A life in words

  • Dubious Honor, But See The Show!

    Well, I’m not quite sure what it says about my not-quite-nascent acting career (they said I was good at “vacant”), but I’ve been cast to play the title role (at least, a role from part of the title) in Waiting for Godot Baggins at tomorrow night’s Bad Play Project. There will be minimal, if any,…

  • Now I Have No Excuse

    Here’s a list of the highly varied recommendations I received in response to my last post: Sufjan Stevens—Come on Feel the Illinois Regina Spektor Nickel Creek: This Side Keane Reik Colplay: X&Y and Viva La Vida Explosions in the Sky Travis Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog (sans Mr. Hammer) Avatar soundtrack Chopin “Military Suite in…

  • The Spotlight

    I answered these questions for a “spotlight” section in the ward newsletter. Understandably, my lengthy responses were pared down prior to publication. Here I give you the original, uncut spotlight. I’m quite proud of it. Here goes…. Where are you from? Kennewick, Washington — the bone dry, brown, not-ever-green part of the Evergreen State. If…

He who knows only his own side of the case, knows little of that. His reasons may be good, and no one may have been able to refute them. But if he is equally unable to refute the reasons on the opposite side; if he does not so much as know what they are, he has no ground for preferring either opinion…. Nor is it enough that he should hear the arguments of adversaries from his own teachers, presented as they state them, and accompanied by what they offer as refutations…. He must be able to hear them from persons who actually believe them; who defend them in earnest, and do their very utmost for them. He must know them in their most plausible and persuasive form….John Stuart Mill, On LIberty