Status Updates: December

Welcome to Status Updates, my once a month update on the things I am taking in and that are influencing my thinking at this time.

Books I am reading

It is that wonderful time of year again, when I fully immerse myself in Tolkien and Middle-Earth, and read The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings in its entirety. After a re-read of the The Silmarillion, I am now almost finishing up The Hobbit. I have had a tendency over recent years to diminish The Hobbit a little bit in favor the trilogy, but this year I am rediscovering why I first fell in love with Tolkien’s tale of Bilbo Baggins as a child in the first place. It was the first Tolkien I ever read; my grade school library had a large, soft cover, illustrated copy of The Hobbit that I checked out and read numerous times. A couple of years ago, I was even able to track down a copy of the edition on eBay, and it now adorns my bookshelf.

The Hobbit is a simple story, and largely skirts most of the world-building lore that I love about Tolkien. You can tell in reading it that it was largely conceived and written prior to and separate from the later work Tolkien did in his universe, and it creates some awkward moments for those like myself who love that background. But, goodness, what a wonderful adventure it is. I so look forward to revisiting it year after year.

Besides Tolkien, I am also reading Sarah Ruden’s wonderful translation of Augustine’s Confessions, a book I admit I have never read before. She really brings the text to life, and draws out Augustine’s voice in a way that I haven’t encountered before in my reads of The City of God or Enchiridion on Faith, Hope and Love.

I’ve also been powering through Chernow’s Washington at night before bed, and have almost finally finished it. I’m looking forward to diving into some broad overviews of European history afterwards. More on that to come.

Things I am reading online

One of the my favorite social media accounts for a while now has been Jokien with Tolkien, who posts Tolkien-themed humor on Twitter and Instagram. And now, on Substack! Check him out and subscribe; it is worth your time.

I’ve mentioned here a few times recently the impact the writings of Paul Kingsnorth at his own Substack have had on my thinking over the last couple of years, as he works through a 3-part, multi-essay project. He is close to wrapping up part 2, and embarking on part 3 in the new year, and he recently posted a summary of his work so far. Now is as good a time as any to jump into his work. I highly recommend it.

Via Alan Jacobs, this post from Robin Sloan is absolutely popping with ideas about how to rethink our online footprint and output. There’s a lot here, much of which I’m marinating on as I think about the best way to use this space.

What I’m watching

Andor recently wrapped up, and I stick by my numerous writings here and on the blog: this was the best Star Wars we’ve gotten yet from Disney. Week in and week out, each episode was cinema-worthy, and taken as a whole, the series told an amazingly interconnected and nuanced story about authoritarianism, insurgency, political intrigue, and what it takes to make a revolutionary. I can’t wait for season two.

All the television wrapped up just in time for the World Cup, which has been full of good soccer. Nevertheless, the political and social aspects of the tournament and its host nation, Qatar, has hung over the tournament, and its been jarring to watch the Fox and FS1 coverage acting like nothing is going on. I get why they have to do that, but it doesn’t change the fact that a decision was made to be over the top in the glowing and adoring tone taken to Qatar and the football authorities, especially in contrast to the BBC’s much more reserved and nuanced coverage, especially of the opening ceremonies and other off-the-pitch aspects of the tournament. Of course, this is all compounded by the Qatar World Cup chief’s comments today on another migrant worker death. Sickening, and really casts a pall over what is usually a global highlight every four years.

What I’m writing in

I found out early in November that Sacred Ordinary Days was not issuing a physical copy of their Liturgical Year Planner, due to supplier issues. While they did offer a digital version, I very much need a physical planner and journal to write in, and so I decided that it was, sadly, time for a new option after three years with Sacred Ordinary Days. Drawing on my own growing fascination with monastic life, I decided to give the 90-day Monk Manual a try. I’m still early in my experience, but I like what it offers so far, especially as I try to be more focused on habit building and intentionality in how I spend my time and energy. Check out their website for more info on the Manual, including page images and resources for cultivating strong habits and attitudes. I’ll report back next month on my experience.

What I’m thinking about

I don’t do this header often, because I’m often thinking about many different things and most of it bleeds over into my reading and writing that I document here. However, one thing that has been on my mind lately, and that I imagine will come into my writing soon, is the political concept of anarchism, especially as it intersects with socialism. At the blog, I wrote after the elections last month about my own ever-evolving political commitments, and one of those was this:

finally, a healthy skepticism of government and the power it can and does wield. This commitment puts me at odds with many of my fellow travelers on the left, especially in America’s current political culture. Democrats and the left have become the party of the institutions, of the status quo, and of the government. This is a distinctive quirk of the post-New Deal world and the success of the left in the first and middle part of the 20th century, and I get that. But its a dangerous place for the left to occupy, and I think it would behoove many of this side to remember that, historically and also contemporaneously, government has been a locus of elite power, and that often in defending the role and prerogative of government, we have done the work of defending elite power structures and maintaining a status quo that benefits a few at the expense of the many. Yes, programs like Social Security and Medicare have historically been powerful programs that lifted up the working poor; but to treat them like God’s own policies, in need of defending at all other costs, is a bad place to be in for the left. We would do well for a strong dose of healthy skepticism, and even a healthy, positive, local-focused type of libertarianism, not of the type that has been commandeered by the radical right, but that which has for a long time been the place of the left in a world where right wing and elite powers ran government and other institutions.

I’m trying to square that skepticism with a belief in the potential and power of a social, communal understanding of human nature and the societies we build. Then, along came the Revolutions podcast season on the Russian Revolutions, where host Mike Duncan spent a couple of early episodes on Russian socialist and anarchist Mikhail Bakunin, and his intellectual legacy.

Anyways, I don’t have anything settled or concrete to say about this interest, other than to say I am thinking about it, and that one of my reading prospects for this year is to read some Tolstoy, who melded pacifist Christianity with a sort of anarcho-socialism. More to come here.

Blog posts this month

intellectually nourished, spiritually starved

the word virtue

Election 2022: sanity for the win, and a personal political program

The death of public schools