The Optimistic Curmudgeon
@TheOptimisticC3
The Optimistic Curmudgeon is a podcast helping listeners discern truth in a confusing world, a place where the best ideas win!
Good things happen when @hadleyonfire, @darrellfalconbu, @kristenrudd, @alecmbianco and friends gather for a conference! All details can be found here: theclassicalconsortium.com/southeastern-c…
"The modern campus celebrates every kind of sexual expression except monogamous marital fecundity." - Samuel Negus, writing for @AcademicRenewal jamesgmartin.center/2025/07/colleg…
It’s a great morning to read another chapter in Roger Scruton’s I Drink Therefore I Am: A Philosopher’s guide to Wine. And the @pintswithjack Perelandra mug filled with good coffee - perfection.
Glad to see I survived the Youtube purge! My channel still exists. youtube.com/@theoptimistic…
If you're going to do both-sides-ism, this is how you do it.
The CREC D.C. plant is going smoothly, and I can only hope for more of God’s kindness through the worship of his people. We should also note in case it was not clear in my last sentence that this is all about worship. Worship is warfare, and worship is also the welfare of the…
Registration closes in 7 days! If involved in classical education (homeschool, Christian, secular, private, public, charter) - don't miss this one! Breaking news: We'll have three advance copies of @JamesWHankins1's Golden Thread to give away! theclassicalconsortium.com/southeastern-c…
Good things happen when @hadleyonfire, @darrellfalconbu, @kristenrudd, @alecmbianco and friends gather for a conference! All details can be found here: theclassicalconsortium.com/southeastern-c…
Probably correct. With the caveat that these lines are somewhat arbitrary—-all three practiced all three disciplines named.
Among the Inklings, Tolkien was the greatest literary artist, Lewis the greatest literary critic, and Barfield was the greatest philosopher.
According to Grok, I am: Dictator: Oliver Cromwell (reformist zeal with Puritan edge). Philosopher: Roger Scruton (conservative wisdom, love of wine and tradition). Fictional character: Ransom from C.S. Lewis's Perelandra (optimistic defender against chaos). Politician: Edmund…
Catching up on @allenmendenhall 's latest book review this morning, and this passage struck me: "What seemed merely odd during my youth appeared far more disturbing to the middle-aged me: the work of a suffering mind that had stared too long into the fundamental dread of…
Does Raleigh really fit Tier 3b?
The true tiers of cities. Tier 1: New York Los Angeles/SoCal San Francisco Bay Area Washington/Baltimore Tier 2: Atlanta Boston (incl Providence) Chicago Dallas Denver Detroit Houston Miami Minneapolis Philadelphia Phoenix Seattle Tier 3A: Austin Charlotte Las Vegas…
Love this.
All right, my first three kids were boys, so my knowledge of girls is just starting to accumulate. My oldest daughter is twelve and right in the middle of puberty. Tonight, she was clearly upset. I saw her from the back of the property—she slammed a door, went into the barn, and…
"Bureaucratized beyond recognition, hijacked by ideological orthodoxy, and driven by administrative bloat, the university is no longer a model of excellence. It’s an HR department with a football team." Great article on @AcademicRenewal by John Mac Ghlionn
The current American college system is failing the students it is supposed to benefit. This insightful piece from the Martin Center delves deeply into the issue. Classical colleges are the path forward for the souls and minds of our nation. jamesgmartin.center/2025/07/higher….
What a timeline.
The goal of education in each century. 753 BC - The cultivation of virtue 33 AD - The cultivation of virtue 313 AD - The cultivation of virtue 800 AD - The cultivation of virtue 1517 - The cultivation of virtue 1865 - The cultivation of virtue 2025 - College and career readiness
“Peace comes when people plant vines, and ends when they dig for oil.” - Roger Scruton, I Drink Therefore I Am, 43.
.@elonmusk made TGIF in @TheFP! This one brings out the inner sixth grade boy.
Two weeks away! Register here: theclassicalconsortium.com/southeastern-c…
Good things happen when @hadleyonfire, @darrellfalconbu, @kristenrudd, @alecmbianco and friends gather for a conference! All details can be found here: theclassicalconsortium.com/southeastern-c…
Can't wait to Dr. Hankins talk about this book at the Consortium conference in two weeks! We've still got room - details here: theclassicalconsortium.com/southeastern-c…
My magnum opus has arrived. Magnum as in 1249 pages, 800 illustrations, most in color, 75 maps, well over a hundred extracts from primary sources, chronologies and lists of key terms. I wrote Volume 1, from the ancient Greeks to the Renaissance, and my oldest friend in academe,…
Such a needed text.
My magnum opus has arrived. Magnum as in 1249 pages, 800 illustrations, most in color, 75 maps, well over a hundred extracts from primary sources, chronologies and lists of key terms. I wrote Volume 1, from the ancient Greeks to the Renaissance, and my oldest friend in academe,…
This should be fun.
BREAKING: Congressional Republicans just introduced a bill to REVOKE the National Education Association's federal charter. "National Education Association Charter Repeal Act"