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Things Worth Remembering
Things Worth Remembering: How to Ask Timeless Questions
When I first read I.B. Singer’s ‘Gimpel the Fool,’ I felt a door swing open—into faith, doubt, and a kind of storytelling I didn’t know was possible.
Joseph Epstein
Things Worth Remembering: The Greatest Sentence Ever Written
The crossed-out words and penciled-in phrases in the early drafts of the Declaration of Independence tell a story of how our core principles were…
Walter Isaacson
Things Worth Remembering: When Enemies Forgive Each Other
Homer’s 'Iliad' offers an understanding of anger and grief that helps us think about our own strained relationships and political divides.
Spencer Klavan
Things Worth Remembering: Finding Meaning in the Madness of War
Memorizing poetry began as a way to kill time in the Marines. It turned into a lesson in how to live with the possibility of death.
Phil Klay
Things Worth Remembering: Scooby-Doo and the American Ethos
For more than half a century, a cartoon dog and four teenagers have been teaching Americans a radical lesson: Evil wears a human face, and goodness is…
Liel Leibovitz
Things Worth Remembering: The Wisdom of Harry Potter
The series taught a generation that honor matters.
Tiya Miles
Things Worth Remembering: The Truth Eludes Even Old Men
Every time I read T.S. Eliot’s ‘Four Quartets,’ I think my previous interpretations were wrong. But that makes the poem more meaningful.
Tara Isabella Burton
Things Worth Remembering: How to Save All the Lonely People
In 1996, David Foster Wallace tried to explain how technology could destroy us. No one paid attention. But he was right.
Ted Gioia
Things Worth Remembering: To Be Worthy of Standing Before God
On Yom Kippur, we ask how to live a meaningful life. A poem by Robert Frost offers a striking answer.
Meir Soloveichik
Things Worth Remembering: Your Work Can Outlive You
The poet’s project is to connect with the kind of ancient beauty that has lasted for millennia, and will stay vital long after our own short lives have…
Spencer Klavan
Things Worth Remembering: The Shadows Cast by Fallen Towers
As a kid in New York after 9/11, I cracked up. Then a relatively obscure W.H. Auden poem helped piece me back together.
Will Rahn
Things Worth Remembering: ‘All You Have to Do Is Move Your Little Finger’
More than 30 years after Stephen Sondheim wrote about the terrible simplicity of pulling a trigger, the U.S. continues to live out his refrain.
Joe Nocera
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