Tick, Tick... Whimper
Intro
When I revived Time's Corner at the beginning of the summer, I said I would keep going into the school year if I could. It's clear now that I can't. Here it is, the eighth issue, three weeks late.
I am down, but I am not out, as they say. Things around here will get moving again one day, and when they do, I'd like to do another series. I appreciate the structure. Here are some topics I'm considering, but I welcome your suggestions, too:
Book reviews or chapter-by-chapter commentaries of long, old books (e.g., The Faerie Queene)
Analyses of the work of various writers (E. B. White, Ray Bradbury, Annie Dillard), paying attention to the details of their writing styles
An exploration of Christian education
A more focused series on Christianity and art
Let me know what interests you!
Tick, Tick... Whimper
I'd love to put a bow on the poetry series and send you brilliant ideas that you will chew on for years. Instead, here's a mishmash of links, thoughts, and updates.
Here are a few old blog posts from Alan Jacobs that I'd love to comment on if I ever have the time: hard things with friends, bloggy (long live blogs!), and this quote from Cory Doctorow. I like Jacobs, as I've said before, because he actually uses his blog, and blogs are way, way better than social media.
This is a really cool post from James Somers explaining how using the right dictionary can help you become a better writer. His other essays look interesting, too. Thanks to my brother Sheffield for sending it to me.
Speaking of Sheffield, he also told me about the Lycurgus cup, which I will certainly share with my students.
Reading about the debate over leap seconds, the most interesting thing I learned was that the speed of Earth's rotation doesn't stay constant. Funny old world.
My blog gets an average of three views per day. The day school started up again, it got more than sixty. My guess is that a parent (or student) googled me and spent a while rifling through the files.
Speaking of Ye Olde Blogge, I haven't blogged much lately for the same reason I haven't sent any newsletters. But I had a spare moment the other day to provide some background for C. S. Lewis's suggestion that we all stop reading literary criticism. I also wrote about Hulu's new show The Bear.
I read my first two Raymond Chandler novels (The Big Sleep and The Long Goodbye) in reverse order. Marlowe is much more sour in TLG; in TBS he seems positively chipper by comparison.
Sour Grapes is about massive fraud in the world of high-end wine collectors. I watched on the recommendation of Josh Gibbs, whose podcast episode on buying wine is one of his best.
All for now.
About
I'm Christian Leithart, a writer and teacher who lives in Birmingham, Alabama. You can subscribe or read previous issues of Time's Corner online. To add extra balderdash to this baloney sandwich, visit my blog.