French Sculptors, English Anchoresses, and Existential Questions
Today was one of those Big Question days. We were discussing sculpture, and the relationship between Camille Claudel and Auguste Rodin came up. Claudel was a female sculpture student who met Rodin...
View Article“But Who Can Stand Before Jealousy?”–A Simple Plea
Gentle reader: this post was written after discussions with other exchange students. They share my sentiments, and asked that I pass them on to you. Oh, you know: just feedin’ my fishy friends,...
View ArticleHappy Birthday, Freak! Getting to Know Flannery O’Connor
There are some authors with whom you find an instant kinship; you read their prose and your soul expands in a chorus of “yes! yes! yes!” and you feel you have found a friend. When you discover later...
View ArticleThe Darkness of God
Cristo crucificado by Diego Velázquez, 1632 There are certain days that draw us into their sorrowful depths: days of tragedy, and their anniversaries. I am a Catholic, and today is Good Friday. It...
View ArticleSt. Francis and the Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test
Please let’s clear something up, right now: St. Francis of Assisi was not a hippy. Just, no. With the recent papal election, a lot of talk has been going on about Pope Francis’ namesake: how he was a...
View ArticleLiberty and Security and Gun Control
Perhaps this post comes too soon after the recent tragedies that have occurred–first the horrific bombing at the Boston Marathon on Wednesday, and then the recent killing of a police officer on the...
View ArticleWonder: the True Value of a Liberal Education
There are many ways to measure the value of a liberal arts education: sharpened critical thinking skills, the ability to write well, greater flexibility of thought. However, there are other aspects of...
View ArticleAbercrombie Revisited: Our Complicity in the Dark Side of Capitalism
Oh, big surprise, I know: we’ve found more evidence that Abercrombie & Fitch is a slimeball of a company. Last week Business Insider released an article detailing that A&F “doesn’t stock XL or...
View ArticleA Patriotism of Small Things, Part 1
In exactly two weeks I will be standing on American soil. This will be the first time for over five months for me. By normal standards of things this isn’t very long, I know, but being abroad for more...
View ArticleBurke and Tocqueville: A Patriotism of Small Things, Part 2
AMERICA! My country, ’tis of thee I sing! Virgil sang of arms and a man, but I sing of a home, and a different kind of arms. I have been studying abroad for the past five months, and am finally back...
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