Monthly Archives: March 2022

To Talk of Many Things… (Vol. #14 – Ukraine)

Posted on March 27, 2022 by Joel D. Hirst

Some people have asked what my opinions are about Ukraine. Despair, outrage, impotence. Probably the same as you. I was in Kyiv once, though only the airport. I was planning to go back to visit friends, during a summer which … Continue reading →

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The Prose of Osip Mandelstam

Posted on March 23, 2022 by Joel D. Hirst

Osip Mandelstam led a tragic life. He was a poet, a writer of tremendous talent cursed to have lived in the days of Stalin’s totalitarianism. He wrote a poem about Stalin, reading it to perhaps six friends at a dinner. … Continue reading →

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War in Europe

Posted on March 20, 2022 by Joel D. Hirst

Yesterday I watched “Sound of Music” with my little boy. We are going systematically through the classics of American civilization, books and movies and ideas that made us who we are and more importantly keep us who we are. Some … Continue reading →

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An Empire Wilderness: Wonder and Contempt

Posted on March 17, 2022 by Joel D. Hirst

This book was enlightening, not only about America but to the perspective of Robert D. Kaplan. Watching somebody describe themselves, you get a feel for what they think is noteworthy and important. You understand better the lens through which they … Continue reading →

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The Pandemic is Over

Posted on March 6, 2022 by Joel D. Hirst

Last night I attended a musical event hosted in Alexandria, VA by Common Sense Society, an organization dedicated to promoting the civilizational virtues of liberty, prosperity and beauty. Celtic music, love songs from times of war and hardship on the … Continue reading →

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Hope Against Hope

Posted on March 5, 2022 by Joel D. Hirst

I read “Hope Against Hope” while Vladimir Putin bombed Ukraine. It is the biography of Osip Mandelstam written by his wife Nadezhda. Osip was a Russian Jewish poet in the early 1900s who was killed by Stalin during the terror … Continue reading →

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