Huxley, Burroughs, and the Church of Scientology
Like it or not, hidden within those influential texts are the bizarre jargon and lunatic assertions of a mendacious madman.
David S. Wills
· 13 min read
Art and Culture
A collection of 726 posts
Blessed Are the Sense-Makers
Years from now, if anyone looks at a line graph (in the OED or Google dictionary) tracking the frequency with which a word is mentioned in print, they may notice the current affinity for the word “narrative.” An already overworked word (by virtue of its abstractness), it is now almost
Jared Marcel Pollen
· 11 min read
A Conversation with Daniel Elder, the Choral Music Composer Who Was Cancelled for Opposing Arson
If you’re willing to endure the painful trial of self, you will be better for it in the end. And, with enough of us, the world will be better, too.
Quillette
· 9 min read
The Purposeless Society
Without faith or nation, there is no greater whole beyond the individual.
Sam Ashworth-Hayes
· 9 min read
To Skate—Perchance to Soar
Skateboarding is simple and complex, pointless and transformational.
Damian Platt
· 16 min read
Death of an Old-Fashioned Clown: An Obituary of Fred Willard
Fred Willard was a kind of Holy Fool even among fools.
Simon Evans
· 7 min read
As Common Sense Returns to the Gender Debate, Radicals Set Upon Their Own Allies
The entire argument was about whether one particular trans ally had become too famous at the expense of more worthy and authentic competitors.
Jonathan Kay
· 12 min read
The Purpose of Imaginative Fiction
“What’s it about?” is usually the first question we ask when someone recommends a new book, and it’s the wrong question.
Elena Shalneva
· 9 min read
COVID-19 Betrays America’s Curdled Cult of Optimism
A philosophy of optimism was central to the flourishing of the American project. But it’s also useful to consider whether insisting that success and greatness lie around every corner can become a maladaptive response to problems that are complex and brutal.
Daphne Merkin
· 5 min read
My Former Life as a Radical
They believe in the perfectibility of man in their own image: a combination of unscrupulous optimism and narcissism.
Gerfried Ambrosch
· 11 min read
By Seeking ‘Safer Spaces’ for Actors, We’re Creating a Hostile Environment for Art
I honestly have no idea why any actor would want to appear in a serious play featuring protagonists who are not, in some way, “screwed up.”
Sky Gilbert
· 8 min read
Confessions of an Equity-Industry Propagandist
It was my job to turn a regressive sow’s ear into a progressive silk purse.
Janet Mackay
· 8 min read
Remembering Roger Scruton, Defender of Reason in a World of Postmodern Jackals
Scruton did not entertain petty prejudices, and had no wish to tell anyone how to live or who to love.
Barbara Kay
· 8 min read
Religious Progressivism
It is not only religious “zealots” who get obsessed about good and evil. All human beings do.
Colin Turfus
· 7 min read
Sheep and Mirrors: On Being Social
What is it about other people that bestows such joy, such comfort, such indispensable meaning on our lives?
Emma Wilkins
· 13 min read