JW

me on twitter vs. me on linkedin

One day I’ll stop buying books. But not today.

He is repeating every foreign and domestic policy mistake the US has made over the last five decades, but he's doing it with a gracelessness, cluelessness, and corruption that has no precedent.

I love all of you but this isn’t 4d chess. He cannot taco this like he did last year there’s almost no way out without Iran winning so it’s his choice do we wanna sink the global economy or cut our losses and now Iran runs Hormuz which it didn’t a month ago.

@GaryWinslett Amen to all this. Proud to call it home.

Yep. It's one of the reasons I love New York and why I tend to really dislike Republicans trying to dunk on it- it's as authentically American as any small town you'll find.

"What good did I bring, that You should have mercy on me and justify me? What did You find in me except only sins? Nothing in me is Yours except the nature You created; the rest are my evils, which You have wiped away." — St. Augustine (In Psalmum 58, Sermo 1:19)

Pope Francis wrote about this quite beautifully in Our Father: “The poor guy goes away, finds no way out, and hangs himself. However, there is one thing that makes me think that the story of Judas does not end there. Maybe someone will think, ‘This pope is a heretic.’ Not at all! Go look at a specific medieval capital or column in the Basilica of Saint Mary Magdalene in Vézelay, in Burgundy. The men of the Middle Ages did catechesis through architecture, sculptures, images. On one side of the capital is Judas after he hanged himself, but on the other is the Good Shepherd lifting him onto his shoulders and taking him with him. On the lips of the Good Shepherd is the hint of a smile that I would not call ironic, but somewhat shrewdly knowing. Behind my desk, I keep a photograph of this capital divided into two sections, because it helps me meditate. There are many ways to be ashamed; despair is one of them, but we must try to help the desperate so that they may find the true path of shame, and not travel the one that ends with Judas ... Shame is a grace.”

"We live for books." Umberto Eco

Master of epics like War and Peace, Resurrection and Anna K., Tolstoy was also brilliant at the short form, of which The Death of Ivan Ilyich is one of the finest. A brutal, profound, devastating study of a man struggling against the inescapable. 60 miraculous pages.

Nietzsche says that Cervantes’s Don Quixote is the most dangerous book that has ever been written An outstanding PhD dissertation could be written on why he says that and how it provides a fascinating lens through which to understand the thought of Nietzsche

Blessed Palm Sunday Art by: J. Kirk Richards

Baseball rewards the ones who keep showing up. The ones who put in the extra reps when no one’s watching. The ones who fail, adjust, and come back stronger. Hard work doesn’t always show up right away… But when it does — it’s everything you dreamed of. Keep going. The game always gives back. #BaseballDreams #HardWorkPaysOff #KeepGrinding #TrustTheProcess

the ABS system sits at the vexed crossroads of several highly charged dynamics in our collective life. successful challenges (by your team) feel amazing, like a long-awaited blow against capricious and unearned authority; but the overall existence (and putative infallibility) of ABS inevitably ignites anxieties about the superfluity of human judgement. and yet, the challenge system relies on human hubris, intuition, boldness, and risk. it's a very compelling encounter between populism and the machine.

@SamAdlerBell @conorsen Baseball rn in the most bleak of historical timelines

@_Soup_65 @grittysstepson @OedipasKvass @OedipasKvass is the goat 🐐

@grittysstepson oh hey I know a guy @OedipasKvass gravitysrainbow.substack.com

Fuck man gravity's rainbow is so good it's stupid

Amen. And strangely relevant to our current insane times.

Stop panicking about the markets and trust Trump's plan for short term pain for medium term agony for long term catastrophe

Not to sound like John Keats but we would be collectively happier if we spent time in the woods, read poetry, admired medieval illuminated manuscripts, set aside hours for silence and contemplation. Endless noise & stimulation makes us all miserable. We need nature and books.

Listening now to the exuberantly sublime 'Gloria in Excelsis Deo' from Vivaldi's choral 'Gloria" in D Major (RV 589) for chorus & orchestra performed by the Vocal & Instrumental Ensemble of Lausanne-conductor Michel Corboz in this 1975 Lp recording. Enjoy!

These are considered the earliest surviving paintings of Jesus Christ where he heals the paralytic & walks on water ca. AD 232 from the Roman city of Dura-Europos [Syria]. Notice how Jesus is shown beardless & short-haired as often depicted in early Christian art.