Amanda Shaw

I was shocked to see the note on NRO commemorating the one-year anniversary of the death of William F. Buckley Jr. It seems like just a few months ago that we were mourning our loss—just a short span of time, but one which has brought the deaths of so many fine thinkers, writers, and leaders. . . . . Continue Reading »

“Samuel Menashe,” writes Sean Curnyn , “is an American poet who writes American poetry. He lives in New York City, by all accounts a simple existence (almost absurdly apt for the neglected poet) in the same old tiny walk-up apartment he has occupied for many decades.” Yet, . . . . Continue Reading »

This doesn’t come as any particular surprise, I suppose. Doug Kmiec writes in Time magazine about the pope’s recent meeting with Nancy Pelosi, and he clearly prefers the politics of the latter. Perhaps the problem is that he reads—and misreads—too much politically into the . . . . Continue Reading »

Earlier this week at NRO, George Weigel offered some commonsense commentary on Nancy Pelosi’s Wednesday meeting with Pope Benedict XVI. Commonsense commentary about what should be commonsense morality: [Pelosi’s] office’s statement on today’s meeting makes it clear something . . . . Continue Reading »

Michael Dubruiel, husband of Catholic blogger Amy Welborn and himself a noted speaker and writer, passed away unexpectedly earlier this month. My heart goes out to Amy and her young family—and yet it is Amy who is offering consolation to all those who share her grief, and to all those who know . . . . Continue Reading »

Kevin John Hart—one of Australia’s best poets and occasional First Things contributor —has completed his twelfth volume of poetry, Young Rain , to be published this spring. Look for mention of the collection in an upcoming issue of FT , and in the meantime you might enjoy listening . . . . Continue Reading »

It is a strange clash between the good of political integrity and transparency, and the basic right to be left alone. Call it the right to privacy, or if that is too penumbrous, say that harassment—stalking, profane emails, death threats—is really best avoided for civic good. For the . . . . Continue Reading »

It’s 1.1 times ten to the twelfth power, or 1,100,000,000,000. To put that in perspective, the Family Research Council has pulled out a calculator and crunched some numbers . With $1.1 trillion, the grand total so far of Obama’s stimulus plan, we could pave the entire US interstate . . . . Continue Reading »

In case you missed the garden of obituaries that have sprung up after the death of John Updike last week, or in case you dozed off amidst their wafting accolades, Joseph Bottum writes about ” Updike, After the Hush ” on Forbes today. Here’s a taste: “His writing was so . . . . Continue Reading »

Here’s an event sure to interest our readers in the sunny world of Atlanta, Georgia: Michael Scaperlanda and William Chip, two First Things contributors, will be holding a debate on illegal immigration—”A Response To Those In Our Midst”—on Tuesday, February 3, at 7 p.m. . . . . Continue Reading »