September 2012
52 posts
4 tags
8 tags
Checking in with Conservatives
People have been arguing for the past few days (well, for a long time, but especially in the past few days) about collapses and/or shifts in American conservatism. Blame Wonkistan’s grouchy uncle Rod Dreher, who last weekend straight-up answered a reader who asked, “What is a conservative?” by pointing to Russell Kirk’s “Ten Conservative Principles.” Kirk:
...
3 tags
9 tags
8 tags
7 tags
8 tags
“All sorts of NYT writers just say stuff about religion, without much caring...”
– Alan Jacobs, whose arrival at The American Conservative we ought to have mentioned last week, thinks the New York Times’ habitual ignorance of the Bible is funny. Luckily, GetReligion is on it.
10 tags
Moby Dick | Big Read
“The Moby-Dick Big Read: an online version of Melville’s magisterial tome: each of its 135 chapters read out aloud, by a mixture of the celebrated and the unknown, to be broadcast online in a sequence of 135 downloads, publicly and freely accessible.”
A collaborative effort of artist Angela Cockayne and writer Phillip Hoare that brings together a whaling saga, pretty paintings, and...
9 tags
Books bloggers are harming literature, warns... →
“Peter Stothard, chair of this year’s Booker prize judges, says the mass of online opinion about books could kill off literary criticism.”
My first reaction was - no. Not so much. But I was interested by this:
“Referring to last year’s Man Booker chair Stella Rimington’s much-criticised focus on finding “readable” books for the prize’s...
6 tags
WatchSNL on independent voters. Condescending? Funny? Kind of both?
7 tags
“It gives me comfort to know that, since I could not possibly become more...”
– Maciej Cegłowski is exceptionally good at writing about Eastern Europe.
7 tags
“Imagine Christianity (or whatever religion you’re thinking about) is a...”
– The basis for a truly fascinating proposition by Leah Libresco: the best way to think about religion is to imagine yourself already inside it, especially if you consider yourself agnostic. Thoughts?
9 tags
3 tags
On music, culture, vocabulary, and vlogging
Quite a few of you have raised the question of vocabulary: should we really have stuck to using the term “bluegrass” when referring to a whole host of rural American musical genres, while having the audacity not to mention a single bluegrass band per se?
We definitely didn’t think as hard as we should have about what to call the many different kinds of musics. As we mentioned in...
8 tags
“A little Learning is a dang’rous Thing;
Drink deep, or taste not the...”
– Alexander Pope, “An Essay on Criticism” (1711)
These lines seem particularly relevant to our shared purpose, Wonkistanis. Let’s learn deeply.
4 tags
“Writing has always seemed to me a fight against loss, an instinct for replay; a...”
– The inescapable Simon Schama talks about why essays are tricky, immortal, and awesome.
4 tags
8 tags
10 tags
Episode Extras: Enthusiasm Spotlight - Bluegrass!
We hope you enjoyed our newest episode, “Enthusiasm Spotlight - Bluegrass!“ You’ll notice that it is on our BRAND WONKIN’ NEW YouTube channel. We love the idea of an independent nomadic republic of channel-hopping video-blogging wonkiness, but several of you have asked for a more central location to get your Wonkistani fix. And we like to deliver.
Please subscribe and pass...
3 tags
catherineaddington asked: YOUR REDESIGN. I LIKE IT. -impartial observer
9 tags
“It drives a certain kind of Christian, and a certain kind of secularist, nuts to...”
– Rod Dreher on gastronomical joy and The Odyssey. (We adore that Dreher is the kind of blogger who can rant about the follies of economic, social, and moral autonomy, introduce a little lit-crit, and then turn around and share a kick-ass biscuit recipe.)
6 tags
6 tags
8 tags
Sunday Evening Longreads
Two Sunday evening longreads for you this week, Wonkistan.
First, The New Yorker talks to Salman Rushdie about how the fatwa placed upon him changed his life. It’s timely given the most recent round of Prophet defaming happening in the world.
He looked at the journalists looking at him and he wondered if this was how people looked at men being taken to the gallows or the electric chair.
...
6 tags
6 tags
9 tags
10 tags
“[I]n the world of embassy design… architects try to construct buildings...”
– Henry Grabar for The Atlantic. His piece on US embassy architecture, “Fortress America,” makes us want to read way more architectural critiques with socio-political lenses.
6 tags
7 tags
5 tags
9 tags
11 tags
7 tags
5 tags
6 tags
WatchAn exclusive episode preview for our tumblr followers!
Playlist here.
14 tags
8 tags
9 tags
8 tags
7 tags
9 tags
Dreher writes:
[T]he problem American liberals have is that generally speaking, they don’t really grasp that sexual autonomy is a myth. But conservatives don’t really grasp that economic autonomy is also a myth, and consequently, don’t think as deeply as we should about the bonds of community that include, yes, economic relationships… A philosophy that makes the desiring, choosing individual its...
7 tags
“During our block party I was allowed to pet my neighbor’s chickens. She held one...”
– One of Wonkistan’s favorite bloggers, Mimi Smartypants, has discovered chickens. Welcome to the club.
14 tags
4 tags
Ivan: [Does cool tinkering in the Google Doc]
Amanda: Aww, you antitipated my move!
Amanda: *anticipated
Ivan: Heh, you said "tit."
Amanda: Ahahaha, tits.
Amanda: SPEAKING OF WHICH--
Ivan: Tangential tit moment!
Amanda: Tantitment, if you will.
Ivan: ...
Amanda: This is going on the blog.
7 tags
8 tags
7 tags
9 tags
11 tags
