Any readers
who like your poems,
doubt their judgment.
Wendell Berry on How to Be a Poet and a Complete Human Being, by Maria Popova
Neil Gaiman on How Stories Last, by Maria Popova
Do stories grow? Pretty obviously — anybody who has ever heard a joke being passed on from one person to another knows that they can grow, they can change. Can stories reproduce? Well, yes.
The ‘Story Behind the Story’: Making Lit Matter, by Erick Sierra
As American society increasingly questions the importance of what we in the humanities do, in the classroom I’ve been able to depend less and less on the grand narratives that long ago motivated my own passion for literature and instead imagined an importance for literature—a story behind the story—sourced not in grand abstract metanarratives, but in what students themselves find viscerally and deeply important.
Dean Batali, ‘That 70s Show’ Writer and Producer, Shares His Greatest Cultural Influencers
One of today’s most articulate voices for faithful engagement in culture, Dean Batali, is best known for his work on That ‘70s Show, where he served as a writer for seven years and as an executive producer for the show’s final season.
The Future of StoryTelling: Wisdom in the Age of Information, by Maria Popova
A great storyteller — whether a journalist or editor or filmmaker or curator or professor or pastor — helps people figure out not only what matters in the world, but also why it matters.
The Soul Killing Problem of Bad Art, by Ashley Ariel
As artists and as theologians (for make no mistake, we are all living out some form of theology making us all theologians) we need to be less sure of being “right” and more secure in taking the risk to say, “I don’t know. Let’s explore this.”
All-Time Top Films for Deep Culture Impact
Tonight the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will award the 2015 Best Picture, yet the academy missed most of these “Deep Culture” Impact films. Will this year’s winner one day join this august company?
Why are ‘Deep Culture Impact’ Films so Rare?
In the past 40 years only three Academy Award-winning films managed to break into the coveted top 60 all-time box office earners. Here’s Why.
Wanna Win a Nobel Prize? Be Nice! (And Eat More Chocolate)
Surprise! Researchers who hog credit on scientific papers are less likely to win a Nobel prize than those who give younger academics a bit of the spotlight… of course it also helps to eat more chocolate!
Time to Take Hollywood to the Woodshed, by Brian Bird
When even The Hollywood Reporter wonders if this fall’s TV shows have crossed the line, it has legendary Hollywood producer Brian Bird wondering if it isn’t time to take his own industry to the woodshed.
The Cross and the Molotov Cocktail, by Christena Cleveland, PhD
It’s relatively easy to see the suffering Christ in black men who are already dead and aren’t threatening to hurt anyone. But can you see the suffering Christ in violent responses to injustice? Can you see the cross in the Molotov cocktail?
Why has the Imagination been Sidelined in Literature? by Damien G. Walter
Einstein once famously proclaimed that “The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination.” Yet we find ourselves at the position today where any non STEM subject has seen a de facto obliteration of its status and funding. That’s not a criticism of STEM subjects or their creative potential, but as Einstein was trying to tell us, those subjects are at their strongest when honed by a powerful imagination.