The Power of Russian Fairy Tales

vasnetsov-fairy-tale

At once the magic horse came galloping up, making the ground tremble under its hoofs. Flame streamed from its nostrils, smoke rose in columns from its ears. Ivan crawled into its right ear, crawled out of its left ear, and was turned into the handsomest … Read more

Why Bother?

kilchurn-castle

Why bother with a passionate pursuit of the qualities traditionally called Goodness, Truth, and Beauty? Why place our hope in them when darkness swirls around us, forceful enough to consume everything in its path? To take the question down to my everyday life, I fret … Read more

A Fig Fest

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A fig tree (ficus carica) grows into the elbow of our second-story deck. Tall and robust, it is fulfilling a promise honed across a winter of silence, a perky spring, and a June and July dedicated to puffing up its green marbles into squatty, purple … Read more

Getting to Know Mozart’s Don Giovanni

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Few stage works are more famous than Mozart’s Don Giovanni. Let’s find out why! Free Webinar: Tuesday, August 17 at 8 pm Eastern We’ll start with the basics, including the colorful background to the story and the interesting label given the work: a dramma giocoso … Read more

An August Ramble

Cserépy-Children-playing

This is a confusing time of year. It’s barely August, yet in most places, school is days away from starting. May I go on record for saying (along with many of you) that this phenomenon mucks up the natural progression of summer and her traditions? … Read more

Learning Waugh

evelyn-waugh

I’m officially a student again. Unable to decide which course to select, I enrolled in two summer courses offered by Memoria College. The first covers the philosophy and pedagogy of Classical Education, taught by the inimitable Martin Cothran, a colleague and friend whose clear thinking … Read more

Into the Dongles

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“Did you pack the dongle?” The dongle? What kind of thing is a dongle? And why would I pack one? Dongles, as you probably know, come in various shapes and sizes. (Mine is a thin, sleek metal box about the size of a deck of … Read more

Taking Piano Lessons — Or Not

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Frequently I converse with parents regarding the question of whether a child should be made to continue piano lessons (or start them in the first place). This question evokes a mosaic of responses from me, primarily because my own musical career would have fallen by … Read more

Treasures of Texas

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Opening sentences rarely tumble out easily. I might never find this one, caught as it is in a nostalgic tangle at the chute. We are back in Texas, a state that, while not my native state, is my heart’s home. Our end goal is a … Read more