Thursday Poem: The Way of Art
It seems to me that,paralleling the paths of action, devotion, etc.,there is a path called artand that the sages of the East would recognizeFaulkner, Edward Hopper, Beethoven, William Carlos Williamsand
Wednesday Poem: What We Leave Behind
My father drank salt water mixed with airAnd sacrificed his legs and calloused hands at the altar of the sea,So that it may split in half to give me the
Why Plato Was Drawn to the Eleusinian Mysteries
For Plato, rationalists and mystics can walk the same path. He turns to the Eleusinian Mysteries to explain his ideas about knowledge. … Continue readingWhy Plato Was Drawn to the Eleusinian Mysteries
How Renaissance Art Found Its Way to American Museums
The Consummation of Empire, and The Andes of Ecuador are all considered examples of great American art, but there was little appreciation… … Continue readingHow Renaissance Art Found Its Way to American Museums
“Bangla Spring”
Just as the Arab Spring soon became what Harvard Law School’s Noah Feldman called an Arab Winter, Bangladesh’s democratic renewal could be smothered in its crib. … Continue reading“Bangla Spring”
The Rise of South Asian America: Everywhere You Want to Be
by Razib Khan at Unsupervised Learning (Part 1 of 2): A few years ago, a friend working on Capitol Hill observed that during the Trump administration, the Democratic political staff
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Study Explores How Gossip Spreads in Social Networks
How many different types of people—colleagues, friends, taxi drivers, etc.—should we hear a piece of information from before we start sharing it as a true fact? … Continue readingStudy Explores How Gossip Spreads in Social Networks
Revisiting the ‘Research Parasite’ Debate in the Age of AI
C. Brandon Ogbunu at The Undark revisits a debate about so-called “research parasites” — scientists who use and reanalyze other people’s data. The large language models used in generative AI
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A Little-understood Fact: There’s Not That Much Wealth in the World
Noah Smith at Noahpinion: Most economic debates are about income, not wealth. When we talk about income taxes, or welfare benefits, or labor’s share of national income, we’re talking about the
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Was Alice Munro an Art Monster? Or Just a Monster?
Meghan Daum in Substack: Alice Munro, considered one of the greatest short-story writers of modern times, was a monster. The world learned this on Sunday, within moments of the Toronto Star hitting “publish”
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Monday Poem: Morning of Drunkenness
O my good! O my beautiful!Atrocious fanfare where I won’t stumble!enchanted rack whereon I am stretched!Hurrah for the amazing work andthe marvelous body, for the first time! It began amid
Is Harvard Antisemitic?
Max Krupnick in Harvard Magazine: WHEN HAMAS TERRORISTS attacked Israel last October 7, they unleashed death and destruction—and also inflamed American prejudice on ethnic and religious grounds. Within hours, allegations of such