Author Archives: fustianist

I’m not in any position to be handing out book recommendations. After all, I was the 19-year-old who thought Mrs. Dalloway would make great reading for my mom; she was working full-time, going to school full-time, and still taking care … Continue reading →

Carwardine talking about the “culturally programmed hostility of Democrats to the party of Lincoln”: “Many continued to dismisss Republicans as Yankee-Puritan fanatics, bigots, zealots, meddlers, and ideological imperialists,” without whose imperialism there would have been no Civil War (Lincoln: A … Continue reading →

Reading Arthur C. Brooks‘ Who Really Cares reminded me of a bit of extracurricular research I did along these lines as an undergraduate. The resulting chart, which I used to rile up some of my fellow students at Yale, can … Continue reading →

A post about our cat. Why? – Unlike many of you, we don’t have kids, so she’s the only small, cute thing in the house. (Sad, but true) – Many a happy moment is spent petting her, and many a … Continue reading →

Erin and I just finished one of the more pleasant tasks around here: cataloguing and shelving the books acquired over the course of the past semester. Cataloguing? Yes, all the books we acquire get a record, are assigned an LC … Continue reading →

“You’re not making any sense. Okay, so you never make sense, but today you’re really not making sense.” (Sydney to Erin) It’s amazing that two language-oriented people can have such difficulty communicating with each other . . . – Erin

Here’s a perfect example of the sort of thing I had in mind when I said that the world is in an ill state: “A Princeton Maverick Succumbs to a Cultural Shift.” I can’t begin to describe how tired I … Continue reading →

When Sydney singles me out as the best hope for appeasing “sensible types,” that’s when you should realize he’s living in a world that bears only a passing resemblance to reality. But I’ll do my best. In The New York … Continue reading →

All right, all right, I’ll inflict another weblog on the world. I think David bears most of the guilt, with Lisa, Ryan, and Kris sharing some as well. Some good may come out of this. Perhaps this way I can … Continue reading →