I’m slightly belated relative to the beginning of the season of Advent, but Christmas hasn’t come yet, so it’s not too late for a few thoughts on the music of the season! As a second-language Welsh speaker, I was at first unfamiliar with Welsh music, but learning the language gave me entry to an entireContinue reading “Plygain for Peace: Appreciating Welsh Christmas Music”
Author Archives: Robert Davis
O Dewch i Ben y Mynydd
Early in my journey of learning Welsh, I encountered a poem by the 19th century bard Mynyddog (given name Richard Davies). Though he enjoyed some notoriety during his own lifetime, he wasn’t an astounding poet and isn’t particularly remembered or celebrated as such today. And yet, he made some contributions to Welsh culture that have,Continue reading “O Dewch i Ben y Mynydd”
The Many Names of October 31
Autumn and the Halloween season always put me in the mood for horror movies. I love the way that the best of them – the really thoughtful, compelling ones – enable us to face our deepest fears, to sit with them and better understand them. There are other kinds of horror circulating at this timeContinue reading “The Many Names of October 31”
A Stopped Train
An original poem.
Hunaniaeth o’ch Dewis
Read this post in English here. Yn sgil sylwadau angharedig yn newyddion diweddar y Deyrnas Unedig, mae’r iaith Gymraeg wedi bod yn bwnc o ddiddordeb cyhoeddus, ac oherwydd taw Mawrth 1af yw Dydd Gŵyl Dewi Sant, dw i wedi cael fy symbylu i feddwl am hunaniaeth Gymreig. Ni fyddaf yn anrhydeddu’r sylwadau yna gyda dolenniContinue reading “Hunaniaeth o’ch Dewis”
The Identity You Choose
Darllenwch y post yma yn Gymraeg. Thanks to some unkind commentary in the UK news recently, the Welsh language has been a topic of interest, and as March 1 will be St David’s Day (the national holiday of Wales), I’ve been prompted to think about Welsh identity. I won’t dignify the aforementioned “unkind commentary” withContinue reading “The Identity You Choose”
Soft Tyranny
I remember when George W. Bush talked about “the soft bigotry of low expectations”. I think we should consider the applicability of a similar spirit to a new category. I think America might have a problem with soft tyranny. We don’t get dragged out of our homes in the middle of the night by theContinue reading “Soft Tyranny”
The Gods Return
An original poem.
Certain Death
Between the COVID-19 pandemic and the US election, 2020 has given us a lot of food for thought. I think it has shown us the power of certainty, and maybe even moreso the power of the need for certainty, as a force in our lives. We’re not living in an era with a high toleranceContinue reading “Certain Death”
What We Think About When We Think About Thinking
In my philosophy classes in college, I was particularly intrigued by the philosophy of mind, especially the mind-body problem and the qualia problem (the latter also known as “the hard problem of consciousness”). Recognizing that the brain is a physical organ that is implicated in what we observe to be mental processes, the mind-body problemContinue reading “What We Think About When We Think About Thinking”
Thoughts of Rob 