Where the book doesn’t reach, the extremist arrives first

 --- Judge Omar Weslati, quoted in This judge grew up with nothing. Now he makes sure that children have books, Meriem Belhiba, CS Monitor, 10 June 2025

In context

“Where the book doesn’t reach, the extremist arrives first,” Judge Weslati says.

Another quote:

“We never saw this as charity; it’s about cultivation,” he adds. “Planting stories where they hadn’t taken root before.”

especially as a PPE student, my time wasn't about figuring out what others thought but figuring out what I thought and being prepared to defend it

 --- Sarah Stewart Johnson, "Bon Voyage 2024 Speech, Oxford as Chrysalis," The American Oxonian, Winter 2025

A wonderful summary of what I think a humanities education is about.

In context

As an undergraduate at an American University, and, like everyone here, a tenacious sort of undergraduate, I was busy. I was also focused on a lot of intermediate, incremental challenges. . . . 

. . .  As a college student, if I were assigned a chapter in a book, I would basically read that chapter and move on, there were other things always pressing. But at Oxford, with all that time, I realized that I could linger in the library, I could read the rest of an interesting book and also the books alongside it on this shelf. I could spend the whole afternoons walking in Port Meadow thinking about what I what it was I read, talking to friends about ideas, and talking to my tutors. There was no pointless memorizing, no preparation for multiple choice questions... especially as a PPE student, my time wasn't about figuring out what others thought but figuring out what I thought and being prepared to defend it. . . . 

The unrelated excerpt resonated - I was one of those who "disappeared into their studies"

Relationships at Oxford aren't cemented right from the beginning. I'll admit that our Rhodes Class felt a bit like a frat house when we arrived—we only had seven women! And we were divvied out to different colleges, and Rhodes House was not the hub it is today. Some of my classmates ended up spending their time with other Americans, others embraced the UK and never left, some sort of disappeared into their studies. If you'd asked me in 2001, I truly wouldn't have guessed that we'd be as close as we are as a class now.

Ons irrasionele instinkte het 'n verlangse verwantskap met intuïsie, is 'n huisvriend van samesweringsteorieë en het 'n nasaat in subjektiewe moraliteit

 --- Piet Croucamp, in Die ontwrigting + Johannesburg kan mistroostig wees, Binne+Land 3 Jun 2025

Quote in context

Die mens se vermoë om irrasioneel te wees gee ons 'n voorsprong op emosielose kunsmatige intelligensie. Ons irrasionele instinkte het 'n verlangse verwantskap met intuïsie, is 'n huisvriend van samesweringsteorieë en het 'n nasaat in subjektiewe moraliteit. Hoe sal 'n algoritme van veranderlikes, netjies verpak in 'n voorspelbare frekwensie van ongekompliseerde verhoudings, ooit die mens kan verstaan as dit nie in staat is tot die irrasionele nie?

. . . 

Almal betrokke by die vraagstuk van kunsmatige intelligensie en die akademie, herhaal dieselfde veronderstelling dat sinvolle intellektuele opleiding op kritiese denke, kreatiwiteit en insigryke introspeksie moet fokus. "Burnett se argument lees ook maar so," sê ek vir myself toe die Uber voor my nederige kaia in Melville stop. Maar ek weet wragtig nie of dit genoeg gaan wees nie.

Croucamp poses an important challenge, calling into question the regularly rehearsed assumptions that meaningful intellectual education should focus on critical thought, creativity and insightful introspection ("sinvolle intellektuele opleiding op kritiese denke, kreatiwiteit en insigryke introspeksie moet fokus"). I don't have a better answer today, but it's worth being reminded of such rote common sense. It's been rehearsed so often that it resembles whistling past a graveyard.

live deliberately. unfollow the noise. read poetry daily. watch shadows shift.

 --- @fossilisedflowers Instagram post, May 18, 2025, via Annelies Burgess, Klein treë na 'n doelbewuste lewe, May 25, 2025

Post in full

A gentle manifesto for intentional living

live deliberately. unfollow the noise. read poetry daily. watch shadows shift. read for the texture of a sentence. schedule solitude. unlearn urgency. leave gaps in your day for light to pour through. tidy your space. explore ancient wisdom. carry questions without rushing to answer them. let your hours flow. soak in art. savor the madness. let silence become a companion. embrace contradiction. linger where beauty feels unremarkable at first. observe your body. eat with intent. notice the beauty in fonts, leaves, shadows. don't multitask. sit still. find comfort in your chaotic, lived-in home. be in alignment with your body & inner life. enrich your relationships. create rituals for yourself. read something aloud to feel the weight of the words in your mouth. choose stillness as a form of resistance.