Category Archives: Society

Teaching and Following the Curriculum

“Alice felt dreadfully puzzled. The Hatter’s remark seemed to have no sort of meaning in it, and yet it was certainly English.” Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Chapter VII. A Mad Tea-Party As I’ve observed before, education isn’t a common topic … Continue reading

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We don’t deserve nice things.

There is a fairly well-known meme with the phrase “This is why we can’t have nice things.” which I have seen around frequently enough though I wasn’t previously familiar with its origins. It is usually posted with a picture of … Continue reading

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What am I doing wrong?

Money has been tight for the last few months and it has got me thinking again about how I manage my finances in general. The period between December and January are usually more expensive for me but this year it … Continue reading

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Further thoughts on Brideshead Revisted

This is a follow-up to my previous post as I felt it was different enough to warrant its own. This will focus on the characters of Rex Mottram and Celia Ryder. I didn’t mention either at all by name in … Continue reading

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Thoughts on Brideshead Revisited

I mentioned a few years ago in a post that I had been intending to re-read Evelyn Waugh’s Brideshead Revisited along with Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment. After finishing the former late last week, I decided I needed to write something about … Continue reading

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How do I get out of this?

Something that I noticed after converting to Catholicism is the zeal I suddenly felt to bring others into the Church with me. Especially my close family and friends. I had found something good and wanted to share it. This feeling … Continue reading

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A Most Interesting Man

Simon Leys: Navigator between Worlds by Philippe Paquet (translated by Julie Rose), La Trobe University Press, September 18th, 2017 The name of Simon Leys has appeared a couple of times on this blog. The first quoting portions of his fascinating … Continue reading

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The New Age of Discovery

I don’t like Star Trek but I know enough about it to remember the tagline, “Space: The Final Frontier.” These words began each episode of the original series (as far as I know) and at the optimistic time the series was … Continue reading

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Fantastic Phil’s Time Adventure

Groundhog Day had its theatrical release in the United States thirty years ago as I write. It stars Bill Murray, Andy MacDowell and was directed by Harold Ramis. It was the last time Ramis and Murray worked together on a … Continue reading

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Entering at the Margins of Classic Chinese Literature

The Water Margin (Shuihu Zhuan) is one of what are known as the ‘Four Great Novels of China’ and was originally written by Shi Naian during the Ming Dynasty and published in 1368 AD. Though there is scholarly dispute on … Continue reading

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