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Jan 21, 2025: Response to a student "panicking" about the inauguration (Advice that I will endeavor to follow…) Stay aware of Washington DC political news in a general way, but don’t spend much time on it. Consider …

Jan 19, 2025: Why political theory classes shouldn’t skip from Aristotle to Machiavelli, or, Why the Middle Ages matter: You can’t read medieval political thought …

Jan 19, 2025: Two ideas about fantasy literature: Ross Douthat: “Fantasy as created and consumed in the English-speaking world is strongly associated with the …

Jan 17, 2025: A medieval view of representation: the whole is real; the noblest role for an individual is to represent the whole. The standard modern view: …

Jan 17, 2025: Personalism (read Laurie Johnson @plough.com) needn’t be anarchist. If “person” means not only body & spirit but also social & political memberships, …

Jan 17, 2025: Two definitions of the intellectual George Scialabba on the New York Intellectuals (from What Are Intellectuals Good For – which, sadly, seems to be out of print): Their primary training …

Jan 16, 2025: Writers whose work has made me want to write C.S. Lewis Ignazio Silone Irving Howe Wendell Berry Michael Walzer Wilson Carey McWilliams George Scialabba The writers who do the kind of writing I …

Jan 15, 2025: Public life / common life I used to think of “public life” (the life we share with neighbors and strangers, in public space) as the basic concept in the study of politics. I …

Jan 15, 2025: To begin again.