Category: Culture

Teddy Roosevelt’s 1914 expedition to the unexplored Amazon rainforest might be one of the most ridiculous things that’s ever happened, ever

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If there’s any doubt how dangerous this expedition was, consider that it would be another thirteen years before anyone successfully made the same trip.  The first follow up expedition had to turn back because of the Indians.  The one after that simply disappeared without a trace, presumably killed by the Indians.  Roosevelt, being Roosevelt, somehow… Continue reading Teddy Roosevelt’s 1914 expedition to the unexplored Amazon rainforest might be one of the most ridiculous things that’s ever happened, ever

This Fourth of July, the sound you hear might be progressive heads exploding instead of fireworks

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Yes, it’s been a good week for conservatives, one of the best I can remember since Trump was elected in 2016, and we have much to celebrate tomorrow.  We should not, however, gloat too much or get too cocky.  Teddy Roosevelt’s political kaleidoscope changes fast, in ways we cannot possibly predict.  At the risk of… Continue reading This Fourth of July, the sound you hear might be progressive heads exploding instead of fireworks

Progressives are coming for your pets

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There is, apparently, a “robust scientific literature [that] leaves no doubt about the anguish pets experience.”  This anguish includes “physical confinement, social isolation, and chronic exposure to stress.”  In other words, we are torturing our pets and should let them run free... Last week, people were a threat to the planet itself.  This week, people… Continue reading Progressives are coming for your pets

Meet the “NEETs,” a new acronym to describe how Generation Z remains hopelessly adrift

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“Not in employment, education, or training,” that is those who are doing absolutely nothing with their lives, neither productively working nor preparing for their future.  After two decades of being told all they could not do, the spark of life has gone out, drowned by those who believe failure is our birthright.  Generation Z, born… Continue reading Meet the “NEETs,” a new acronym to describe how Generation Z remains hopelessly adrift

Springsteen’s “Better Days” and the promise of a more limited redemption

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We’re all looking for something better, but are unlikely to achieve it through some magical moment, some mystical epiphany, or some mythical transformation.  Ironically, Bruce Springsteen’s two albums most focused on positive outcomes and the possibility of redemption, are also his most underrated if not outright forgotten.  After spending almost two decades penning songs about… Continue reading Springsteen’s “Better Days” and the promise of a more limited redemption

Shakespeare’s Sonnet 73, the “Bare ruin’d choirs, where late the sweet birds sang,” and the meaning of love itself

Christian Twiste2 Comments

Love can sing to us, sweetly, and we can build an edifice upon it for that special choir, an edifice composed of both the joy we have in our lover and the fears of how it will end, for everything is ultimately “ruin’d” in this world, but in Shakespeare’s, even a single intentionally shortened syllable… Continue reading Shakespeare’s Sonnet 73, the “Bare ruin’d choirs, where late the sweet birds sang,” and the meaning of love itself

Alfred Hitchcock’s Rope and the invention of the modern movie

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When you consider that the 1948 cult-classic was one of the master director’s lesser known and less heralded works, his achievement in cinema – which I would suggest amounts to nothing less than the invention of modern cinema, from its plot and characters to how it is filmed and edited  – is all the more… Continue reading Alfred Hitchcock’s Rope and the invention of the modern movie

The magic of Quito and the majesty of the Andes

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At the risk of sounding more than a little provincial, visiting a non-European country can always be a little daunting for a Westerner.  As progressives put it, representation matters in some sense, but that’s where the opportunity for real magic happens when you travel. Quito, the capital of Ecuador, wasn’t a city I’d planned on… Continue reading The magic of Quito and the majesty of the Andes

An expedition to the Galapagos Archipelago and all the beer on the boat

Christian Twiste2 Comments

Here is land where birds nest directly on the trail, crowding in the thousands.  The sea lions play with you in the crystal waters.  Schools of eagle rays drift by like silent specters in the night while sea turtles make their way beneath. Lizards lounge on the beach, daring you to get close.  The sun… Continue reading An expedition to the Galapagos Archipelago and all the beer on the boat

Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar and the nature of power in the hands of the people

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It is a tragedy not of a single individual or even the entire Roman Republic, but one of power, who has it, who wants it, how they get it, and how it ebbs and flows at the whims of the crowd, exercising their free and fickle will to support who they choose at any given… Continue reading Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar and the nature of power in the hands of the people