“The world stands to have a far tighter grip on teenagers than it does on little children, and yet many parents I speak with basically give up on governing their sons and daughters around 8th or 9th grade. They give them phones and video games and glumly report at parent teacher conferences that their childrenContinue reading “Thoughts On Sheltering Children”
Author Archives: Joshua Gibbs
One Of The Most Generous Poems
Christmas Party At The South Danbury Church by Donald Hall December twenty-firstwe gather at the white Church festoonedred and green, the tree flashinggreen-red lights beside the altar.After the children of Sunday Schoolrecite Scripture, sing songs,and scrape out solos,they retire to dress for the finale,to perform the pageantagain: Mary and Joseph kneelingcradleside, Three Kings,shepherds and shepherdesses.Continue reading “One Of The Most Generous Poems”
Merch
From the Sometimes Gibbs shop. From the Gibbs Classical shop.
Thoughts On Homework
“The teacher who does not use class time well—the teacher who only needs five minutes to account for all the material a sick student missed in a sixty minute class—has no right to ever assign homework. Teachers who want their students to live full, rich lives have to steward their class time better than that.”Continue reading “Thoughts On Homework”
One Good One
It would make for an interesting list: Wretched Bands That Have One Uncharacteristically Lovely Song. I think “Blackmail” lovely. There’s nothing else in the Swans catalogue that sounds anything like it. The rest is all lip-curlingly awful. But this one, this one is something else.
The 6 O’Clock News
“Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.”― Voltaire
Webinar On December 6th
You can register here to attend “Ecclesiastes: What The Strangest Book In The Bible Has To Teach Us About Classical Education.”
When Is A Standing Ovation Warranted?
“When the standing ovation is thought permissible for any and every performance which wins the heart of the audience—even a lot of first graders doing “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star”—the performers are likely to be disappointed and even insulted in the future when a more reasonable audience offers more modest praise. But great praise ought toContinue reading “When Is A Standing Ovation Warranted?”
The Secret Life Of
“Almost all our faults are more pardonable than the methods we resort to to hide them,” said La Rochefoucauld. In the latest episode of Proverbial, I return to one of my favorite subjects: secret sin. Episode 82 is available now.
Dear
In the last several years, it seems that the conventional greeting “Dear” has become stigmatized, and so emails now begin, “Hey Josh,” “Hi Josh,” “Hey there,” “Hey,” “Hi ya Josh,” and so forth. Really, though, we should all use “Dear.” Unless you’re in fourth grade, “Dear So-and-So” isn’t a sign you’re in love. It isContinue reading “Dear”
There are still faint glimmers of civilization left in this barbaric slaughterhouse that was once known as humanity. 