Tag: TBT

TBT^65,536: On Ghost Stories

The Portly Politico1 Comment

That sweet, crispy, autumnal feel is in the air, which means it’s the perfect time for ghost stories.  I love reading a good ghost story as the days grow shorter and darker, and the wind whips leaves through the streets.

Thanks to Ponty’s recommendation that I review The Haunting (1963) for 31 Days of Halloween, I’m going to crack open Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House (that’s an Amazon Affiliate link; I receive a portion of purchases made through that link, at no additional cost to you), which I first read a few years ago.  It’s more about the ghosts of the main character’s tortured psyche, but it blends the thin veil between psychological torment and the possibility of non-corporeal supernatural apparitions influencing events in this world.

With that, here is 17 October 2024’s “TBT^256: On Ghost Stories“:

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TBT^256: Things That Go Bump in the Night

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The reblogging of this spooky post is now more relevant than ever.  It seems that, in addition to a lot of other controversial (i.e.—interesting) topics, discussion of spiritual warfare and demonic influence has become mainstream again.  It feels different, though, than the “Satanic Panic” of the 1980s-1990s, although now I’m beginning to wonder if there was some Truth to that as well.

When Tucker Carlson has a guest on his show to discuss mystical Kabbalah and its influence on computer programming and artificial intelligence—and the goal to create a golem-god that will, inevitably, turn on its fallen creators—you know there’s some serious wickedness and witchcraft afoot.  I’ve long maintained that a cadre of shadowy elites partake in some form of Satanism and/or Gnosticism (although, really, the two are the same); it seems that I was, sadly, correct.

With that, here is 10 October 2024’s “TBT^16: Things That Go Bump in the Night“:

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TBT^16: Mahler’s Composing Shack

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I’m slamming out Spooky Season IV, and it’s nowhere near as ingenious as the works of Gustav Mahler.  But what I find so fascinating is how composers and other creative types work, especially when they’re trying to churn out major projects.

“Workflow” get tossed around a lot, but it really is remarkable to see how the most dedicated craftsmen and artists create a consistent and detailed schedule of daily habits and rituals.  I especially love to learn about what they ate for breakfast—probably my favorite ritual of the day.

With that, here is 3 October 2024’s “TBT^4: Mahler’s Composing Shack“:

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TBT^65,536: The Joy of Autumn

The Portly Politico10 Comments

Monday was the first day of autumn—hurray!  I’m unapologetically in the pro-autumn camp, and love all the hokey stuff that comes with the season:  pumpkin spiced everything, Halloween, leaves, fall festivals, apple orchards, crisp mornings, etc.  If I were a woman, I’d probably get a PSL at Starb’s everyday (assuming that, as a woman, I’d have my reckless spending bankrolled by the various beta orbiters around me).

I have core childhood memories of fall that further enhance the coziness of the season.  I have a vivid-yet-fuzzy memory (a self-contradictory paradox, yes, but I hope you take my meaning, dear reader) of coming home from school one overcast autumn day to fresh-baked cookies.  I can still remember the soft lamplight emanating from homes and the way the colors of the season popped in the grey afternoon.  I can faintly remember the smell and the warmth of the cookies.

It’s a season for gathering closely with family and friends, of preparing for the long, dark winter with joy and merriment.  It’s no coincidence that yours portly is getting married in late autumn!

What are your favorite autumnal activities?  Let me know in the comments.

With that, here is 26 September 2024’s “TBT^256: The Joy of Autumn“:

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TBT^16: The Frisson of the Night

The Portly Politico10 Comments

Since getting with Dr. Fiancée, yours portly has come to appreciate the daylight hours.  She is big on natural light, and even has this bright light that she puts on in the winter months which we jokingly call the “Depression Light,” as it allegedly wards off bad feelings by blasting one’s eyeballs with synthetic sunlight.

The nighttime is more exciting when you’re a younger man.  I find that my nights now are either for playing Civilization VII entirely too late or for falling asleep while reading.  At Dr. Fiancée’s house, nighttime is for having tea before bed—one of my favorite rituals when we are together.

What nighttime rituals do you have?  How do you wind down at bedtime?  Are you a night owl?  Let me know in the comments—and sleep tight!

With that, here is 19 September 2024’s “TBT^4: The Frisson of the Night“:

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TBT^2: Remarkable Animals

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After years of misspent youth, during which time I considered animals little more than fleshy, occasionally cute, robots, yours portly has learned the error of  his ways and become an animal lover.

Don’t get wrong—I love to eat animals as much as I enjoy keeping them as pets, and I possess a realistic view of animals:  they exist to serve us, not the other way around.  I love Murphy, and I’ll make sure she is fed, watered, and (when appropriate) medicated.  But the day that the vet says, “we can keep her alive another two weeks with this $4000 experimental canine chemotherapy,” it’ll be time to give the old girl a heartfelt goodbye.  By comparison, I’d sell my left kidney to the gay mafia if it’d add one day to the life of one of my family members or Dr. Fiancée.

All that said, I now very much see animals as a gift from God.  Every child in Sunday School knows that the first job of the first man was to name the animals; God Spared the animals along with humanity when He Commanded Noah to build an ark.  Clearly, our relationship with animals is meant to be a fruitful and productive one.

Further, anyone who has ever owned a dog (or even a cat) knows that these creatures have personalities.  Sure, I imagine jellyfish don’t lead rich inner lives, but it’s wild and amusing to me how dogs can possess such a range of personalities.  Murphy is aloof and anxious, but very much the queen of her domain.  Dr. Fiancée’s three-legged mutt is sweet and loving, but has her sassy moments like Murph.  My parents’ two rat terriers are cousins and/or half-brothers of some kind (I think they share a grandparent), but despite their genetic similarity, their personalities are nearly opposite (much like human siblings at times).

Do I think dogs have souls?  Perhaps not in the way that humans do.  But there is a life and intelligence behind the eyes of a dog.  Even the most forlorn, neglected mutt possesses something of a shimmer behind his sad eyes.  The fact that the eyes can even express emotions suggests there is something deeper there.

Of course, the evolutionist wags will snarkily remark, “we just bred them to reflect qualities we like.”  Perhaps.  Nevertheless, I’m struck by how human dogs can be, while also being something quite different—in some ways, something even better.

All points worthy of speculation, idle or otherwise.  What do you think, dear readers?

With that, here is 12 September 2024’s “TBT: Remarkable Animals“:

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TBT^16: Road Trip!

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All the recent fracas over Cracker Barrel changing its logo (an incredibly stupid move—people go to Cracker Barrel because it’s kitschy Americana with old photos hanging on the wall and Uncle Herschel leaning against a barrel) brings to mind another all-American institution:  the road trip (naturally, the best place to eat on a road trip is Cracker Barrel).  Yours portly hasn’t been able to do much of what would technically be considered “road tripping,” but I have been driving a lot.  Between going to see Dr. Fiancée, attending family events, playing piano in another town on Sundays, and running distant errands, I’ve been keeping the road hot.

Of course, here in the United States we just observed one of our major road trip holiday weekends, Labor Day.  It’s the last big vacation weekend before we slowly creep into autumn.  I can attest that the cars and the cops have been out in force.

These days, I only really want to take road trips with Dr. Fiancée, but those will have to wait until she finishes residency.  Otherwise, I’d much prefer just driving to and from work—and to see her!

With that, here is 5 September 2024’s “TBT^4: Road Trip!“:

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TBT^16: Rebuilding Civilization: The Hunter-Gatherer

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Yours portly is teaching World History for the second consecutive year (before last school year, the last time I’d taught the course was way back in the 2011-2012 school year, although I also taught the close cousin of World History, Western Civilization, at the local technical college more recently), and I love these early weeks of the course, as we talk about early civilizations and how they arose.  The short answer is “agriculture.”

That always gets me thinking about this post from 2021 about how remote hunter-gatherer tribes would survive the collapse of civilization—because they lack it entirely.

It occurred to me that these remote peoples likely would not be the ones “rebuilding civilization.”  Having not developed it in the first place, and seemingly unlikely to do so within any reasonable timeframe (because over the course of 6000 years of human civilization, they have never developed it), it seems like the best hope for civilization would, ironically, be the very peoples that destroyed it in the first place.

We see this pattern play out throughout history.  The people living in the remnants of the Roman Empire rebuilt—however slowly—a distinctly European civilization.  That’s not even mentioning the Eastern European or “Byzantine” Empire, which endured until 1453.  We often forget that only half of the Roman Empire collapsed in the first place.

But I digress.  I am a big believer in civilization, warts and all.

With that, here is 29 August 2024’s “TBT^4: Rebuilding Civilization: The Hunter-Gatherer“:

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TBT^4: Chapel Lesson: Listening

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One of the appeals of teaching is that there is a rhythm and regularity to the school year.  The same events occur at roughly the same times each week, each month, each year.  I became a teacher for many reasons, but the predictability of the schedule has always been a major appeal.  I like a structure of routine that allows for great variety of experiences and activities within that larger structure.

So it is that we have come, once again, to the first day of Chapel for the new academic year.  We have Chapel every Thursday morning during our Morning Break/Meeting time.

Very occasionally, yours portly is called upon to deliver a brief Chapel lesson.  Here is one from a few years ago.  My only regret is that I did not do more to tie the message specifically and overtly back to Christ.

With that, here is 22 August 2024’s “TBT^2: Chapel Lesson: Listening”:

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TBT^65,536: Back to School with Richard Weaver

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The 2025-2026 school year kicks off on Monday, 18 August 2025.  That means it’s time for my annual reflection on the works of Richard Weaver, the legendary academic who did more than anyone (that I know of) to defend a more traditional, quasi-medieval way of life.  He was also a major champion of the South.

Weaver catches a lot of flack from edgier fringes of the Right because his book Ideas Have Consequences (that’s an Amazon Affiliate link, as is the “South” link; I receive a portion of any purchases made through those links, at no additional cost to you) places a large emphasis on ideas as the source of our various social maladies, overlooking more fundamental influences like biology.  While I do believe that genetics play a fairly significant role in how we interact with and perceive the world, I am not a biological determinist by any stretch of the imagination.  Humans are animals to an extent, yes, but we are more.  We have souls that endure beyond our body.  We also have minds with which to think.

The HBD crowd among the online Right has some interesting insights to bring to the table, and their critiques of blank slatism are worth considering (for example, it is clear that black Americans and Africans are far more likely to develop sickle cell anemia than other races, as sickle cell anemia developed as an adaptation to resist malaria in sub-Saharan Africa), but plenty of people with the same genetic constitution believe and practice vastly different things.  Ideas, experienced and encountered at the right times and/or under the right conditions, can have a massive influence on how an individual develops.  Sure, we might see certain ideas taking hold more among a group of people, but that doesn’t mean every person in that group must come to believe those things.  The HBD folks also downplay the importance of cultural reinforcement of certain ideas.

For example, do I think Southerners are more conservative and traditional and religious than other Americans because so many of our ancestors were part of the pro-monarchy Cavaliers in the English Civil War?  Sure.  But none of us are sitting around talking about the Cavaliers outside of University of Virginia football (and, honestly, we’re not talking about that much, either).  Centuries of cultural reinforcement have played a huge role in keeping our institutions and our churches relatively traditional.

Dr. Fiancée’s family, for example, are of German Lutheran extraction from Michigan.  She was raised in the Lutheran tradition.  I can definitely see the German genetic influence in her family’s more taciturn, logical nature.  But her family moved South when she was still a child, and she is very Southern.  Her religious journey ultimately brought her to the Southern Baptist tradition.  She speaks with a Southern accent.  She is incredibly reflective and thoughtful, and came to her conclusions about religion through rigorous reading and reflection (and, of course, through the power of the Holy Spirit).

So, no, I don’t think Richard Weaver is the secret source of all of our modern ills, because he thought that ideas matter.  That’s rather myopic.  Indeed, Weaver’s work demonstrates how even the grain of idea can grow into a huge worldview.  Christopher Nolan explored the very same concept in his film Inception (2010).

With that, here is 15 August 2024’s “TBT^256: Back to School with Richard Weaver“:

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