Today I was fascinated by one woman’s biography of 40 years of a German family’s life under East German rule. Forty Autumns is mostly about the small (heartwarming as well as heartbreaking) stories of family members trying to stay connected and build a “family wall” against socialism.
Author: James Walpole
James Walpole is a writer, startup marketer, intellectual explorer, and perpetual apprentice. He opted out of college to join the Praxis startup apprenticeship program and currently manages marketing and communications at bitcoin payment technology company BitPay. He writes daily at jameswalpole.com.
The Silver Lining of Social Media’s Negativity Obsession
Shockingly evil things + news often seem to defeat good things + good news in the war for human attention, especially on social media, TV, etc. There’s one silver lining to all this, though: The good is going to have […]
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Get Off the Pendulum: The Trap of Reactionary Thinking
When I was younger, I used to enjoy riding Pharaoh’s Fury at the Coastal Carolina fair. This big sphinx-headed boat swung back and forth on a mechanical arm, terrifying and thrilling the riders, and (in our imaginations) we thought about what it would be like if it went upside down – dumping us all out. This ride is much like how most people and cultures do their thinking about values in politics, religion, and cultural norms. We swing in one direction, then another, then back again.
Lead a Life That Confuses the Archaeologists
Nonconformity is a lifelong task. But there are simple ways to bootstrap uniqueness, break out of your culture’s “zeitgeist”, and make some future historian’s job exceptionally hard.
Don’t Underestimate the Resilience and Resourcefulness of the Homeless
You can say (people do say) many things about homeless people. But a fact that is under-appreciated is just how resilient and resourceful they often are.
The Problem with “Here I Stand, I Can Do No Other”
“Here I stand, I can do no other, so help me God. Amen.” According to some tellings, this is how Protestant Christian reformer Martin Luther responded to demands that he recant positions which the established Church of his time considered heretical.
Three Generations of Manhood in Homer’s “The Odyssey”
Today I finished reading The Odyssey, that complex, brilliant, violent, old, relevant epic poem about the journey home of Greek hero Odysseus. I have many thoughts about this book (“why is the ending so abrupt?” “Wow, Odysseus is wily and […]
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Why I Like Working Next to a Construction Site
Have you ever had to go to work next to a construction site? If you’re like most people, you’re happy when it’s over. The end of a construction project means the end of congested roads, loud equipment noises, and the occasional equipment mishaps. I get it. There’s a building going up next to my office building right now.
Find Community, Give, Receive, Repeat
What if we engaged ourselves meaningfully as members of as many communities as possible? Or as meaningfully as possible in single communities?
The Wheat and Tares Grow Up Together: Morality and Judging Historical Eras
We may one day be able to say that the centuries in our rearview were “good” or “bad.” But the harvest of consequence has not yet happened for the 21st century, and it’s hard to say that the harvests of the 19th and 20th are fully ripe, either. It is too soon to judge. Let time do that. In the meantime, resist the urge either to burn the fields or to swallow the weeds.