The more one judges, the less one loves. — Honoré de Balzac , born on this date in 1799

…  Haverford College commencement speaker lambastes students . I have had some very pleasant times at Haverford, and I don't remember ...

…  Higher ed becoming a joke: Column . Then there's the race hysteria. Just last week,  students  at the University of St. Thomas in Mi...

…  Wooing Brevity | BREVITY's Nonfiction Blog .

…  beyond eastrod: The problematic question of a singular "higher power" . . . John Henry Newman said that having faith means ...

…  Book Blog – Likely Stories, from Booklist Online — Mystery Mom: Growing up with a Crime Novelist . (Hat tip, Dave Lull.) Because of this...

... 20 Bookish Twitter Parody Accounts That Should Exist

Mike Peich is the cofounder (along with Dana Gioia) of the West Chester University Poetry Conference, which is still, I am pretty sure, the...

…  Every Day Is Like Sunday: Rediscovering Wilfrid Sheed’s “The Hack” | The American Conservative . (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

The thing that makes you exceptional, if you are at all, is inevitably that which must also make you lonely. — Lorraine Hansberry , born...

... RSL Ondaatje Prize 2014: writing with a sense of place

... Warning: The Literary Canon Could Make Students Squirm While I see the point of this I don't think it should be taken too far.

Just knowing she was Upstairs or in the kitchen Would be comforting

...already and it's my Birthday! Yayy! Wish me, wish me :)

…  The Walking Cure | The Weekly Standard . (Hat tip, Dave Lull.) In 1919, Hesse, already a celebrated author, moved to Montagnola. He was ...

…  Open minded thinking . I, for one, don't want our future politicians, researchers, authors, CEOs, and educators to be closed to d...

…   Peril at sea amid Superstorm Sandy . …  "The Noble Hustle": Poker for losers . …  Meager McMurtry in 'Last Kind Words ...

… and it's a beautiful day:  Alloway's Ironstone Sculpture Garden a hidden gem on Salem 'Arts in Bloom' tour | NJ.com . ...

There was the Door to which I found no Key;  There was the Veil through which I might not see:  Some little talk awhile of Me and Thee  The...

... Sulzberger's last straw

... The pleasures of being a pedestrian

… as soon as we settle one last disagreement:  Will Inquirer's "English-Style Auction" Be Closed To The Media? | Big Trial | P...

Well, that took a while! Reading  Absalom, Absalom! was a battle - a long, bruising, certifiable battle. And I was able to finish only...

…  Book Review: 'Herodotus: The Histories' translated by Tom Holland & 'Herodotus: Histories' translated by Pamela Mensc...

…  Zealotry of Guerin: Inventions Of The Monsters (Dali) .

I took to my room and let small things evolve slowly. —Erik Satie , born on this date in 1866

... Ten Poignant Thoughts You’ll Read on Chipotle's New Packaging

... The stunning result in India's elections

... First Novels: The Weird, Thrilling Trip Through A Very Narrow Door

…  Main Street, USA - The Morning News . (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

…  Paul Davis On Crime: My Crime Beat Column: Busted — My Q & A With Wendy Ruderman & Barbara Laker, Pulitzer Prize-Winning Reporter...

…  Everything That Rises — Thank You, Mary Stewart . (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

…  Stanford performs Priestley’s play about the 1%. That’s us. | The Book Haven . Priestley considered himself a socialist and a man of t...

…  Caveat Scriptor: On the Essay and its Reader | BREVITY's Nonfiction Blog .

…  Book Review: 'The Soul of the World' by Roger Scruton - WSJ.com . (Hat tip, Dave Lull.) The interface between I and You is, for ...

…  Rus Bowden — Older White Guys Bonding .

After being Turned Down by numerous Publishers, he had decided to write for Posterity. — George Ade , who died on this date in 1866

... British Library's literary treasure trove – in pictures

... Three brilliant short story writers: Elizabeth McCracken, Rivka Galchen and Lydia Davis

beyond eastrod: Death, grief, and writing . . . The poet's grief finds a creative outlet (and emotional release) in the poem.  But I ...

…  Kirsten Powers: Liberals' Dark Ages .

…  The Gary Snyder Interview: Buddhism, Beat Poetry and Environmentalism | WFPL . (Hat tip, Rus Bowden.)

…  Siris: Arguments and Persuasion . (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

…  James Wood: Zia Haider Rahman’s Dazzling “In the Light of What We Know” : The New Yorker . (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

…  Poems of a lifetime | TLS . (Hat tip. Dave Lull.)

... We can do a lot: the rise of first-person plural narration

…  Nigeness: Braque Day . Like Nige, I am very fond of Braque's later work.

Life continues to make demands that make it hard for me to follow my usual blogging schedule. I will be back posting this afternoon.

If a church offers no truth that is not available in the general culture — in, for instance, the editorials of the New York Times or, for ...

…  Nigeness: Wallace Stevens, Street Fighting Man . (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

... And the Winner Is… Alex Stinton!

…  Book Blog – Likely Stories, from Booklist Online — The Maltese Legacy: Spade, the Bird, and Beyond . (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

…  The Public Library: A Photographic Love Letter to Humanity’s Greatest Sanctuary of Knowledge, Freedom, and Democracy | Brain Pickings . (...

Most people won't realize that writing is a craft. You have to take your apprenticeship in it like anything else. — Katherine Anne Po...

Happiness is not a possession to be prized, it is a quality of thought, a state of mind. — Daphne Du Maurier , born on this date in 1907 ...

…  Schneier on Security: New NSA Snowden Documents . (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

…  Marilynne Robinson Discusses Christianity, Gay Marriage Leading Up To Book Release . (Hat tip, Dave Lull.) It must be nice to have a ...

…  Blaspheming against the prophets of scientism | spiked review of books . (Hat tip, Dave Lull.) …  in everyday life, even the most resolu...

... The last days of Dylan Thomas

... Reuters America editor: Most stories need to be no more than 500 words

…  Dancing with Elemental Forces: Richard Gilbert’s Shepherd | BREVITY's Nonfiction Blog .

…  PHILADELPHIA POETRY: BY LEONARD GONTAREK .

…  Review: The Unexpected Professor - WSJ.com . (Hat tip, Dave Lull.) …   there is much to enjoy in Mr. Carey's wry comments on this ca...

Freedom from the desire for an answer is essential to the understanding of a problem. — J. Krishnamurti , born on this date in 1895

 …  Ruth Wisse: The Closing of the Collegiate Mind - WSJ.com . (Hat tip, Dave Lull.) I am reminded of Yeats's "The Scholars"...

…  Paul Davis On Crime: Home Town Hero: Why Hunter S. Thompson's Banner Is Important For Louisville .

... The flute teacher

... How to be Gay in Gaelic

…  'Talk' roughs up right- and left-wing alike . …  All aboard 'Soul Train' in new book . …  An athlete's coming-out...

…  Weekend Extra: Nobody Else But Kern . (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

I believe that a scientist looking at nonscientific problems is just as dumb as the next guy. — Richard Feyman , born on this date in 19...

... Top 10 John Updike short stories

... 12 Dead Authors You Should Follow On Twitter

…  Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Piketty, review - Telegraph . In essence, the principal weakness of the book is that the c...

…  A Healing Art - WSJ.com .

…  He would have been 100 today .

…  Theater Review: 'A Song at Twilight' and 'The Substance of Fire' - WSJ.com .

…  University of Iowa launches Creative Writing MOOC Series | @ Shambaugh House . (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

…  Book Review: 'A Troublesome Inheritance' by Nicholas Wade - WSJ.com . (Hat tip, Lee Lowe.) Before they have even opened "A ...

…  If Walt Whitman Vlogged : The New Yorker . (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

…  Qatar in the News – Mohammed al-Ajami still in Prison | Fox Chase Review .

…  Zealotry of Guerin: A Cube Made of One-Way Mirrors, Sonnet #177 .

…  Did Dante Convert Me?  (Hat tip, Dave Lull.) [Zaleski's] tentative answer is that Dante’s continued popularity is “a sign that God...

…  Amir Aczel: In the Beginning There Was an Atom - WSJ.com . (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

Religion is the possibility of the removal of every ground of confidence except confidence in God alone. — Karl Barth , born on this dat...

…  American Vignette: Call for Submissions | BREVITY's Nonfiction Blog .

... Boko Haram: A blot on humanity Boko Haram is the latest front that political Islam has opened on the continent of Africa. Like its pe...

... Ghost town

... How to tell you're reading a gothic novel – in pictures

... Allen Crawford’s Gorgeously Illustrated Version Of Walt Whitman’s “Song Of Myself”

... South Carolina push to block gay books at university draws writers' fire

Once again, I must be out and about. Blogging will resume sometime this afternoon.

Always be a little kinder than necessary. — J. M. Barrie , born on this date in 1860

... Putin's ban: let's hear it for swearing!

…  Odd Job Man and Language! by Jonathon Green – review | Culture | The Guardian . (Hat tip, Dave Lull.) But what is it, exactly, that Gree...

…  Contemporary Poetry Reviews #28 (National Poetry Month 2014) — Seth Abramson . (Hat tip, Rus Bowden.)

…  Book Review: 'Music at Midnight' by John Drury - WSJ.com . (Hat tip, Dave Lull.) What makes Mr. Drury's study succeed isn...

…  Why Neil deGrasse Tyson is a philistine - The Week . (Hat tip, Dave Lull.) Tyson is right about one thing: Philosophy is primarily about...

…  Writers and Readers: Stalking Charles Willeford's Elusive Grimhaven, by Frank Sennett | Booklist Online . (Hat tip, Dave Lull.) In a...

…  Poet Russell Edson of Darien is dead — Ken Dixon's Blog-O-Rama . (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)