If you have studied anything of medieval scholasticism, this won’t be news to you, but if not, here’s a nice primer on how a Middle Eastern philosopher reintroduced Aristotle to the west (or rather, his own, unique interpretation of Aristotle).
Poetry & Resistance
James Longenbach on ‘The Resistance to Poetry’
This article appeared at a rather fortuitous time, as I have been re-reading Plato and writings about Plato and his objection to poetry. But like the idea of poetry and resistance. The immediate assumption, when you hear ‘poetry and resistance,’ is that speaker is talking about political resistance and poetry’s role and potential within activism. But there’s also poetry as resisting simple meanings, as resisting language itself, as resisting being assimilated or co-opted by society and culture.
Old Voices On Contemporary Cities
I have picked out the older ones with contemporary relevance
The Roman poet Horace on always longing to be whereve you are not:
In Rome you long for the country; in the country – oh inconstant! – you praise the distant city to the stars. – Horace
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow on the comfort that comes from proximity to one’s fellow man:
I have an affection for a great city. I feel safe in the neighborhood of man, and enjoy the sweet security of the streets.
Historian Arnold Toynbee on the virtues of walkability:
A city that outdistances man’s walking powers is a trap for man.
Plato on economic inequality:
Any city however small, is in fact divided into two, one the city of the poor, the other of the rich. These are at war with one another. – Plato
Reading Poems From Your Phone
I still see poetry as being intrinsically attached the page (yes, yes – I know that poetry began as an oral art). And I would definitely feel cheated if I went to a poetry reading and someone started to read a poem from their f–king phone. Cheap, man. Real cheap.
Merry Christmas From Washington, DC
(there isn’t actually any snow in DC this year, by the way – for which I am most pleased)
Marx The Poet?
I still think he’s a better philosopher…Missing Trilling
More People Who Miss Borders
A paean to the Borders in Palo Alto.
I picked up my better half at a shopping center in the DC suburbs. Coming in, I noticed that it listed Borders as a tenant on the sign. Which made me realize that that space is almost certainly empty now.
How Public Intellectuals Sold Out
Well, assuming you buy the premise, here’s a review of one view on the question.
The Dangers Of Being The Eldest Son Of A Great Man
Note: using ‘son’ rather than ‘child’ was not intended to be sexist, but merely reflect the times referred to… in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century, there wasn’t so much pressure on the daughters of important men (and they were mostly, though not exclusively men at the time) to follow in their parents’ footsteps to greatness.
Apropos of the season, I should note that Jesus seemed to handle the pressure okay…
the coffee philosopher 