Wishing our words were tactile,
we speak of them like textiles:
Dressed-up tales are made
out of whole cloth.
A fibber fabricates
as if his lie were a linen.
Text is cut from Latin: to weave,
what tellers do with tales.
A good yarn has many threads
and few loose ends.
A well-suited phrase becomes
a threadbare cliché.
So words are made fabric
to dwell among us,
metaphors bespoke to
dress the body parts of speech.
—Christopher J. Scalia
Dear Reader,
Can I be direct with you?
War abroad. Socialists on the rise. AI upending human life. Endless uproar online. The modern attention economy doesn’t want readers — it wants users enslaved to the tyranny of the present.
First Things is the antidote: literary excellence, timeless truths, and a fixed point of reference in a culture that has lost its bearings.
But we can’t do it without readers like you.
Our goal: Raise $150,000 by November 1 to sustain First Things in the year ahead.
Your gift anchors readers in the permanent things.
Make your Fall Campaign gift now using the button below.
If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact Giovanni Del Piero, Director of the Editor’s Circle, at gdelpiero@firstthings.com or 212-627-1985.
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