“So if ‘man’ is born free, then to be subservient to another human, or really anything, is a choice.”

That’s close!

Two quick observations:

“Governed” is closer than “subservient,” in Milton-speak. Milton […]

I’ve read a lot of blog posts in my life, and this is one of the best I’ve read. Wow, and thank you!

Hi–sorry for the confusion–you’re exactly right the first time. The comments site is just a way to aggregate all the comments and then display them on the class site. So yes, just comment on the posts on the […]

You are most welcome. Thank you for those encouraging words.

Thanks a bunch for these links. Some great stuff here. That Vox piece was the first really fine reading of American Dharma, and a breath of fresh air compared to stinkers like Owen Gleiberman’s piece.

Did you […]

I am Errol Morris. Let’s talk about my New York Times piece, “The Pianist and the Lobster," and about filmmaking. AMA. from movies

Oh: and you should definitely see Twelve O’Clock High. Bannon’s reading of that film is as thin and self-serving (and revealing) as his reading of The Fog of War. Maybe more so.

Indeed yes. And then to watch it all burn to the ground at the end….

Add to these wonderful details what it is that turning the mug around signifies in Twelve O’Clock High: a bombing mission is planned and […]

Hi Greg–you should be able to see the training modules and exercises, and click directly on the ones you’ve not yet done or haven’t completed. Go to the dashboard, click on Students, then look for the tab (upper […]

A beautiful and inspiring post.

It’s head-spinning stuff, for sure. In addition to the abstract (almost “word math”) aspects of philosophy, one of the really strange things about reading philosophical […]

I subscribe to a literary newsletter called “Notabilia.” Each day the curator (a friend named Chris Lott) sends out a snippet of extraordinary writing. Yesterday, this snippet appeared in my inbox. I thought of […]

Here’s the article I tried to link to in my comment above:

Very thoughtful post.

One note about diction: “reactionary” typically connotes an extreme kind of conservatism. All artists react to their historical and cultural contexts in one way or another, but a […]

Oh, and P.S.: The phrase is actually “fugitive and cloistered”–though I do like the adjective “encloistered.”