Results of Ruminations

Okay, so maybe the title is a little misleading: We didn't mock  Machiavelli. But it sounds cool, so I wrote it. We did study some of The Prince  in class today, and it's interesting reading it whilst under a state whose actions I tend to disagree with, instead of the opposite. For as long as I've been teaching, I've been able to study The Prince  through the point of view of being in favor with most of the policies coming out of Washington. Under the Obama administration, there were a lot of areas in which Machiavelli and President Obama differed, and those areas where there were parallels were worth considering. Under President Trump, it's fascinating to see how much more is there. For instance, we talked today about how a prince (or state) can get and maintain power. In Machiavelli's words, he says [..I]t is necessary for [a leader of a state] to be sufficiently prudent that he may know how to avoid the reproach of those vices which would lose him his s...

Macbeth , act 5, scene 5: I have supped full with horrors. Heather Heyer has become a martyr, killed by domestic terrorism, though it ought to be noted that the hatred on display in Charlottesville has claimed many lives. The heritage that the neo-Nazis and white supremacists claim to be defending is one of barbarism, slavery, mutilation, rape, and death. I have walked among the concrete coffins meant to commemorate the victims of the Holocaust. Nestled in the heart of Berlin, within walking distance of both the Brandenberg Gate and the rebuilt Reichstag--the building whose burning gifted Germany to Hitler and set history's course for genocide, nuclear devastation, and more--I shivered as much from the weather as from the location. There is a specter that haunts Berlin: One of regret, of shame, of unwillingness to forget but also one of determination to create a new definition of what it means to be German. Berlin struck me as a place that had woken up from a nightmare that s...

Having just returned from a week-long vacation to southern Utah, I feel like I ought to make some sort of note about what happened whilst away. After all, I had a fantastic experience in California and I wrote about that . But I'm hesitant to do so, for two reasons. Number One I was saddened by the fact that, of the four plays I saw at the Utah Shakespeare Festival this year, I only saw two written by the Bard himself. Both of those were...not the best I've seen. By a long stretch, actually. The two non-Shakespeare plays, Shakespeare in Love  and the gut-busting Shakespeare's Long Lost First Play (Abridged)  were superlative. The former was what you get in the film, minus the full-fledged nudity, with a bit more development of Kit Marlowe as a character that paid off well at the end. The latter was a love letter to Shakespeare in the most irreverent way possible, doing a mashup of "early drafts" of all his plays and characters, ending the first act with a wate...

A story of the evolution of a thought, in three parts. I Growing up, I didn't know if I knew anyone who was LGBTQ+. Middle school and high school happened throughout the nineties, and though there was still some AIDS conversations in hushed tones in the hallways at school, the judgment of homosexuality particularly (the rest of the gender and orientation spectrum being even more suppressed than it is now) was somehow tied into the disease. I lived a sheltered life, shared with friends who didn't know much about sexuality--or, if they did, they didn't bring it up around me. This meant that most of my understanding of sexuality and human relationships was narrowly confined. I remember the first time my mom explained how gays have sex, and the disgust and disdain in her voice still echoes.* I don't know what inspired it, or if there's another way of reading that conversation. It was long ago, and I daresay that I may have misremembered what was said. Neverthele...

This past week, I had a lot of interesting moments. I went on a writing retreat wherein I wrote over 40,000 words in three days (with some bonus writing while I was at it, putting the end-of-the-week total at 47,500 words and change). I was hoping to write an essay about that. I had a chance to meet my dad in Manti and enjoy a dinner with him and my family, somewhat unexpectedly, and then, during that time, had some introspection that made me think more clearly of what and how I write. I'm reading a couple of books that have me pretty excited ( The Last of the Doughboys  and Building God's Kingdom , if you care to know) and I was thinking of maybe drafting a few hundred words about either one. An old Spider-Man comic came to mind that I was thinking I should reread, then do a close reading on it. (It comes from a comic published in 1994.) I mean, my Spider-Man essays don't pull in a lot of readers, but the point of these posts are more for my own growth as a writer, ...

Finland is an interesting place. Besides giving the Russians a run for their money during the Winter War , they're consistently considered at the top of sundry lists of best schools in the world. There's always a lot to unpack whenever comparing countries in any way, not the least of which comes from the different cultures, histories, and values of the people within the counties. That disparity can make large, important schisms between comparisons and ought not to be ignored. That being said, there are universal things among humans. Specific needs, like air, food, and water come to mind, but even on the broad-scale, not-quite-universal-but-so-ubiquitous-as-to-make-them-effectively-catholic level, we can see that certain thoughts, behaviors, or techniques can have a strong effect on most everyone. When we look at problem areas in America (health care, education, race relations, gun control), we can't simply point at another country, account for comparative development and...

ADVISORY: This is a political post. Knowing that many of those who read my essays aren't of the same political stripe as I, it feels natural to give a warning about what I'm discussing today. Additionally, I'm going to be talking about racism and the way I see it codified within the institutions that many people continue to endorse.  Water, Water, Everywhere... The other day, I heard part of a distressing story on NPR . It's lengthy, but I encourage you to listen to the story, particularly the first two minutes or so. The exchange between Nena Eldridge and the reporter, Laura Sullivan, is heartbreaking. SULLIVAN: "Why do you have all these water bottles?" ELDRIDGE: "Uh..."  That response tells you a lot about what's going on in Eldridge's mind, and the tone of her voice manages to imbue the monosyllabic stutter into something that's equal parts embarrassment and shame, with perhaps a slight overtone of frustration. Eldridge is obvio...

While talking with a friend on the way home from writers' group, I had a bit of an epiphany. It may be a thought that has been expressed by other, more intelligent and better read thinkers out there, but it was something that struck a nerve in me. It's pretty simple: High- and epic fantasy in the traditional vein is often propaganda for aristocratic suppression of the lower classes. Papa Tolkien  It's not unusual to give the title of "Father of modern fantasy" to J.R.R. Tolkien. Like other giants in their fields (Shakespeare, Freud, Marx, and many more), anyone attempting to work in the same genre or discipline has two options: Confront, or go around. There is no ignoring Tolkien if you're writing fantasy. Part of what makes him so fundamental is his tapping into mythic motifs, re-conceptualizing them and modernizing them in such a way that the topography of fantasy has been permanently shifted because of it. Probably laughing at all the imitators th...

When I was a kid, I watched a massive amount of television. I remember watching TV even when I didn't want to watch what was on. Sitcoms were bittersweet: I liked a couple of them, but it also meant that cartoons were over for the day. I watched Mr. Belvedere and Charles in Charge . I spent time with Family Matters and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. I liked Full House  (and totally crushed on Stephanie) and even tuned in to Home Improvement. Okay, so by saying "a couple of them", they obviously made a difference in my mind. Thinking back, the melange of TV shows I used to watch is essentially the feverdream fodder for " Too Many Cooks " , isn't it? Growing up with sitcom families, I did what (I think) most people do with shows and movies they love: They assume that there's a parallel between the lives on screen with reality. For example, I was always shocked and a little discomfited when one of the TV adults drank coffee. As a card-carrying Mormon family...

If you don't count the calendar shifts, today marks the 2,061st anniversary of the death of Julius Caesar. I'm not a classicist, but I hang out with one, and today he dressed in black. He discussed the events of that fateful day in Roman history, explaining what transpired, why they did what they did, and the consequence of Caesar's assassination. Today, I discussed the events of a different assassination, but not one less consequential: The killing of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo 103 years ago this June.   In the podcast lecture series I'm listening to, we covered the assassination of Abraham Lincoln by John Wilkes Booth, an actor who was, along with the rest of his family, best known for their Shakespearean performances. We don't know if Mister Lincoln had read Julius Caesar , but it's almost certain that Booth had. Not even a week ago, someone breached the perimeter of the White House, though his motives aren't necessarily fatal. Still, ther...

Many years ago, I wrote a video game essay " On Violence ". Looking over it, I think there's some interesting stuff in there. While I no longer put a lot of thought into a video game theory--in part because what seems pertinent and permanent is quickly outmoded and outdated as the industry grinds along--it was fun to see some of my older thoughts on how violence and video games works on a theoretical level. I can say that I'm older now, but though the wisdom is lacking, I see there are other areas about violence that need discussing. This, of course, pertains to the annual trudging through the trenches that I do with my sophomores, looking at how the World Wars came to pass. We've only started this unit, but there's already a bit of...dread, if not in them, then in me. So the so-called "necessity of the wars" comes into my mind. When my middle child was born, I used to read to him for a few minutes as he fell asleep. I picked Violence  by Slavoj ...

A favorite unofficial* hymn of the Mormon peoples is "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing," written by Robert Robinson . The Tabernacle Choir has a stirring rendition of it, complete with the Mack Wilberg Dramatic Key Change (TM). I learned to play it on the guitar when I was serving a mission for the Church. It's a powerful song, and from its lines I took the title. I've been wondering about the possible plurality of God. With new TV shows like Reza Aslan's Believer  and a genuine crisis of religiosity in America , there's certainly a lot to contemplate when it comes to God, eschatology, and behaviors. Since that's too broad a topic for one essay, I'm going to tighten this idea into the possibility that even members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are worshiping a different God from each other. I should also say that the lack of clarity of this essay stems from my own conflicted confusions about what I'm feeling, so I apologize...

I started listening to a podcast about the Civil War. At first, I was a little disappointed, because the course wasn't about the entire conflict, but instead the closing month--April 1865, to be exact. I thought of letting it go and exploring something else instead, but I soldiered on, listening to the first of the fourteen episodes. Immediately, I was confronted with a new reality. Unless you've not read much of my work, you probably already know that my strongest historical areas are the sweet-spot of British history: the Renaissance. History that touches Shakespeare--anything of the British Isles, including his Richard II  and onward--is something that I really enjoy. I even have a greater interest in Roman history because of Coriolanus and Julius Caesar  than I would for any other reason. After Shakespeare died, the poetic torch was passed to John Milton, which means that my interest goes pretty much from Richard II to James II. That's my favorite--nay, I should say...

Today is International Women's Day, as well as A Day Without Women. As a self-professed feminist, this is my kind of jam. I've been poking around Twitter off and on throughout the day, and it's been great to see how many cool women have impacted history. Some are cool bits of trivia: I have some LeGuinn on my shelf. I realize that I'm remiss in my sci-fi cred by not reading her stuff yet. Some rake insipid criticism over the coals: I love how happy she looks. Like, that's why feminism matters...in part. Some brought a painful history into a compassionate light, which reminds me that one of the greatest losses misogyny has caused humankind is that it has deprived deserved recognition of the kindest, strongest people who have ever lived: That quote, though. No one I know marched, struck, or did much besides do their normal thing, though I made sure to wear red to mark the occasion and demonstrate my solidarity. It wasn't much--most people didn...