Joshua Gibbs

Excerpt: “I Want My Son To Become A Better Writer” & Other Daydreams

“Many classical Christian schools hold themselves to absurdly low standards when it comes to writing instruction. A few graduates come back from their freshman year in college and report, ‘After writing my senior thesis, college writing work is easy,’ and the school congratulates itself on how well they’re doing. Twenty years ago, I took aContinue reading “Excerpt: “I Want My Son To Become A Better Writer” & Other Daydreams”

I Call Them Like I See Them

Teaching senior thesis is really more appropriate to science teachers than English teachers.

What I Learned By Totaling My Car In The Middle Of Nowhere, 2200 Miles From Home

“Thirty miles from the Grand Canyon, travelling at around sixty miles an hour, I hit a deer with my Subaru Forester. I did not graze the deer, nor did I nick him, brush him, or scrape him. I hit the deer in exactly the way you would want to hit a deer if you wantedContinue reading “What I Learned By Totaling My Car In The Middle Of Nowhere, 2200 Miles From Home”

In Desperate Need Of Definition

“The days are surely coming when the word ‘classical’ will be as ambiguous as the word ‘Republican,’ a term which now encompasses everyone from Never Trumpers like Nebraska Senator Ben Sasse to the QAnon Shaman who stormed the Capitol.” -from “The Downside of Classical Christian Education’s Rising Popularity,” which I will deliver next week atContinue reading “In Desperate Need Of Definition”

On Witch Hunts

The modern man uses the term “witch hunt” as a euphemism for injustice and hysteria because he thinks witches an absurd superstition. The modern man does not believe any “hunt” could ever turn up a witch. For all their faults, the people of Salem gave trials to those accused of witchcraft. Those accused of theContinue reading “On Witch Hunts”

Overlapping Aesthetics

Very few period pieces set in the 1980s are all that convincing because the average home in 1985 was largely stocked with goods and styles from the 1970s and late 1960s, although contemporary filmmakers typically stuff a “1985 home” with goods and styles that were fashionable in the year 1985.

The Donut Plant Episode of Proverbial: A Sequel

I probably get more comments on “the Donut Plant” episode of Proverbial than any other. This week, “Marvin” is a sort of sequel.

Gibbs In Mojave

Tomorrow, we are waking at five to get on the road early. Driving from the Lemoore Naval Air Station through the Mojave Desert, Las Vegas, and hopefully making it to the Grand Canyon by early evening. I made a playlist for the occasion. As usual, this one is marked collaborative, so feel free to addContinue reading “Gibbs In Mojave”

Gibbs In San Francisco

Bob Harris: “You want more mysterious?”

Every Time

Tom: We’ve made remarkable cultural progress over the last fifty years. Harry: Really? What about rising suicide rates? And do you know how many Americans are on antidepressants? Tom: We’ve probably always been this depressed. It just wasn’t reported or diagnosed before. Every time.