The Blessing of Unicorns is back!
Here are some great recently published unicorns, many (but not all) on summer-related topics. Perhaps you will get an idea for something for your summer. But also, stay tuned—just like last year, Current will be running a series of essays on Summering, and you won’t want to miss it!
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Dixie Dillon Lane reflects on “Hand-Cranked Ice Cream Against Despair” for Front Porch Republic and “Free Range Kids and the Parental Compass” in her latest for Public Discourse.
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Jeff Reimer writes for Plough about a children’s book series that would make for a great summer family read-aloud—which is, in fact, how Jeff experienced these books with his family.
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Tsh Oxenreider is taking this entire summer off from the internet. She explains here and also here, for Hearth and Field.
While most of us have work responsibilities that would not make this possible, smaller versions of this are realistic and refreshing. I usually do not bring my laptop on family vacations, for instance.
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Megan Dohm shares her list of seasoned advice to her 2017 newbie freelance writer self—she writes such a list each year now, and this is really good advice.
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Karen Swallow Prior’s weekly newsletter is one of my highlights each week. This week, she continues a series of occasional pieces on books and the publishing industry, and it’s a really helpful explanation of how things work, whether you are a reader or also a writer.
Also, don’t miss her latest RNS column, “When childless becomes grandchildless.”
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LuElla D’Amico wrote a great response to THAT commencement speech here at Current. But I also appreciated Lane Scott’s hard-hitting critique of the speech in Fairer Disputations.
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Beatrice Scudeler has written several excellent essays and reviews for Current, and I enjoyed her recent interview with Kerri Christopher about her “Life Outside the Box.”
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Alex Sosler’s new book, A Short Guide to Spiritual Formation, is out this week, and you can read this excerpt from it at Front Porch Republic. Looks like great summer reading!
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Not summer related, but definitely important for considering spiritual formation and societal pressures, links, and crises: Matthew Loftus for Mere Orthodoxy: “The Great Dechurching Will Hurt Poor People.”
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Speaking of formation, spiritual and otherwise, summer is often time for workshops and conferences of various sorts. I am looking forward to speaking at this one-day classical learning workshop that David Beer organized at Malone University for June 5th. If you’re in the general vicinity and are interested in attending, registration is free and still open, I think.