mathematical proofs

"One neither could nor should expect religious texts to be rational. When Spinoza denounced the folly of trying to demonstrate the authority of scriptures with mathematical proofs, he might have been thinking of Maimonides, the twelfth-century Jewish philosopher, or perhaps Descartes, or perhaps also his friend, Dr. Lodewijk Meijer, whose rationalist interpretation of the Bible had gotten him into hot water with Calvinist authorities. For the authority of the scriptures depended on the authority of the prophets. And that authority was impervious to rational discourse."

~~ from Spinoza: Freedom's Messiah by Ian Buruma 

a gap in the table

"When he was only ten, Spinoza was sent by his father to pick up some money owed by an old lady. Michael had taught his son to be vigilant and never to be fooled by false piety. The errand was to be a test of Spinoza's wits. The old woman asked the boy to wait while she finished her prayers. After praising Spinoza's father for his religious devotion, she quickly tried to fumble some cash into the child's bag. Sensing that there was something not quite right, Spinoza insisted on counting the money despite the lady's protests. She had indeed shortchanged him by slipping a few ducats through a gap in the table."

~~ from Spinoza: Freedom's Messiah by Ian Buruma

writing on sand

"'Learning in childhood is like engraving in stone,' he began. 'Learning in old age is like writing on sand.'"

~~ from Waiting to Be Arrested at Night by Tahir Hamut Izqil

There was and there was not

Pauls Toutonghi's "Letter from Syria" is compelling reading from the July 2024 print issue of Harper's Magazine.

A Dispatch from the Future

Over a few days this week, I read George Packer's "The Valley," a comprehensive take on Phoenix, Arizona and its surroundings published in The Atlantic Monthly, and it reminded me of how his "The Megacity" from The New Yorker, on Lagos, Nigeria, is perhaps my very favorite in the genre of travel to a city and write about it in detail. This recent Harper's Magazine piece on Branson, Missouri is another recent favorite.

Growing up

"Growing up [Kenneth] slept with Bryan on the bottom bunk. The oldest of the three of us, I slept on the top bunk. Comfortable, plenty of room. Those were the perks. The morning I woke up to get ready for my wedding, the two of them were there, huddled against each other's backs. Bryan was fifteen. I remember one full year he was so fed up sharing a bottom bunk he slept on the floor, making a pallet out of two or three thick blankets. He probably couldn't figure out what took him so long to figure that one out.

"It was like that a lot. We were a family of seven barely making it. Food stamps. Reduced or free school lunches. School shopping once every year in July. Three to four outfits a piece, a pair of shoes, and then nothing until the following July. I side-stepped this a few times by asking for shoes for Christmas. Always Jordans, except the very last pair just before I was married. Those were Shaqs, blue and black. I'll never forget it, because when they got too small for me, my stepdad wore them another four years."

~~ from The Orchard Is Full of Sound by Sheldon Lee Compton

stationed in South Korea

In Sheldon Lee Compton's The Orchard Is Full of Sound, the author's father was stationed in South Korea during the Vietnam War and would later spend time living under a bridge back home in Kentucky.

 

I'm not good enough

"I'm not good enough to work or marry, but I am good enough to write."

~~ Breece D'J Pancake as quoted in The Orchard Is Full of Sound by Sheldon Lee Compton

The Age of Genius

“If I have to read the manuscript of every oddball who comes to Warsaw with a book,” Nalkowska says, “I’ll have no time for my own writing.”

~~from "The Age of Genius" in The New Yorker, June 1, 2009* 

*article tweeted on June 4, 2024 by author Sara Lippman

The orchard is full of sound.

 

Ben Tanzer and the creative life

Ben Tanzer speaks with Brad Listi about perfectionism, failure, goals, teaching, learning, writing, and the creative life.

a working life

Over a few days, I appreciated Michael Deagler's second Philly short story in Harper's Magazine: "The Pleasure of a Working Life."