Amy Chua’s “Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother”: Is “Chinese Parenting” Really Better?
When J.D. Vance was announced as the GOP candidate for vice-president, I, like many people, was reminded of his mystifying memoir of […]
Teddy Roosevelt: “It is not the critic who counts…”
In a speech in Paris in 1910, Teddy Roosevelt said: “It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points […]
Freedom in Full
Earlier this month, in honor of the anniversary of our nation’s founding, I wrote about the meaning of freedom at Crisis Magazine. […]
Valerie Shore’s “The Compleat Woman”: Marriage, Motherhood, and Career
Perhaps one of the best kinds of friends one can ask for in life is the friend who always has books to […]
A Short List of Summer Reads for Young and Old
Summer is upon us. For those of us in the swampy South, there is a ever-present damp haze blessedly punctuated by afternoon […]
Old Stories and “the Full Rapture of a Good Book”
Little Free Libraries offer an exciting array of unexpected finds. Sometimes they are a cause for concern, but sometimes the books found […]
Gerard Nolst Trenité “The Chaos”: A Poem to Light Up Your Gray Matter
We tried farro, which was good. An ancient grain, so they say, farro has a pleasant, rubbery texture, a nutty flavor, and […]
Tough Mothers: Raising Children and the Development of Grit
As we have previously mused, there seems to be a necessary element of physical discomfort to develop grit. Our bodies are always […]
Why We Have Lost the Word for Loneliness
“I shall also give a white amulet upon which is inscribed a new name, which no one knows except the one who […]
Arthur Ransome’s “Swallows and Amazons” and the Power of Natural Consequences
Beginning Arthur Ransome’s “Swallows and Amazons” with little to no context, one might wonder where it takes place. The names are not […]