Dorothy Sayers and “The Lost Tools of Learning”

3 May 202330 April 2023 The Portly Politico9 Comments

“For the sole true end of education is simply this: to teach men how to learn for themselves; and whatever instruction fails to do this is effort spent in vain.” —Dorothy Sayers

What a powerful sentiment, because it is True! I recently had occasion to read Dorothy Sayers’s speech—later adapted into an essay—entitled “The Lost Tools of Learning“; it was akin to my first reading of Richard Weaver’s Ideas Have Consequences: a lightning bolt of the True and the Good striking directly upon my mind.

In the speech, Sayers lays out the medieval method of learning, the Trivium, consisting of Grammar, Dialectic (or Logic), and Rhetoric, we she argues should be divided into age-appropriate stages (the “Poll-Parrot,” the “Pert,” and the “Poetic”). Each stage corresponds with one aspect of the Trivium (the Poll-Parrot studies Grammar, the Pert studies Logic, and the Poetic studies Rhetoric), and while the ages aren’t precise, they basically include when children are knowledge sponges and can learn anything (the parrot, roughly elementary school and earlier); the stage when children start questioning everything and love trapping adults in logical contradictions (the pert, roughly middle school); and the age in which children are on the cusp of adulthood (around fourteen- or fifteen-years old).

This essay is an absolute must-read. It is long, however, so I’m offering up some of my thoughts on the essay, which has already taken root in my soul, forcing me to re-examine and reconsider how I approach teaching.

Open Mic Adventures XXX: “Chorale for a Sleepy Wednesday”

2 May 202330 April 2023 The Portly Politico13 Comments

Yes, it’s Tuesday—the traditional day of the week for Open Mic Adventures. No need to check your calendars—or to question my sanity.

I wrote this piece, “Chorale for a Sleepy Wednesday,” last Wednesday, 26 April 2023, during one of my planning periods. I thought it would make a fun sightreading exercise for my Middle School Music Ensemble, and we spent class that afternoon sightreading this piece and “Song of the Bigfoot.”

When I write chorales (as I’ll explain in the video), I tend to do it as a music theory exercise. I used to write them with the idea of sustaining one or even two notes for as long as possible, and always keeping notes within stepwise motion of one another. That stepwise motion is largely maintained, with a few exceptions, in the manuscript below.

Monday Morning Movie Review: Train to Busan (2016)

1 May 202330 April 2023 The Portly Politico8 Comments

In a comment on last Monday’s review, Audre Myers asked if I would write a review of Burnt Offerings (1976). I’ve seen the film and intend to fulfill Audre’s request posthaste, but I a.) need to rewatch it and b.) I wanted to get this review of 2016’s Train to Busan out while it’s still fresh in my mind. That said, I always encourage requests, so if there’s any film you’d like me to review, leave a comment below!

That disclaimer aside, on to the review!

The first couple of decades of this century saw a renaissance of sorts for zombie films. Myriad thought pieces and cultural analyses have been written exploring why, and the mass cultural appeal of zombie flicks is certainly a fascinating topic. There is a sort of fantastical, apocalyptic element to zombie films, television shows, books, and comics that speak to the fundamental questions of humanity and civilization. Why are we here? How do we handle stressful, life-threatening situations? Is civilization a shield against our baser urges? When it collapses, do we give into those urges, or do our higher moral beliefs prevail? Are those moral beliefs merely a mask that life in a stable, prosperous society makes the wearing of easier to achieve? Or do we really believe in these higher ideals, even when they are battered and threatened on all sides?

It’s been written before, and I’ll write it again: the real threat in zombie movies are not the zombies themselves, but the surviving humans. Yes, the zombies are dangerous—and in Train to Busan, they’re quite deadly, and move with astonishing speed—but many of the film’s deaths are due to human ignorance, fear, callousness, and selfishness. Sheer panic does much to end lives and lead to poor (and wicked) decisions, while levelheaded thinking and restraint—coupled with astonishing courage—often, though not always, lead to better outcomes.

By this metric of zombie-movies-as-movies-about-ourselves, Train to Busan succeeds wildly. But the film is much more.

You Can’t Cuck the Tuck IV: They Cucked the Tuck!

28 April 202327 April 2023 The Portly Politico2 Comments

It’s been nearly three years since I last wrote an installment of You Can’t Cuck the Tuck, but not because I grew disinterested in Tucker Carlson’s insightful commentary. Quite the opposite: his powerful, succinct analysis of our current ills has only deepened my respect for him and his worldview even more. That he delivers his critiques with mirth, laughter, and good humor only strengthens them.

Sadly, Fox News—an organization that hasn’t done anything particularly interesting since Red Eye w/ Greg Gutfeld—has embraced cuckery and kicked The Tuck to the curb. The last vestige of FNC as a truly conservative option in the space of mainstream cable news is now gone.

TBT: Go to Church

27 April 202324 April 2023 The Portly Politico2 Comments

Easter has come and gone, so ’tis the season the stop attending church until Christmas. At least, that’s the attitude of some folks. Here at TPP, we endorse frequent church attendance.

Last year I lamented the way our attitude about church attendance demonstrates our skewed priorities. We’ll bend over backwards (for some people, perhaps literally) to appease our increasingly unreasonable bosses, but come Sunday morning, we’ll lounge about in bed rather than fellowship with other Christians.

To be clear, I don’t think church attendance is a necessary precursor to salvation. At the same time, a Christian should want to spend that time learning about God’s Word and worshipping Him with other believers.

I certainly don’t feel like it every Sunday. Because of my extremely busy work schedule, I sometimes catch myself begrudging the long drive to church on Sunday mornings, and the way that it cuts into the day. But I almost always am glad I went.

Funny how even the tiniest sacrifices and the slightest hardships, once endured, help us improve. Attending church once a week is not a major imposition. Now churches just need to make sure they’re teaching the Truth, not watered-down inspirational speeches that I could find on a mommy blog.

With that, here is 13 April 2022’s “Go to Church“:

Fed Up

26 April 202325 April 2023 The Portly PoliticoLeave a comment

This Wednesday we’re taking a break from Bigfoot to talk about another terrifying creature: the Federal Reserve System.

I don’t typically write about the Federal Reserve System because, well, I don’t really get it. Sure, I’ve taught about it, and I get the general gist of what it is alleged to do, but like most Americans, I know that it tinkers with interest rates and is incredibly boring.

As a kid, I’d hear about Alan Greenspan and how significant he was. Janet Yellen, the who I thought was still the chair of the Fed (nope—she’s the Secretary of Treasury now, apparently), sounds like a walrus with head cold, and strikes me as about as lively as block of wood. These are not inspiring or interesting people, but they are immensely powerful.

Monday Morning Movie Review: The Fog (1980)

24 April 202323 April 2023 The Portly Politico21 Comments

Regular readers will know I am a big fan of John Carpenter. He is, perhaps, my favorite director, and one of my favorite film composers and musicians as well. Big Trouble in Little China (1986) was my #2 pick for the best flick ever, and would have likely been #1 if I weren’t had I not been trying to troll Ponty. My #3 pick was 1982’s The Thing, which is actually better than Big Trouble objectively, although that’s the definition of comparing whiskey to wantons.

Naturally, readers would be correct in thinking that my assessment of his 1980 release The Fog would be similarly rosy (and rose-tinted, perhaps). While I don’t think it’s a masterpiece like the other two films—not the lightning-in-a-bottle amalgam of genres that make Big Trouble more than the sum of its parts, nor the nihilistic and terrifying, claustrophobic experience of The Thing—it is quite good. It’s not particularly scary for a horror film, but it is quintessential Carpenter.

Robocalypse

21 April 202320 April 2023 The Portly Politico8 Comments

I have long been a lover of robots (metaphorically, not literally, you perverts). Star Wars probably did more to endear the public to quirky humanoid droids more than any PR stunt from NASA or Honda. What chubby child didn’t dream of hanging out with their very own R2-D2? Heck, nerds young and old can build their own (non-functioning) droids at Disney World. R2-D2 was stubborn and obstinate, sure, but he’d be easier to maintain than my dog.

Of course, artificial intelligence (AI) doesn’t seem quite so lovable these days. With ChatGPT and the weird Microsoft Bing! AI, it seems that no one read Isaac Asimov’s I, Robot. Instead of programming in the Three Laws of Robotics, we’re programming in the laws of wokeness.

Even if our AI didn’t resemble the faculty at a UC-Berkeley cocktail mixer, it would be disconcerting for a number of reasons. That we’ve politicized even our robots is just further cause for concern.

Myersivsion: From Years Gone By

19 April 202318 April 2023 The Portly Politico5 Comments

What is the connection between Bigfoot and the Shroud of Turin? Not much, except both involve investigating the mysteries of the science and faith, the two intertwining to reveal a larger picture.

At least, that is my takeaway from this excellent piece from Audre Myers. In an attempt to salvage my blog’s reputation, Audre earlier this week demurred from submitting any more Bigfoot-related content, but the siren song of the hairy lug is too hard to resist.

As always, Audre approaches the subject with tenderness, curiosity, and analytical thinking. She also notes that belief in Bigfoot is largely optional and up to you to decide, but belief in Jesus Christ is paramount. If we can believe in the former, we must believe in the latter.

With that, here is Audre with “From Years Gone By”:

Monday Morning Movie Review: The Haunting (1963)

17 April 202316 April 2023 The Portly Politico4 Comments

Last week I reviewed Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House, which prompted several readers to recommend the 1963 film adaptation, The Haunting. I rented the flick on YouTube for about three bucks, and found it to be a mostly faithful adaptation of the book.

Indeed, beyond a few changes to some of the characters (Dr. Montague is now Dr. Markway, and his wife is not an insufferable Spiritualist but instead scoffs at the idea of ghosts) and the elimination of Arthur, the overbearing boys’ school headmaster, it does a great deal to enhance the book, a rare case where the movie, if not necessarily better than the book, is at least a worthy supplement to it.

The Portly Politico

One Southerner's unique, erudite, conservative perspective in a hectic world

Tag: analysis