Before the country’s Revolution and subsequent decades under communism, Russian intellectuals were known for heading off into the countryside and monasteries in search of the “pure Russian soul”—a thing that they believed existed, and they… Read more

Walking composition “Man only likes to count his troubles; he doesn’t calculate his happiness.” —Fyodr Dostoevsky I stepped outside this morning, early, to find the beginnings of a new snowfall dissolving into mist and the… Read more

Walking composition “The premise of Earth asking something of me—of me!—makes my heart swell.” —Robin Wall Kimmerer, “Returning the Gift” Friends sometimes ask me how long I’ll stick it out in Montana. It’s natural, I… Read more

Another podcast episode queued up, maybe this time on existential risks with Thomas Moynihan of Oxford University’s Future of Humanity Institute; or a webinar with Elizabeth Kolbert about her new book on saving ourselves through… Read more

Walking composition Zombie baby? Virus godling? Zoom in on that photo above and tell me that that angry infant in a surgical mask is not one of the scarier things you’ve seen. In last week’s… Read more

Note: This essay only addresses Christianity, as it’s the only faith tradition I have much experience of. Some of the points might easily apply to other faiths, but I’m not a religious scholar and wouldn’t… Read more

Walking composition Text from me: “I keep feeling like I’m forgetting how to drive while I’m driving.”Text from friend: “That’s a good metaphor.”. . . <<No really, like I was backing out of a driveway… Read more

Walking composition “That is happiness; to be dissolved into something complete and great.” —Willa Cather I had a sketched-out draft of an essay on religious faith for this week, but then decided I wanted to… Read more

Walking composition, freezing my face off composition “A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools.” —Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the… Read more

My first semester of college, I had a neighbor who had a nice stereo system. I don’t know anything about stereo systems to I have to take her word that it was nice, or at… Read more