Just some stuff:

A really nice brief intro to Czeslaw Milosz’s poetry.  I would never have thought to compare him to P.G. Wodehouse, for instance.

Did American creative writing programs help create a self-obsessed and anti-political culture, not just in the US but around the world? This piece (which is itself, let us admit, a little self-involved) makes the suggestion.  It’s worth considering, anyway.

Kenny Loggins and Michael McDonald teamed up to write the wonderful Doobie Brothers song, “What a Fool Believes.” This is them talking about it many years later.

Dave Brubeck’s “mid-century modern” house, with “traditional Japanese” accents, is for sale.  Looks amazing!  If only I had three million dollars.

On “diversity training,” and whether or not it is effective.  Studies are ambiguous on this.  It seems we still have a long way to go, and should keep experimenting to understand how best to address prejudice.

This is right: we need institutions, multilateral institutions, to help “contain” China. Whether the UN is a crucial institution of this sort is another question; I think not, I think it is an important institutional venue for states to discuss matters.  But the crucial multilateral institutions will be alliances and free-trade blocs. 

Biblical archaeology is a contested field.  The evidence uncovered is systematically ambiguous, but super-charged with theological and political interests.  This review of three recent books gets at that.

Be well, everybody.