly removed. Most importantly, abortion limits overpopulation. Imagine—if all the aborted fetuses had instead been allowed to grow into human beings, what would be the state of … Continue reading Another Modest Proposal
Hillsdale Forum 