\\ // By Cleo Mikutta – V – // The wide-eyed girls came every night. When they opened their raincoats, a scent of bitter honey would pour out. They handed in plastic bags with broken handles and unwound silvery scarves to reveal sharp collarbones. He looked for her Read more
A Good Death By Whitney A. Bauman Many of us in “western” cultures are steeped in ethical and aesthetic questions about “the good life.” What is it and who has access to it? How ought we organize our governance and public institutions in ways that support such Read more
Why Physics Needs Poetry By Alissa Jones Nelson “Science explicates, poetry implicates. Both celebrate what they describe. We need the languages of both science and poetry to save us from merely stockpiling endless ‘information’ that fails to inform our ignorance or our irresponsibility.” I love Ursula Read more
Why Be Virtuous? By F. Samuel Brainard In the final days of October, more than a dozen pipe bombs were sent by a political fanatic to members of the opposing political party in the U.S.; two African-Americans were shot and killed at a grocery store simply, it seems, because they Read more
Accountability or Objectivity? By Kocku von Stuckrad Are scholars the guardians of the Grail of Truth? Is there a truth that scholars have to insist on over against the “invention of facts” by some politicians and stakeholders in the public sphere? And when scholars become publicly Read more
// \\ By Cleo Mikutta – II – // ‘You remind me of him,’ she said quietly, speaking to him through the flames, saying the words more to herself than to him. He watched her, from the other side of the fire. She had learned from the others that Read more
Art-Work in the Age of Trump By Rachel Alliston Last August, at a Counterpoint conference in Berlin, Anthea Butler gave a keynote speech on the intersection of religious practice, religious freedom, and the secular state. At one point, drawing on France’s burkini debate, Butler spoke about how the “female body Read more
On Fighting Well By John Thatamanil Can we find certain convictions abhorrent without abhorring those who subscribe to them? Put crudely, can we refuse to hate the haters? If it is possible, is it also obligatory? If Mohandas Gandhi and Martin Luther King are to be believed, the answer is Read more
Against Academic Oligarchy By Zairong Xiang As usual, I found myself in a room full of scholars from a variety of demographic backgrounds as well as “ranks” in the academic ladder. The topic was the postcolonial trauma of the world. After the presentations, the “final word” fell to a renowned Read more
The Flint Knapper Who Cried “Snake” By Sarah Pike During the Closing Circle of Rabbitstick Primitive Skills Gathering, a flint knapper (who shapes rocks by hand to make stone tools) asked the participants, “How do you react if someone in a crowd yells snake?” “Food!” said one. “Hide!” answered another, Read more