Joshua Gibbs

Morning Matters: A Sometimes Gibbs Playlist

For the moment you wake until the moment you leave the house. I have made it a collaborative playlist, so after you get the vibe, feel free to add to it.

A List Of The Most Meaningless Words

Passion Impact

How To Not Raise Egotists

“There’s a certain sort of teenager who simply cannot appreciate the fact that adults—specifically teachers and parents—are reasonable, feeling human beings who respond in realistic ways to insult, abuse, slight, and offense.” -from How To Not Raise Egotists, my latest for CiRCE

Miyazaki On “Let It Go”

“That song ‘Let it Go’ is popular now. It’s all about being yourself. But that’s terrible. Self-satisfied people are boring. We have to push hard and surpass ourselves.” -Hayao Miyazaki in Never-Ending Man

The Space Race

Thirty years ago, the most readily identifiable icon of the space race was Neil Armstrong, a reserved and dignified man who observed a brief communion service with Buzz Aldrin while they were on the moon. Today, the most readily identifiable icon of the space race is Elon Musk, who named his child “X AE A-XII”Continue reading “The Space Race”

How To Not Be Shallow

“You are not too young to begin paying close attention to the world, to others, and to begin asking yourself, ‘What do joyous people have in common?’ You are not too young to pay attention to the words and deeds of your friends and ask what sort of adults they will become if they continueContinue reading “How To Not Be Shallow”

How To Avoid Grading Burnout

“While teachers are apt to chide students about writing papers the night before, many teachers also procrastinate when it comes to grading and returning papers. Students who write their papers the night before rarely do great work, but teachers who attempt to grade forty essays in four hours are rarely doing great grading either.” -FromContinue reading “How To Avoid Grading Burnout”

Finally Something New

I have never (ever) heard anything like this. Uncanny, unearthly, overwhelming. Something new is almost always something old.

To Grade Or To Edit

At the moment, I am going over the first draft of my next book, which has been copiously marked up with red pen by the editor. The following thought occurred to me (during my ninth hour of looking over the proposed edits): Many teachers fill student papers with editorial marks and corrections, indicating that aContinue reading “To Grade Or To Edit”

Bad Taste Is Its Own Punishment

“Modern beliefs about politics, church government, democracy, and so forth are all neatly and appropriately reflected in modern literature, modern music, and modern liturgies. We do not deserve a better culture than the one we have. Every culture is perfectly suited to the music it produces, the churches it builds, and the poems it writes.Continue reading “Bad Taste Is Its Own Punishment”