Five Centuries of the Same War

Five Centuries of the Same War

by | Jun 12, 2026 | Journal

Various, 1096 to presentI want to list some of what I have witnessed, briefly, because the list is the argument.I was not present for the First Crusade but I have spoken with scholars who documented it. I was present for the later ones, at various distances. I watched...
The Music That Named the Distance

The Music That Named the Distance

by | Jun 10, 2026 | Journal

London, October 1982There is a club on Meard Street in Soho that opened this year. The Batcave. I have been three times now, standing in the back where the sound is slightly less total, watching something happen that I recognize from other moments in other centuries:...
Sanctified Hunger: What the Album Is

Sanctified Hunger: What the Album Is

by | Jun 9, 2026 | Journal

Present Day, June 9, 2026Let me be precise about what Sanctified Hunger is and what it is not.It is not an atheist album. I am not arguing that God does not exist. I have had five hundred and sixty-eight years to gather evidence on that question and it remains...
The Bishop Called Me Damned

The Bishop Called Me Damned

by | Jun 6, 2026 | Journal

Florence, 1473His name was Rinaldo Orsini. A bishop. My cousin by blood, which made the verdict more precise in its particular cruelty.I was fifteen years old. I had been in his household since infancy, sent north from Umbria after the deaths of both my parents. He...
The Audience Understood Before the Curtain Fell

The Audience Understood Before the Curtain Fell

by | Jun 6, 2026 | Journal

Prague, October 29, 1787I have heard music that stopped me before. Bach in Leipzig. Certain late Monteverdi. But what happened in the Nostitz Theatre tonight is something I am still attempting to locate in my memory for comparison and finding nothing adequate.Don...