about

On this blog you will find five types of posts. First is opinion, in which I offer my thoughts on news & current events. Second is criticism, in which I offer commentary on literature, film, TV, & other media. Third is speculation, in which I ruminate over theological ideas & questions. Fourth is reflection, in which I reflect on my life & work. Fifth is logbook, in which I keep monthly logs of what I’m reading & watching. Each post will be tagged with one (but not more than one) of these five tags, plus whichever topics are relevant to the post. You can also view a full list of tags.

I take the title of this blog from the Itinerarium mentis in deum, a guidebook for union with God written by one of the great medieval theologians of the Franciscan order, Bonaventure of Bagnoregio. In Regis Armstrong’s English translation, this blog is “the vigilance of a poor one in the wilderness.”

It is a bit presumptuous, I admit, for me to suggest my blog is anything like Bonaventure’s speculationes on his pauper, Francis of Assisi. The title reflects less a present reality than a future aspiration: that my own watchfulness outside of myself, within myself, & above myself might approach Bonaventure’s (diachronically, if not at every moment) & that my life might more closely resemble Francis’s own life of penance, poverty, & humility.