Nearly Spring in Fayetteville
Digest No. 05 - January 2024
On Commonplacing
The Left intelligentsia, indeed, have so long worshiped foreign gods that they seem to have become almost incapable of seeing any good in the characteristic English institutions and traditions. That the moral values on which most of them pride themselves are largely the product of the institutions they are out to destroy, these socialists cannot, of course, admit. And this attitude is unfortunately not confined to avowed socialists. Though one must hope that this is not true of the less vocal but more numerous cultivated Englishmen, if one were to judge by the ideas which find expression in current political discussion and propaganda, the Englishmen who not only ‘the language speak that Shakespeare spake’ but also ‘the faith and morals hold that Milton held’ seem to have almost vanished.
F. A. Hayek, The Road the Serfdom, Text and Documents: The Definitive Edition, ed. Bruce Caldwell (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2007), 220.
Great Ideas: Tradition, Memory & Imagination, Virtue & Vice, Democracy, Wealth, Tyranny
I’ve only read The Road to Serfdom for the first time recently. But I was impressed (and depressed) with how current it sounded.
On Reading & Researching
As this is my first time back in the classroom after some months, and my reading reflects that. My supervisor here at the Classical Education Lab was kind enough to invite me to co-teach his Philosophy of Education course for the doctoral students. We started the students off with selections from Adler’s How to Read a Book. And then asked them to jump into Bloom’s translation of Plato’s Republic. This was my first time reading through it in a couple of years, but I still found it invigorating. If there was a single book which convinced me that Great Books exist (outside of the Bible), it would be Plato’s Republic. The students had two weeks to read Books 1-3 and 5-7. I would have loved to discuss the whole book with them, of course, but time, space, etc. I’ve also dug out my copy of Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics and his Politics, both for next week’s class. More education-related reading is yet to come.
I’ve assumed a position on a school board for a start-up in California, giving me the Educator Trifecta of Teacher-Admin-Board Member.1 This meant reading Serving God on a Christian School Board. It’s a short little pamphlet with a lot of common-sense advice, but there were some insightful passages that I might come back to later.
I’m also continuing my path through Jonathan Edwards, and I have resumed reading some Edgar Rice Burroughs soon (my 9-year-old passed me in the Barsoom series, so now I’m playing catch up). Book 7, A Fighting Man of Mars, has been solid thus far.
On Writing
I’m putting the finishing touches on two edited collections, a proposal for a book on Hemingway, and a handful of articles. I’m also working on my presentation for the Ciceronian Society meeting at the end of February and getting started on my presentation for the Hemingway Society meeting in July.
I’m working on two research projects, one looking at the canon wars amongst classical Christian education circles and the other looking at teacher shortages vs school hiring values. I’ll hopefully have more to say on those soon.
On Publishing
January has proven fruitful. I received word that my first full essay on Harry Sylvester has been accepted for publication. The revisions aren’t due till August 2024, which means the actual essay won’t see publication until 2025. Still, it was a nice way to kick off the new year.
My essay on Stuart Sherman and the New Humanists was also published in the PIETAS Journal. The Journal is run by the Ciceronian Society, and I have found each issue of the newly relaunched PIETAS to be refreshing and interesting. I can’t say the same for every academic journal I read.
On Traveling & Speaking
I attended the Christendom Lectures in Monroe, LA. This was a great time with old and new friends, and I look forward to visiting with the folks in Monroe again soon. But that was the only travel for January, for which my children were grateful. They enjoyed their first snow here in Arkansas and I’m not sure there’s any going back now.
On Listening
I really cannot get enough of the Luke Combs cover for “Fast Car.” I have long been a Tracy Chapman fan, and figured no cover could ever do her justice. But as Melllvar would say:
Anyways. If you haven’t seen Combs perform the song live, I think you should give it a listen.
I had a professor years ago tell the same joke multiple times: “I’m a pastor and a deacon so I spend most nights arguing with myself over the color of the carpet.” I’m sure similar jokes could be made from the Educator’s Trifecta.