That’s what being a Christian musician is about.
All posts by Phil
Books on Writing
Damyanti has a long list of books on writing, which may remind you of that one you have been wanting to read or help you find one from an author you respect.
If this list is too daunting for you, then read these ten recommendations from Paste Magazine. In this list, Kevin Keller notes, “For most of us, that moment [of manic inspiration] never comes, and the only way to unleash creativity is through persistence and discipline.”
Princesses Aren't All Bad
John Mark Reynolds describes his reasons for liking the Disney princesses.
The films are far from perfect and marketing lurks behind every product. Still the harm is more in parents allowing too much consumption, than the innocent fantasies of childhood.
My daughters all struggle with the bad images that our culture sends women, but chief amongst these is not the Disney princess. Too much glitter and self-esteem isn’t good for anyone, but modern young women don’t seem to have enough of either!
…
Blaming the poor Disney princess, especially in her modern form, is wrongheaded. One cultural icon cannot do all the work of forming a good image. If Ophelia needs to be revived, it is more likely due to a culture of male Hamlets than from too much of the Little Mermaid.
(via Trevin Wax, may his ever-afters always be happy)
Maybe Technology Can't Solve Education Problems
Nicholas Carr points to the second article in a series on technology in education, particularly whether “popular, expensive computer-aided instruction programs actually benefit students.” He ends his post with a good quote from Steve Jobs in 1996: “Historical precedent shows that we can turn out amazing human beings without technology. Precedent also shows that we can turn out very uninteresting human beings with technology.”
Nobels and Americans
D.G. Myers believes Philip Roth is the greatest living novelist, and he hasn’t gotten a Nobel for Literature. Does he or any American deserve one?
American novelists, according to Nazaryan, have only themselves to blame for not winning a Nobel since 1993. And he knows exactly what American literature needs:
America needs an Obama des letters [sic], a writer for the 21st century, not the 20th — or even the 19th. One who is not stuck in the Cold War or the gun-slinging West or the bygone Jewish precincts of Newark — or mired in the claustrophobia of familial dramas. What relevance does our solipsism have to a reader in Bombay? For that matter, what relevance does it have in Brooklyn, N.Y.?
Bad Grammar, Spelling Kill
BBC News: “Charles Duncombe says an analysis of website figures shows a single spelling mistake can cut online sales in half. Mr. Duncombe says when recruiting staff he has been ‘shocked at the poor quality of written English’.”
I agree with this article, but isn’t the period to go inside the quotation marks? Does British English differ from American English on end punctuation?
What It Is Will Be No More
“It is what it is, but it is not what it shall be. Some day, when Someday comes, we will slide on over into the re-Edened earth.” S.D. Smith meditates on the world and the world to come.
Steve Jobs and the American Dream
Ben Domenech describes how Steve Jobs embodies the American Dream.
The essence of American optimism is founded in a belief that the world we pass on can exceed the one we inherited. We are not prisoners of an all-encompassing destiny, and neither are our children. This is not a uniquely American inclination, mind you, but a human one – but not all cultures acknowledge or honor it. It was here in America where such an experience was uniquely understood from our inception in our creed. We create, as we were created, and know all who are created have worth. So they have an equal claim to life, to liberty, and to the pursuit.
R.I.P.
A Poem by Debora Greger
“Theory of the leisure class”
Gold leaf, ground sapphire:
in the English book of hours,
the longest day of the year turns a page
in the season of spending
no sumptuary law can curb—
but today’s meditation has been interrupted
by a panicked feathery clatter:
a wood pigeon, ungainly in rosy waistcoat,
distracted on the way to Ascot
by an ornamental cherry at my window.