Monthly Archives: December 2017

The Dark World of Nobilities

Posted on December 31, 2017 by Joel D. Hirst

We read books like “The Maid and the Queen” because we are interested in what happened in the past. But why? Why are we interested? Is it of any consequence at all the story of a peasant girl who became … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Review, Liberty, philosophy, Uncategorized | 4 Comments

Salute To The Dreams – A Poem

Posted on December 26, 2017 by Joel D. Hirst

Salute to the dreams that were broken; In times as of yet undefined; The thoughts, were they God’s will bespoken? “Tis so,” said the men oft-opined. But uttered aloud words don’t flourish; Escaping men’s lips, power who seek; The ground, … Continue reading →

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2017 – And America’s “Age of Misery”

Posted on December 22, 2017 by Joel D. Hirst

The bombings started in the cold of the Texas winter. The rebels had quickly come to terms with the reality that they could not hold and keep land; and they turned instead to terror. Strapping bombs on little girls – … Continue reading →

Posted in Honor, International Affairs, Liberty, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

The Destitution of the ‘Noble Nobels’

Posted on December 19, 2017 by Joel D. Hirst

“I always hope, in fact, that my interlocutor will be a policeman and that he will arrest me for the theft of ‘The Just Judges’.” So said Albert Camus in his simple short novel “The Fall”. The theft of the … Continue reading →

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A Fictive Guild – A Poem

Posted on December 18, 2017 by Joel D. Hirst

When hunger drafts its last foreboding claim; And those who tarried long, give up their shame; No place they’d found in lands where they were born; Short was their stay, and then the veil was torn. What lies beyond? That … Continue reading →

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Of Rand and Chernyshevsky

Posted on December 17, 2017 by Joel D. Hirst

I’ve always thought that stories carry much more power in the minds of men than cardboard tomes full of equations. “What Is To Be Done,” juxtaposed against “The Communist Manifesto”; “Atlas Shrugged” against “Wealth of Nations”. It is said that … Continue reading →

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The Snowflakes – A Poem

Posted on December 13, 2017 by Joel D. Hirst

‘Twixt hot and cold the snowflakes flit; Indifference seeking to acquit; Paradise lost? They could not say; They’d ne’er heard of it anyway. No cornerstone ‘pon which to moor; A’blown they’d been to irksome shore; Perplexing, foul, sinister – true? … Continue reading →

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The Arriving Ordeal

Posted on December 11, 2017 by Joel D. Hirst

The Harmattan billows above blotting out the sun, dust coalescing with diluted traces of the acrid garbage fires that warm the ditch beyond the potholed road and the wood smoke from the last trees of the plains burned to cook … Continue reading →

Posted in America, International Affairs, Uncategorized | Tagged | 62 Comments

The Facile Dance – A Poem

Posted on December 4, 2017 by Joel D. Hirst

Tiny minds the magic see; Ne’er hunger, rage or misery; It matters little whence they hail; From city strong or jungle vale. Bouncy castles tethered fast; Piñatas filled and gifts amassed; Or bottle cap rolled through the sand; Pulled gently … Continue reading →

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There Once Was a Dream That Was Rome…

Posted on December 3, 2017 by Joel D. Hirst

“There was once a dream that was Rome, you could only whisper it. Anything more than a whisper and it would vanish.” Marcus Aurelius, ‘The Gladiator’. Republics are funny things. They are resilient; not brittle or sclerotic like we are … Continue reading →

Posted in America, Honor, Movie Review, Uncategorized | Tagged , , | 9 Comments