Take a moment and think back to your childhood, adolescence, and/or young adulthood. How did life look from those perspectives? Everyone’s upbringing is unique, and some people are forced to grow up much too fast. However, for many of us, these years were characterized by the thrill of discovery. There was eagerness to map theContinue reading “Wide-Eyed Wonderment: A Literary Analysis of Vampire Weekend“
Author Archives: jeshuahayden
Introducing My Vampire Weekend Series
Nine months ago, when my wife and I packed our belongings and moved from West Michigan to Chicagoland, I did something I’d never done before: Alone in the U-Haul, I listened to four albums in a row by the same band, start to finish. Typically, when I’m on the road, I like to mix thingsContinue reading “Introducing My Vampire Weekend Series”
Into the Wild: An Invitation to My 2024 Artistic Journey
Two days ago, I braved icy winds and traveled by train and foot to the Music Box Theater in north Chicago, eager to watch Andrew Haigh’s new film, All of Us Strangers. It’s a bizarre, lyrical, and devastating story, impossible to categorize and easily one of my favorite films of the year. I expect I’llContinue reading “Into the Wild: An Invitation to My 2024 Artistic Journey”
Here Be Dragons: My Favorite Stories and Songs of 2023
Well, it’s that time of year again! Everywhere you turn, art nerds are shouting their lists of favorite books, music, and movies discovered in 2023 from the proverbial rooftops. Why, you may ask, would we bother doing this? I can’t speak for every list-maker out there, but I’ve got two motives. First, the act ofContinue reading “Here Be Dragons: My Favorite Stories and Songs of 2023”
“The Guy in the Green Hat”: Life Lessons from The Legend of Zelda
During college, I spent four years living with a guy who loved The Legend of Zelda. Not only did he own the classic Zelda video games, but he enjoyed playing through them all in release order. He would start with Ocarina of Time, follow that up with Majora’s Mask, Wind Waker, and Twilight Princess, andContinue reading ““The Guy in the Green Hat”: Life Lessons from The Legend of Zelda”
Light, Love, and Lyricism: A Review of Josh Ritter’s “Spectral Lines”
On Spectral Lines, a cartographer of the strange and fantastical traverses more familiar territory, patiently seeking glimmers of magic in the mundane. There are few people who could use the words “brindled” and “bergamot” in a song and get away with it. Josh Ritter is one of them. The Idaho native has always been aContinue reading “Light, Love, and Lyricism: A Review of Josh Ritter’s “Spectral Lines””
Ten Books that Changed My Life
Recently, my wife and I sat at our kitchen table, trying to recall the books which had most influenced us. The exercise was a tricky one. We weren’t listing our favorite books; we were trying to identify books which had altered our thinking, shaped our ambitions, and redirected the course of our lives. We hadContinue reading “Ten Books that Changed My Life”
Gifts from the Sea
Imagine that you’re about to be stranded on a desert island. You’re allowed to take one fragment of a piece of art from any genre with you – not a complete work of art, but a tiny piece of that work of art, such as a chunk of a painting or sculpture, a chapter fromContinue reading “Gifts from the Sea”
The Return of the Last Jedi: Why Rian Johnson’s controversial film is better than you remember
Shortly after my wife and I started dating, I made a horrifying discovery: She had never seen the original Star Wars trilogy. Well…that wasn’t exactly true. She had seen the opening minutes of George Lucas’ sci-fi epics, which are consistently ranked among the most influential works of cinema ever created. She had just fallen asleepContinue reading “The Return of the Last Jedi: Why Rian Johnson’s controversial film is better than you remember”
The Lamb in the Cockpit: Christ-Like Leadership in “Top Gun: Maverick”
What makes a trustworthy leader? In the opening scenes of Top Gun: Maverick, we’re invited to eavesdrop on an elite group of fighter pilots, each of whom is pondering this question. It’s no mere intellectual curiosity. For these young aviators, the answer will spell the difference between life and death. They’ve been given a seeminglyContinue reading “The Lamb in the Cockpit: Christ-Like Leadership in “Top Gun: Maverick””
