“Robert Nisbet for the Present Age.” Kirstin Birkhaug describes the experience of teaching Robert Nisbet’s The Present Age and watching her students respond to his analysis of America’s twinned statism and individualism: “My students do not want to feel rootless. They do not want to feel unattached. And yet, many of my students described watching their graduated friends become the exact kind of loose individual that Nisbet detailed, and told me they anticipate similar futures for themselves.”
“Devices and Desires.” Philip D. Bunn reviews Jonathan Haidt’s The Anxious Generation and find much to praise, while also noting that Haidt fails to take the spiritual dimension of human existence seriously enough: “Though his work is not primarily positive, Haidt certainly thinks he knows one way that young people can be made better: through a revival of unstructured play. And, to his credit, Haidt explicitly identifies this “epidemic of mental illness” as not just a crisis of grey matter and neural pathways but a deeply spiritual problem. What is at risk in the mental life of our children is something deeper than mere chemistry.”
“The Refs Are Working Us.” What are the consequences of the shift from mid-century journalistic fact-checking—which focused on possible errors internal to journalism—to today’s discourse policing—which aims to debunk falsehoods believed by the public? M. Anthony Mills endeavors to answer this question: “Rather than demonstrating to the public that journalistic institutions hold themselves to high standards, external fact-checking seeks to demonstrate that others have failed to uphold them. Traditional journalistic norms are no longer focused inward, which builds trust, but are projected outward, which erodes it. In this way, what was once a form of quality control internal to the practice and profession of journalism has become a tool that journalistic institutions can wield for the purpose of policing public discourse.”
“Why Schools Are Racing to Ban Student Phones.” Natasha Singer details new policies around the country limiting smartphone use in schools: “Cellphones have become a school scourge. More than 70 percent of high school teachers say student phone distraction is a ‘major problem,’ according to a survey this year by Pew Research. That’s why states are mounting a bipartisan effort to crack down on rampant student cellphone use.”
“Confessions of a Loner.” Sophia Lee pens a beautiful essay grappling with the reality of loneliness and the possibilities for fostering local community: “as we grow older and more self-sufficient, distracted by life’s burdens, we learn to live independently, like accommodating a broken ankle. And so onward we limp, relationally crippled, until we face a steep hill and realize we need help.”
“2025 Ciceronian Society CFP.” The deadline to submit a paper for the Ciceronian Society’s 2025 conference in Harrisonburg, VA is approaching. Their gatherings are always quite warm and welcoming.
“Animal Spirits?” Eric Miller reviews Animal Spirits, by Jackson Lears, and considers the value and limits of his argument for recognizing the spiritual dimensions of the material world: “That Jackson Lears has written a narrative that at its core challenges the positivist foundations of academic historiography itself—and much academic orthodoxy more broadly—gives his hope warrant. That he construes his project as centering on a generic construct like ‘animacy,’ on the other hand, reveals the extent to which his vision yet stems from the modernists he so admires. If Lears’s Jamesian pragmatism is a promising gateway, it is limiting as an end.”
“‘In Wildness is the Salvation of the World’: A Review of A Sand County Almanac.” Matt Wheeler sings the praises of Leopold’s classic: “The best teacher is often a person who loves what he or she does and who teaches by giving others a window to see that. Aldo Leopold loved the land and saw the wonder of it, and he had a gift for inspiring others to do the same.”
“An Irreplaceable Cog in the Wheel.” Keturah Hickman delivers the hard truth that we are all replaceable: “We rightly cherish the cornerstones of our communities. The great-grandmother who facilitates the family get-togethers and mends the elbows and embroiders the stockings. A bachelor uncle who takes the young boys camping and teaches them how to carve birds out of bits of wood. The old man who delights his relatives and neighbors with odd treasures and tales, and who knows just what to do with a bored child. An aunt who bakes the pies – nobody makes them quite like she does because she uses secret ingredients. But when we live with the belief that this woman or that man is utterly irreplaceable, then there will be none to take up their work when they are gone.”
“To Save the World, My Mother Abandoned Me.” In this searing essay, Xochitl Gonzalez describes what it was like to have a real-life Mrs. Jellyby as her mother: “I remember feeling terribly sorry for the kids whose mothers had abandoned them, and terribly afraid I’d be mistaken for one. Because my mother hadn’t ditched me; she was working to save the world from the ravages of capitalism.”
