Have you ever heard of Henry Herbert Knibbs? Or cowboy poetry? Or a chuckwagon cook? I hadn’t either. At least not until I met John and Randy, who are cowboys. Actual cowboys, as in leather chaps, frisky horses, and open spaces. The marvelous thing about poetry is that it bursts out of every seam of human experience. Look to the Wild West. Their poetic tradition—heart-wrenching, … Continue reading Cowboy Poetry
The year 2017 was a time of flourishing for the indie movie scene, and while the top charts were still dominated by the usual suspects—Marvel superheroes, Star Wars, Stephen King horror— a handful of indie movies reached them as well. A common topic for the indie movies that year was coming-of-age, which was explored particularly well by the high-grossing-hit Lady Bird directed by Greta Gerwig, … Continue reading What it Means to Reconcile: Lady Bird, Columbus, and Coming-of-Age in a World of Change
We are listening creatures; whence else our speaking? And whence are we? So there is a Word that precedes us. We are spoken creatures. What constitutes this speech constitutes us in some way. And listening to this speech and speaking it are the acts of discernment and virtue. Words have many meanings. Mutatis mutandis, listening carefully to this word detects several valances. General listening is … Continue reading Poetic Ethics
I came into Hillsdale with a series of expectations—one of which was to get a boyfriend. I had already heard so many “ring by spring” stories, I thought surely something similar was bound to happen to me. And if I couldn’t get a fiancé, I least hoped for a relationship. But one, two, three, and now almost four years have passed, and still nothing. As … Continue reading Singleness is Not a Failing
It was not the first time I found myself on the verge of tears as I feverishly racked my brain for anything to mend the horrendous structure (or rather lack of structure) of my paper and failed to think of anything other than the impending list of projects, research, and readings I still needed to get to. I still had an hour left on my … Continue reading In Pursuit of the Unserious: Recovering Rest and Purpose in a Workaholic Culture
Hillsdale Forum 