It's easy to be cynical of all the people, not just GOP politicians, posting pious platitudes and anodyne quotes on MLK Day.  Here are two more challenging pieces.

One is by the historian Paul Harvey...

This piece, from November, still sticks with me.  It's about the moral struggle that is underway in the media, in this case using the New York Times as an example.  The backlash over Ben Smith's re...

Just because I have a backlog.  There was a session of the Society of Christian Ethics yesterday on "Public Scholarship," and I may post my comments on that soon.  But not today.

This is a...

Nothing major.  Read if you want.

A really great interview with Angus Deaton and Amartya Sen, mostly about Sen's career and thinking on politics and economics.  Very much worth a read--highly...

A lot to think about today, but for now, I'll just give you an oblique bank shot.  Remember, very little in history is unprecedented.  This moment definitely has precidents.

This morning I've...

Yes, there are crazy things happening on the political scene, but I have nothing very distinctive to say on that.  But on other things, maybe I do; or maybe I just have other points of view to remind...

Just some small pieces, for you to enjoy.

A good piece: the value of the humanities must be at least visible to those outside the academy, because the questions at the heart of the humanities are...

This title is suggested by a quote in the article; I have duplicated the whole passage below. 

“An electrician by trade and a Rolling Stones fanatic, D’Angelo has owned all kinds of businesses over...

Nothing too exciting.

Terrific story of how Frank Sinatra came to record “I’ve Got You Under My Skin” with Nelson Riddle. This seems right to me:

Frank’s restlessness—in his art, his personal...

I did a thing today with Yale sociologist Phil Gorski; I think that will be up soon, and when it's up, I'll post it here.  In the meantime, some bread and circuses for the masses.

Fun story about...