Culture & The Arts

“We must surrender the notion that adolescence is a dress rehearsal for adulthood. It’s not; it’s real life!

“Quantum Mechanics is the secret code that unlocks Genesis and when it does, we are surprised to discover that Genesis may be ‘literally true’ after all.”

“The entire story makes no sense…unless there’s something special about that ring, something you can’t get at Harrod’s at any price.”

"More than 50 years ago, Joseph Ratzinger said that the life of the Church would be the outcome of her death, just as Easter Sunday was the outcome of Good Friday."

"One way helpful in recovering the wonder of childhood and a simpler life, is to become more creative, imaginative, wonder-filled people again."

"Nobody wins democracy. It's not a possession, but a continuous process that requires everyone's participation."

“Both Johns looked out their respective windows and saw their worlds on fire. Both Johns situated their profound and ultimately hopeful message in that apocalyptic context.”

“Learning begins with curiosity and children are nothing but question-boxes.”

“Change cannot entail the annihilation of what changes… Something of what was must be conserved or it’s not ‘change’ at all, is it?”

“I want to repeal all the fundamental laws of Arithmetic.”

“Who has not dreamed of reliving a cherished moment, not through the ghostly shadows of mind but, like Job, in the flesh?”

"The Fed’s 2% inflation policy is a modern version of the Levitical program. It pays for the social safety net that is our way of redistributing wealth.”

“The occasional dragon notwithstanding, we hardly ever see monsters in Liverpool anymore.”

“Sturluson searched for the universal patterns that connect all times, all places, and all scales…and, Glory be to God, he found them.”

New research is revealing surprising complexity in the minds of goats, pigs, and other livestock.

“Macaulay Culkin is ‘every boy’ and his Home Alone family is ‘America’s family’ – except it’s not!”

"First impressions swiftly shape neural pathways, steering our social interactions through rapid cognitive processes."

“…When your identity is indefinitely plastic, when events are no longer ‘orientable’, when relations are neither transitive nor commutative, that’s Love…actually.”

"Just as the ocean's waves weave tales in their dance, polymaths craft stories of innovation by seamlessly blending knowledge from diverse domains."

"Like at Passover, most Jews who celebrate Sukkot encounter it in spaces where people can honor their values, cultures or histories."

"Nonhuman animals do, in fact, engage in resistance, even if their defiance is futile. The will to prefer life over death is a primary act of resistance, perhaps the only act of dissent available to animals who are subject to extreme forms of control."

“Parents dote on their royal highnesses…and rarely miss an opportunity to damage them in the process.”

“Marx’s hypothesis that a person’s voting habits would be determined by their relationship to the means of production was blown out of the water…”

"When AI does our writing for us, we diminish opportunities to think out problems for ourselves."

"Writing is not like Athena, springing fully formed from Zeus’ forehead. Writing is like all of Zeus’ other children, where he has to relate to someone for creation (and boy, does he relate). To create things, we need other people. It takes two to tango, two to make a child, and around 12 to make a sitcom."

"Prayer, for many, is more than just a laundry list of requests. It's a profound act of opening oneself to the divine, a dialogue between the mortal and the eternal."

"AI will virtually obliterate the barrier between what can be known and what is known."

"The evolution has begun, and I believe that the arts are going to be a very important partner for technology. Could this be the beginning of the next Golden Age? Absolutely."

"The longing is powerful. Perhaps because this is the longing for unconditional love and acceptance with which every human being is born."

“Tell us what you did (read) on your summer vacation!”

“We live under another emperor today. It is even more insidious than Constantine for it appears that this is all for our good.”

"We can only speculate what the six boys on the island in the Pacific Ocean would have done if they had run out of food – but whatever it is, I would certainly not draw any conclusions from it in terms of the essence of human nature."

Author Regan Penaluna on female philosophy and the risks of being too smart throughout history...

"I believe the role of a Christian mentor is ongoing, and it’s important to consider our role in the salvation of others."

"I wonder how different the rest of the year, heck, the rest of my life would be if I did bottle summer’s secrets."

“This one day converges mythology (Norse), cosmology (Pagan), theology (Christian) and ideology (Marxist) with ancient fertility rites. And for my next trick…”

“Were Handel and Jennens dog whistle revolutionaries?... It is one thing to criticize the secular State, yet another to call for dashing it to pieces.”

So much of Easter focuses on conquering death itself, but overlooking the freedom that the resurrection offers 'this' life, skips a sizable chunk of the miracle.

"I would like to share how I create music, but more importantly, where my music comes from."

“The state lottery is just about the only financial vehicle that offers people of modest means a realistic opportunity to materially impact their economic circumstances.”

“We must teach our children a totally counter-cultural model of nature. We must teach the doctrines of our Faith, not as exceptions to natural law, but as the highest expressions of natural law.”

"We were both smiling from ear to ear, unable to communicate with words, music our only form of communication."

"...words are also just hollowed statements to avoid the truth. It’s far too tempting a cover-up. We love ideals, but we don’t like what they require."

We are thrilled to share with you the winning essay from our first Young Writers Challenge, this one conducted exclusively at Cabrini High School in New Orleans. Our winner, Grace Krzenski, answered the prompt, "Why do you think Arthur Miller decided to call his play 'The Crucible' and which definition of crucible do you think Miller had in mind when he wrote his play?" Grace's essay has also awarded her $100. Congratulations, Grace!

"There comes a time when our souls need more respite than even the traditions of Christmas can offer us."

"There is only one full proof indication that Christmas is coming: the endless performances of George Frideric Handel’s Messiah. Yup, it’s that time of year!

"The argument for the “Happy Holidays” greeting is that because Christians have been imperialistic, and have erased everyone else (including Jews) from American culture, they now need to include us."

They say that a watched pot never boils. That’s a lie. It does boil, but do you know what doesn’t?

Next time someone asks you for your ‘pronouns,’ try telling them, ‘you/you’…see what happens.

The role of the artist is to challenge “common sense,” to point out the unrecognized assumptions that underpin naïve realism and to suggest certain directions we might travel in pursuit of deeper truth.

Why ‘milk and honey?’ Why not ‘sour grapes and corn mash?’ Turns out, it’s all about the honey!

Pulling that off was more artistic in his opinion than any of the “new age” stuff out there pushing the envelope.

“Language Endures. We Don’t” – now that is a bumper sticker!

So, the thousands of people out there in America outside the herd are finding each other.

If football is nothing else, it is a metaphor for life. The values of determination, responsibility, teamwork, flexibility, and focus apply to every aspect of life, not just football. This is a formula for success on a football field, but it is also a formula for success in life.

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Does this formal rigor seem like it would be inhibiting? The reverse is true. It’s liberating!

The story of Mary Poppins is the story of one small boy’s initiation into the teachings of Sufi spirituality and the secrets of Sufi mysticism. When the initiation of Michael Banks is complete, Michael has come, at least in some measure, to know the mind of God. Not bad for seven-years-old!

“Counting the Omer – like the shemitah cycle – invites us to believe that each day, week and year is count-worthy, valuable and unique.”

We pray the Psalms hoping to conform our minds, our values, our wills to God’s. Remember, God is his essence; we, on the other hand, are each free to create our own essences. Unfortunately, most of us are making a hash of it! Music elucidates the pre-verbal, non-phenomenal structures of the real world. Its meaning is not subject to logical analysis, scientific verification, or mathematical proof. The only test of music’s validity is its beauty.