There are still faint glimmers of civilization left in this barbaric slaughterhouse that was once known as humanity.

Materialists was astoundingly good.

I can think of very few films which treat on the subject of shallowness–let alone films which take the subject seriously, explore it forthrightly, and condemn it with appropriate humility.

The first act of Materialists overstates the case for a practical, common sense marriage. The second act explores the limitations of a practical marriage. The third act corrects the excesses of the first act–not with mere sentimentality, but with an appeal to spiritual zeal.

My most merciful and all-merciful God, O Lord Jesus Christ!

In Thy great love, Thou didst come down and become flesh in order to save all. Again, I pray Thee, save me by Grace!

If Thou shouldst save me because of my deeds, it would not be a gift, but merely a duty. Truly, Thou aboundest in graciousness and art inexpressibly merciful!

Thou hast said, O my Christ: “He who believes in me shall live and never see death.” If faith in Thee saves the desperate, behold: I believe!

Save me, for Thou art my God and my Maker.

May my faith replace my deeds, O my God, for Thou wilt find no deeds to justify me.

May my faith be sufficient for all.

May it answer for me; may it justify me; may it make me a partaker of Thine eternal glory; and may Satan not seize me, O Word, and boast that He has torn me from Thy hand and fold.

O Christ, my Savior: save me whether I want it or not!

Come quickly, hurry, for I perish!

Thou art my God from my mother’s womb.

Grant, O Lord, that I may now love Thee as I once loved sin, and that I may labor for Thee without laziness as once I labored for Satan the deceiver. Even more, I will labor for Thee, my Lord and God Jesus Christ, all the days of my life, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.

Dear friends,

Early in the morning on November 13, Josh experienced severe neck pain and lost the use of his right arm and leg. He was taken to the ER and diagnosed with a vertebral artery dissection that produced a spinal stroke. He has been in the ICU since then while his doctors manage the situation with a lumbar drain and medication. The good news is that his mind and speech were not affected, and he has regained a great deal of strength in his arm and leg. However, he is very weak and has side effects from the drain that make it difficult for him to sit or stand for very long. We hope that he will be able to leave the hospital in a few days, but he has a long road to recovery and we’re not entirely sure what twists and turns the path will take. After a brief discussion about why Boethius is Josh’s favorite author, his neurologist told him that he is a “very lucky unlucky man” and we feel that this is an apt description of the situation.

We are grateful to God for hearing our prayers and showing so much mercy, as we know that this situation could have ended quite differently. We are very grateful for the emails, texts, and prayers that have been offered from all corners of the US and around the world. The love and support we have received have been deeply humbling. We are also very grateful for the excellent care that Josh has received at St. Luke’s Hospital in Boise – the nurses and doctors have been excellent in every way. 

We appreciate prayers more than anything, but a few folks have asked about support so we have set up a GoFundMe to help with hospital expenses. Please don’t feel obligated, but it’s there if you would like to make a gift.

Please keep praying, especially that his headaches will reduce when sitting up.  

With Gratitude,

Paula Gibbs
on behalf of Joshua Gibbs

Telling a teacher, “My child is very smart,” is like telling a doctor, “My child is very healthy,” or like telling a judge, “My child is very not guilty.”

We’ll see.

While there’s some climate change claptrap in this book which will probably date it (badly), Ian McEwan’s What We Can Know is a genuinely wise work of fiction that will make it ripe for revisiting over the next thirty or forty years. The story’s unconventional but winning structure makes the reader want to start over immediately upon reading the last page.

This book has also come out at just the right time. It’s an ideal autumnal read.

Teachers, no one is just going to start giving you more money. That’s not how money works. It’s not how people work. You have to ask for it. If you’re good at your job and you don’t make much money, you should ask for more.

Most classical teachers believe that if their schools could pay them more, they would. They also tend to believe that if they ask for more money (and get it), they’re taking money from some other teacher who is even more broke, more desperate.

This same mentality is what led me and my wife to burn through a $10k savings account over my early years as a teacher just to make ends meet. I kept waiting for raises that just never came, not even when enrollment grew.

The problem was mostly mine. I didn’t ask for more. If you don’t ask for more money, people assume you’re fine.

“The squeaky wheel gets the grease,” as my father often said when I was young.

We all have friends that we’d gladly give thousands to–if they needed it and asked for it. But I’ve never just given a bunch of money to someone who didn’t ask for it.

Generally speaking, though, classical teachers are a timid bunch. Our society breeds timidity into them. And asking for a raise takes some guts. It takes some self-confidence.

The thing is, classical schools need the kind of teachers who ask for raises.

Classical schools need gutsy, bold, self-confident teachers who aren’t embarrassed to ask for raises. Put another way: classical schools need the kind of teachers who are worthy of raises and ask for raises.

I don’t mean teachers who ask for 50% raises at the end of their rookie year. I mean teachers who are building families, building social stability for their schools, worth more the longer they stick around, and ask for their worth.

Sure, plenty of schools simply can’t give raises, but plenty of them can.

If you work at a school that’s a non-profit (and most classical schools are), you can look at your school’s financial state on websites like ProPublica. You can see how much top earners at your school make. It’s eye-opening.

It will definitely give you a more accurate sense of where the classical education movement is right now–and where your school is.

Student: What do you think about Christians getting tattoos?

Gibbs: On their faces?

Student: No, not on their faces.

Gibbs: Why not?

Student: Because that’s just really extreme.

Gibbs: Oh. So, where should Christians get tattoos?

Student: I don’t know. On their arms, maybe. Or their legs. Or their backs.

Gibbs: What sort of tattoos?

Student: Not just random stuff. Stuff that really means something.

Gibbs: Don’t legs really mean something?

Student: What?

Gibbs: Don’t legs and arms and backs have meaning already?

Student: Not really. We all have backs. As it is, your body is meaningless.

Gibbs: So the more common a thing is, the less meaningful it is.

Student: Yes.

Gibbs: So, what do you want to get tattooed on your arm?

Student: Something meaningful.

Gibbs: Like what?

Student: Like a cross.

Gibbs: Seems pretty common. Tons of people have cross tattoos.

Student: Yes, but more people have backs than cross tattoos.

Gibbs: But if you get a cross tattoo, you’ll be contributing to the meaninglessness of cross tattoos, right?

Student: Maybe I won’t get a cross tattoo. I didn’t actually want one of those, anyway.

Gibbs: Sure. Then what do you want to get tattooed on your meaningless arms or meaningless legs?

Student: Maybe a lion.

Gibbs: Why?

Student: To remind me of Christ, who is “the lion of Judah.”

Gibbs: Why do you want to be reminded of “the lion of Judah”?

Student: I think people would see it and ask about it, and it would give me an opportunity to share my Christian faith.

Gibbs: I’m not convinced.

Student: Every time I looked down at the lion tattooed on my arm, I would remember that Jesus is my Lord and savior. I think that would prompt me to be more spiritual.

Gibbs: I don’t think it would make much difference.

Student: Why not?

Gibbs: A lion is a really generic symbol. It might be a symbol of strength, a symbol you’ve been to Kenya, or that you follow Detroit football.

Student: You think it needs to be more obviously Christian?

Gibbs: Yes.

Student: Maybe a Bible verse?

Gibbs: Again, tattooed where?

Student: On my arm.

Gibbs: Seems non-committal.

Student: A tattoo seems non-committal?

Gibbs: On your arm? Of course. Too easy to cover up.

Student: I thought you weren’t a fan of tattoos.

Gibbs: Did I say that? I never said that.

Student: But I can tell.

Gibbs: Are you a fan of Jesus?

Student: Look, I’m thinking of getting a Christian tattoo. Why do you ask that?

Gibbs: And you want your Christian tattoo to be a symbol of your commitment to Christ?

Student: Yes.

Gibbs: And you want the tattoo to tell the world that you’re committed to Christ?

Student: Yes.

Gibbs: Then get it on your face. Be bold, man. Send a message to the world. You’re unembarrassed of the Lord. Put that tattoo in the most visible place possible.

Student: So you’re okay with me getting a tattoo?

Gibbs: A tattoo of the words, “I love Jesus Christ,” on your forehead? Sure. Otherwise, what’s the point? Show some commitment.

“It is difficult to make sense of many of the conventional arguments against censorship. The objection that in my experience tends to be adduced most promptly (and with the greatest degree of hysteria) is that of the “slippery slope”: grant some agency the legal power of censure, the argument goes, and before long political speech will be suppressed, privacy invaded, legal protections eroded, republican liberties abridged, schools taken over by fundamentalists from Alabama, women reduced to chattels, and the demonic ferment of fascism lying always just below the surface of American life set loose upon the world.

Apparently, as a society, we are poised precariously upon the narrowest precipice of a sheer escarpment as smooth as glass, overlooking a vast chasm of totalitarian tyranny; so much as a single step towards censorship will send us hurtling into the abyss, and nothing will be able to stay our fall.

This is, of course, nonsense.”

All of my ideas on the subject of censorship were–and are to this day–entirely drawn from this article.

But my, how times (and essayists) have changed.