Coffee Black and Egg Whites in Pensacola
Digest No. 25 - September 2025
If you’re looking for the Commonplace section, a monthly post has been dedicated to the practice. You can check it out here: https://hadleyonfire.substack.com/t/commonplace-journal
Ah September. The month when Florida pretends to not be in the Deep South for two weeks before reverting violently back to Midsummer Nightmares. I did have the opportunity for some Northbound travel this month, which provided a brief respite.
On Reading & Researching & Writing
Much of my reading this month has been “book club” adjacent. I’m in two book clubs now that I’m back in Florida, plus I have two group books I’m working through for work. For one group, I’m reading G. K. Chesterton’s What’s Wrong with the World. It’s been a great read and I’m glad to have been “forced” to finish it. The other group is reading Walker Percy’s Lost in the Cosmos. Both books were ones that I had wanted to read for a long time, but for one reason or another never made it to. This is a primary reason why people should be in book clubs! These groups force you to pick up something you wouldn’t have on your own. I cannot recommend the practice enough.
For work, I’ve read Mandi Gerth’s Thoroughness & Charm and Josh Gibbs’s Love What Lasts. These are what I would call pedagogical books, though neither is best served by that label. Each in their own way gives classical teachers something that can aid them in the classroom, either in providing a philosophical foundation or through examples to attempt on their own.
I’m reading a few other things as well, including Illumino: A History of Medieval Britain in 12 Illuminated Manuscripts by Michelle P. Brown and Winters in the World: A Journey through the Anglo-Saxon Year by Eleanor Parker. These are part of my teaching responsibilities for our Medieval course, which I’m hoping to incorporate into our class discussions.
I’ve sent two essays off to peer reviewed journals this month as well, so we’ll see how that process goes. Hopefully, I’ll have good news to report later this Fall.
On Publishing & Traveling & Speaking
I don’t have any publishing news, other than what I’ve mentioned above. But, I did have some enjoyable travel and speaking opportunities this month. I knew coming into an administrator’s role that my previous output would be smaller by comparison, which has proven true thus far. But I was glad to do something in this area for September.
Locally, I took some students to hear Clifford Humphrey and Allen Mendenhall speak on the Constitution at my alma mater. I’m sure some of it was over the heads of these teenagers, but I was very pleased by the questions they wrote down and their engagement with the speakers after the panel was over. Hopefully this is a sign of good things to come for UWF.
My first trip was the Fall Philadelphia Society meeting. I suffered a massive migraine upon deboarding the plane in Washington, D. C., so my first night of the event was a murky blur. But I recovered enough by Saturday to take in the various panels and to say hi to friends. I also got to hear David Bahnsen speak on Free Markets, which was my first time hearing him in person. The Fall conference was related to Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations and each panel was very different. One got a little feisty, but in a way that I thought was good in the end. I’ve come to really enjoy these conferences and I’m already looking forward to the Spring meeting in Tampa.
My second trip is this weekend, where I’ll be joining the Faulkner University’s Institute of Faith and the Academy event. My talk will be on A.I. and Classical Education centered around the idea of the Protestant Work Ethic. I hope to receive some good feedback, and subsequently to have more thoughts on the topic in the future.
On Listening
I’m new to the Dwayne Gretsky scene, but this is a cover band I’m into right now. This cover of Rush’s “Tom Sawyer” is excellent and was a great way to introduce my kids to the song. No worries, they’ve heard the original as well.
The Futurama episode that that gif is from is one of my favorites.