To be American is to downplay history in the name of hope, to ignore memory in the cause of possibility. Our great truth-tellers–mainly artists–remind us that history will lhaunt us and memory should keep us honest. Melville, Hawthorne, Twain, Faulkner, Fitzgerald, O’Neill, Tennessee Williams, Theodore Dreiser, Toni Morrison, Thomas Pynchon, Lorrainne Hansberry and others spin…
One of the reasons, for example, I think that our youth is so badly educated — and it is inconceivably badly educated — is because Education demands a certain daring , a certain independence of mind. You have to teach some people think; and in order to teach some people think, you have to teach…
And I’m all for unifying, I’m all for bridging gaps, but not at the expense of my neighbor’s humanity. I just can’t. — Ta-Nehisi Coates, on The Ezra Klein Show Ta-Nehisi Coates on Bridging Gaps vs. Drawing LinesSeptember 28, 2025 https://overcast.fm/+AAoiPUG9avA
“But who knows?” I said, looking around the table. “There’s no guarantee we can pull it off. Here’s one thing I know for sure, though. I know that the day I raise my right hand and take the oath to be president of the United States, the world will start looking at America differently. I…
You think your pain and your heartbreak are unprecedented in the history of the world, but then you read. It was Dostoevsky and Dickens who taught me that the things that tormented me most were the very things that connected me with all the people who were alive, or who ever had been alive.…
Slavery was the root of all struggle. For it was said that the factories enslaved the hands of children, and that child-bearing enslaved the bodies of women, and that rum enslaved the souls of men. In that moment I understood, from that whirlwind of ideas, that this secret war was waged against something more than…
Ryan Holiday’s Daily Stoic show today, titled “This Is Why You Have To Care”, beautifully addresses this difficult moment. Although He’s revisiting a theme that he’s covered before, it’s still and once again timely. Listen to the whole thing. Really. https://overcast.fm/+ABQf3UIMt9M https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/this-is-why-you-have-to-care/id1430315931?i=1000747545681
Simon Sinek, with a customer service story: https://youtu.be/7dQYLzW-7yU?si=mDgfUDzUH3xbcvuk My corollary to his story: If service is done right, customers who needed support & service are more loyal to your brand and product than those who have never had a problem.
This is a Test Post. I’m pretty sure this will work, but want to be sure. @darius@indieweb.social is following posts@dariusdunlap.com, so this should work cleanly.
Dead Wax is a favorite show. I love listening to brilliant people talk in great detail about their craft and appreciating the brilliance in others. If you ‘re into music, you’ll love it – especially if you’re a musician of any sort. Today this show is brought to mind because I watched this episode with…