A. The house finally sold, done, closed, etc.
B. Flying out to Milwaukee on a 5:20 a.m. flight tomorrow morning, for Chesterton Network conferences. Be back Wednesday. Gotta go pack and catch a few z’s.
C. Need a more professorial wardrobe. Grew a beard, got a nice tweed jacket from Goodwill, but the last time I bought a bunch of nice cotton button down shirts was maybe 20 years ago? So – yea, need some of those. Too busy to shop.
D. Did a class schedule, it was interesting. Took way more time than I thought it would, first trying to balance out the faculty’s time, then trying to plug in all the students so that they got the classes they needed… It will be easier next time.
E. Settling into our rental in Sacramento. Nice neighborhood, a 60s vintage subdivisions that has been kept up. Many of the neighbors are the original owners of the houses. It makes for a nice vibe.
F. Plan is to start shopping for a hobby farm toward the end of the year. Prices have already begun to fall, maybe the trend will continue? Don’t really have an option, since I will be about 150% deployed trying to get this school up and running.
G. The Great Books are more damaging than helpful when taught outside the traditions that produced most of them. I hate to admit this, as I love the classics, but if they are read as just a bunch of interesting books whose ideas are merely a smorgasbord from which everybody gets to pick what they want and interpret it as they see fit, the Great Books become little more than an excuse for unearned elitism, a closed mind, and the false belief that one is educated simply by having skimmed a bunch of old books.
In context, which is Christendom and the ancient civilizations it saved, the books have something worthy to tell us. This knowledge leads to humility rather than elitism, and destroys the canard that people nowadays are just so much more enlightened and intelligent than those old dead guys. Out of this context, the Great Books are full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.
Gotta pack and go to bed.
Yard Sale of the Mind 
I can see a post expanding/expounding of Point G.
Not expecting such any time soon, however.
We found a place and, God willing, will be moving closer to you. As in drive down and take you to lunch.
Have you seen the Classical Conversations curricula? They might be a jumping off point. I should have access to the four high school years mid August.
Wow! We indeed must when you are settled.
No, I have not seen Classic Conversations.
Glad to hear that things are falling into place—enjoy your time in the Midwest!
One of the big sources of “great books” education in this country is the students of Leo Strauss at U Chicago. I wouldn’t presume to say what, exactly, Strauss’s students were going for in educating either the few or the many with their conception of “great books”, but I do feel comfortable saying that their goals were quite different than what yours or mine would be.
Thanks for the insightful opinions on the Great Books and possible elitism. It makes sense and gives me another excuse for not delving into that realm solo.
Acts 8: 30-31. “…Thinkest thou that thou understandest what thou readest? Who said: And how can I, unless some man shew me?”
Great news on the home sale. Looking forward to hobby farm pictures (maybe some grandkids, too) in future years.
Yay on A!
On Great Books– knowing faintly that they exist and what they say is useful. NOt as a brag point, but as a reference point.