It doesn’t charge very well. Most cords won’t work. I can sometimes charge in car and with the off brand cord next to my bed, but only if I brace it and the angle is correct.

One day soon, I suppose, it won’t charge at all.

In the meantime, I hoard its use.

Which has been a form of enjoyable withdrawal. I don’t play games on it. I don’t look up the soccer scores or the latest political tweet.

I have often believed that hermitage (as a condition, not a geography) is a deep drive in modern humanity.

Though I’m drawing that conclusion from myself and some conversations with other men like me (white, college educated, more or less liberal).

One friend’s fantasy is prison, but an imaginary prison with solitary confinement, no fear of abuse, and endless opportunities for reading, contemplation, and exercise, so as to exit in peak physical, mental, and spiritual condition.

The monastery, especially one requiring an initial vow of silence.

The house in the mountains or in the forest, where the only interruption are like-minded pilgrims to bring irregular news and discuss the classical literature and thought you have secluded yourself with.

Genji’s banishment to the shores of Sumu.