Twenty-three years ago, David Brooks published in The Atlantic a long essay based on interviews with Princeton undergraduates. He found the students busy: overscheduled, achievement-oriented models of meritocratic success. They were “extraordinarily bright, morally earnest, and . . . . Continue Reading »
Winter is a bad time. Whether for a season or for a life, it dampens the self. Or so a recent writer claimed. “Mankind endured a long winter of the Dark Ages” for a thousand years, “repressing” the human spirit in a barren season that lasted centuries. The human individual, as fate would . . . . Continue Reading »
In The People’s Justice, Judge Amul Thapar adroitly assumes the role of storyteller to defend an influential and controversial jurist’s reputation. He recounts twelve prominent cases that have come before Justice Clarence Thomas during his thirty-two-year term on the Supreme Court. The book . . . . Continue Reading »
Just as we don’t want science or warfare to be unmoored from ethics and morality, we should likewise insist that technology remain tethered to a proper understanding of human nature. Continue Reading »
In Advent, the hermit lights a candle-end,Drips wax onto a saucer, stands it there.The early nightfall forms itself aroundThis little shivering flame. He says his prayer:Stir up Thy power, Lord. Outside, the windHas risen. Rain flicks its fingers at the window.He’s alone. God’s called him to . . . . Continue Reading »
In this episode, Kay Hymowitz joins Mark to discuss the loneliness epidemic in America. Continue Reading »
American couples are combatting loneliness with open marriage instead of friendship and childbearing. Continue Reading »
Christmas reminds us what Christians have to say to the world's pervasive loneliness. We say “God is with us.” Continue Reading »
Our main purpose in looking at this song is to better judge “Eleanor Rigby,” which to some commenters’ chagrin, I criticized in the last Songbook entry. The first contrast is that it is a song that doesn’t grab you at first—in my experience, it takes about five or so . . . . Continue Reading »
The Songbook was analyzing a set of songs about Loneliness and Individualism, such as Simon and Garfunkel’s “Sounds of Silence,” before it got side-tracked into laying out my theory of modernity’s sociological stages. It’s time to return to the first task, which brings me . . . . Continue Reading »
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