Be Afraid Of Failure

“Graduates, I’d like to let you in on a little secret. If you had attended half as many graduation ceremonies as I have, you would not be excited for the speech I’m about to give.

There’s no kind of speech in all the world so full of cliches and platitudes as a commencement address. Some of the worst speeches I’ve ever heard were commencement addresses. What made them so bad wasn’t just the cliches and platitudes, but the lies.

Granted, it’s a very particular kind of lie you’re apt to find in a commencement address, but it’s a lie nonetheless.

What kind of lie? Flattery.

There’s just something about the commencement address—the setting, the occasion, the audience, the time of year—that tempts adults to say things to young people that sound really good but just aren’t true.”

-from the 2023 Mirus Academy Commencement Address, which I gave last weekend

You can find out more about Mirus Academy here.

ChatGPT Is A Godsend

“Given ChatGPT’s sudden, unforeseeable intrusion into our lives several months ago, teachers and administrators across the country have spent the latter half of the school year playing catch-up—and, from most accounts I’ve heard, they have been roundly defeated. We now have the summer to sort out what policies we’re going to put in place next year which will keep us from getting our classical Christian butts kicked again.

Here’s the thing, though: ChatGPT is a huge boon to the classical Christian world. Why? Because it’s going to force us all to be more classical. For starters, it’s going to mean fewer five-paragraph essays assigned as homework. There’s no assignment in the world more overvalued than the five-paragraph essay. Actually, ChatGPT is going to mean less homework in general, which is going to force teachers to use their class time better. It’s going to mean more oral examinations, more memorization projects—it’s going to mean less work which involves laptops.”

-from my latest for CiRCE

In The Running

On a release calendar stacked with films from my favorite directors (Jonathan Glazer, Sofia Coppola, Wes Anderson), this movie might end up being my favorite of the year. The best time I’ve had at the theater in a very long time.

When Mid-Level Intellectuals Play King Of The Hill For Web Traffic Glory

“Tom: Have you read Mark’s takedown of Sam’s latest article?

Harry: No.

Tom: Have you read Sam’s latest article?

Harry: No.

Tom: Okay, you should read Sam’s latest article so you can read Mark’s takedown.

Harry: Okay.

Tom: Actually, Sam’s latest article is a response to Reggie’s latest article, so you should read Reggie’s first.

Harry: Can do.

Tom: But that article from Reggie is a response to an article by Jacinda.

Harry: So I should read the one from Jacinda first?

Tom: Yes…well, you’re not going to understand Jacinda’s article unless you read that one article from Desmond about warlocks, because Jacinda is definitely taking Desmond to ask.

Harry: And who is Desmond responding to?

Tom: Probably Cindy. Or Mindy. Or both of them.”

-from How To Spend Your Online Hours, my latest for CiRCE

Fencing The Classical Christian Table

“At the point a school gets to nine or ten students who should have been kicked out years ago, or who should never have been let in to begin with, the problem isn’t the number of families who aren’t missionally aligned. The problem is that the school’s stated rules and goals are not the school’s actual rules and goals. At nine or ten, whatever behaviors or beliefs should have gotten a student kicked out have become sufficiently common that they are not so much a violation of the school’s written rules as obedience to unwritten rules. A school of video game junkies and wannabe influencers is a school for video game junkies and wannabe influencers.”

-from my latest for CiRCE

Every Hulu/AppleTV+ Show For The Last Two Years Has This Premise And Trailer.

In the future…

…ninety people…

(single piano key plinking)

…live in a giant dystopian bucket…

…they’re about to find out…

…the bucket…

…is actually something other than a bucket.

(Massive orchestral version of Starship’s “We Built This City” begins playing in a minor key.)

The bucket…

is…

full…

of…

secrets.

The Bucket

Coming Soon

Uneducated Or Ignorant?

Many people use the word “ignorant” and “uneducated” interchangeably, which is ironic given that the word “ignorant” is largely composed of the word “ignore.” An ignorant person is not someone who hasn’t been to school, but someone who ignores what is obvious, common, easily observable, often discussed, or typically advised. An ignorant person is someone who doesn’t pay attention to reality.

An uneducated person is someone who doesn’t know who wrote the Divine Comedy. An ignorant person is someone who thinks that giving away lots of free money will solve the problem of poverty—even if this is what they teach in schools.  Paying attention to the way the world works won’t clue you in to the author of the Comedy, though it will help you understand how free money is typically spent.