1. A family crisis is currently occupying most of my attention, so this will have to be brief. Those who read this, please offer prayers on our behalf. 2. At the same time, the school year starts this week and I still have prepping to do, meaning I'm pretty much in survival mode. 3. The … Continue reading Sunday Sundry: Short and Unfocused
Author: DBreitenbeck
Poem – “In the Room”
"Ceste insigne fable et tragicque comedie."--RABELAIS The sun was down, and twilight greyFilled half the air; but in the room,Whose curtain had been drawn all day, The twilight was a dusky gloom:Which seemed at first as still as death, And void; but was indeed all rifeWith subtle thrills, the pulse and breath Of multitudinous lower life. In their … Continue reading Poem – “In the Room”
Shiver Me Timbers, Everyman
My latest piece is up on The Everyman, discussing the topic of Online Piracy. Online piracy is on the rise again, accounting, by some measures, for over a quarter of all internet downloads. This topic is usually spoken about in terms of the harm it does the economy, or jobs lost, or whether or not … Continue reading Shiver Me Timbers, Everyman
Sunday Sundry: Evolutionary Mindset, Wodehouse, and Leadership
1. Something to get clear in your mind is that a religious dogma is no less of a dogma because it is materialist. Evolution is, for most people, a religious dogma. Therefore, the narrative that teaching Evolution makes students more critical or rational thinkers, as opposed to teaching religious dogma, is nonsense because evolution is … Continue reading Sunday Sundry: Evolutionary Mindset, Wodehouse, and Leadership
Tolkien and Nazi Germany
There's a famous story of how Tolkien responded to the question of whether he was the correct racial group to translate The Hobbit into German. This is basically how it went:
A Few “War of the Worlds” Thoughts
As it's on my curriculum, I recently re-read The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells. Being by Wells, it is full of brilliantly realized, prescient ideas and characters who are either variations on Wells himself or caricatures of people he didn't like (Wells, so far as I have read him, only ever created one … Continue reading A Few “War of the Worlds” Thoughts
Poem – “Great River of Heaven”
The great River of HeavenDivides them ’til this day next year,Far distant;But we-I know not when-soThis sailing brings grief, indeed.-Fujiwara no Kinto
Saturday Sundry: On Gods, the Ocean, and Bad Books
1. Still in Maine, but about to head home. The next three days will be travel, one way or another. 2. Spending a week by the sea was a fascinating experience; to look out to the very edge of the world, to watch the tides rise and fall, to hear the waves crashing against the … Continue reading Saturday Sundry: On Gods, the Ocean, and Bad Books
Poem- “Bingen on the Rhine”
A soldier of the Legion lay dying in Algiers,There was lack of woman's nursing, there was dearth of woman's tears;But a comrade stood beside him, while his life-blood ebbed away,And bent, with pitying glances, to hear what he might say.The dying soldier faltered, and he took that comrade's hand,And he said, "I nevermore shall see … Continue reading Poem- “Bingen on the Rhine”
Saturday Sundry: New England Thoughts
1. I'm up in Maine visiting relatives this week. It's very nice to be surrounded by forests again. I've definitely missed them living in Phoenix. 2. New England has a character unlike any other part of the nation, simply because it is older. Men have lived here, farmed here, praised God here, and made their … Continue reading Saturday Sundry: New England Thoughts
Serpent's Den 