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Kurt Keefner
Apr 2, 20244 min read
Writings About Music
Twenty-five years of writing about music! A selection of 17 essays and reviews of music from all over the world.
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Kurt Keefner
Mar 16, 20246 min read
“Self-Esteem” and Narcissism
Is the Objectivist concept of self-esteem partly to blame for the current wave of narcissism?
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Kurt Keefner
Nov 15, 20232 min read
Talk => Talk => Talk
We usually know what we're going to say before we say it. It's not so obvious how that works..
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Kurt Keefner
Nov 20, 202217 min read
Fun Songs about Bad Men
When does a fun song about a bad man celebrate wickedness? And is this OK in the name of fun?
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Kurt Keefner
Oct 20, 202212 min read
Amazing Meme
The story you didn't know of the classic hymn and how it has been a prolific meme in American culture.
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Kurt Keefner
Oct 5, 202214 min read
Foundation Songs
Songs about home: what can we say about them and what do they say about us?
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Kurt Keefner
Aug 16, 20226 min read
Contra Szasz
Dr. Thomas Szasz was a staunch opponent of involuntary psychiatric treatment, but there is much more to his thinking.
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Kurt Keefner
Apr 6, 202212 min read
Madame X: Portrait of a Scandal
John Singer Sargent's Madame X was not only a bold artistic statement but a pivotal point in the invention of the modern woman.
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Kurt Keefner
Jan 21, 20228 min read
Walking into John Singer Sargent
Sargent was one of the greatest painters of his time. I underestimated him. Now I am taking a fresh look at him - and my reactions to him.
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Kurt Keefner
Jan 10, 20222 min read
To Become Who You Are
This is an essay about being authentic, which is the alternative to living a falsified life. It is full of hope.
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Kurt Keefner
Dec 30, 20213 min read
How a River Becomes a River Once Again
“Before I sought enlightenment, the mountains were mountains and the rivers were rivers. While I sought enlightenment, the mountains were...
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Kurt Keefner
Jun 30, 202116 min read
The Perfecting of Howard Roark
Howard Roark is no statue. This is the story of his development as a human character.
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Kurt Keefner
May 20, 20217 min read
The Fate of Atlas
I really enjoyed Greek mythology as a boy, but I was never much interested in Atlas. His brother Prometheus, who created humankind and...
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Kurt Keefner
Dec 5, 20209 min read
Freedom and Chess: Playing The Queen's Gambit
Meet Beth Harmon. She is the Mozart of chess, but can she beat her demons?
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Kurt Keefner
Oct 16, 20207 min read
The Defects of His Virtues, The Virtues of His Defects
The paradoxical characters of Oskar Schindler, Howard Roark and Shakespeare's Brutus
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Kurt Keefner
Sep 25, 20209 min read
Lessons of The Godfather
These gangsters give you a lesson you can't refuse.
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Kurt Keefner
Jul 17, 20207 min read
North and South, An Industrial Synthesis
Strong-willed industrialist meets empathetic idealist in the 1800s. Can they bridge the gap?
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Kurt Keefner
Jun 12, 202011 min read
Brave New Us
Despite the differences we are tending in the direction of Huxley's hedonistic dystopia.
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Kurt Keefner
May 15, 20209 min read
The Bust of Caesar
Some characters are perfectly realized without being merely allegorical.
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