Author: Thomas L. Knapp

Source: The Reframe
by AR Moxon

“[O]ne way of looking at an audience is ‘anyone who experiences the art.’ This expansive view is, I think, is a vital and true way of defining audience. It’s important to hold the expansive idea of audience in mind, and to be open to it. Another way to think about audience is to say it is the community with whom the artist is in conversation. In this sense, audience moves closer to the artistic intent. It’s not that the art is closed to anyone else; it’s that it is entering an already-existing conversation and speaking into it, and so it exists within that specific conversation in a specific way. Which version of audience is true? I think both are true.” (05/25/26)

https://www.the-reframe.com/are-you-pulling-or-are-you-the-rope

Source: Independent Institute
by Alvaro Vargas Llosa

“One problem with raising expectations, as a government such as Javier Milei’s did in Argentina, is that when things don’t look as bright as one would like, people begin to lose faith in the ideas. Much emphasis was placed at the beginning on the superiority of the libertarian ideas the president professes, and they were proclaimed with such forceful, aggressive assertiveness that, even though he himself made clear it would take time and sacrifices to clean up the disaster he inherited, people became convinced of the inevitability of progress. Such faith inevitably carried with it high expectations and impatience. Now, almost two and a half years into his administration, many Argentines are losing sight of the legacy of so many years of failed policies he had to confront when he came into office and beginning to associate what is happening today … with the present administration rather than past ones.” (05/25/26)

https://www.independent.org/article/2026/05/25/milei-economy-struggling/

Source: Sex and the State
by Cathy Reisenwitz

“In 2022, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin put together a Suicide Prevention and Response Independent Review Committee (SPRIRC). This body released a report full of recommendations for reducing suicides among current and former military personnel. … According to the SPRIRC, the military promotion system is so broken that it’s on par with firearms availability and access to mental health professionals as meaningful contributors to suicide risk. If that’s true, imagine how much money that broken system wastes outside of suicides. It’s hard to fathom.” (05/25/26)

https://cathyreisenwitz.substack.com/p/the-militarys-broken-promotion-system

Source: Desultory Scribblings
by Tyler Harris

“Remember, they say,
Through the long mists of time,
Our heroes and legends and leaders sublime.
Think not of their flaws, for of flaws they had none.
Remember that freedom springs forth from a gun.
Recall them as Caesar, but ne’er Cincinnatus.
Recount conquered glories; reject e’ry malice.” (05/25/26)

https://tylerjohnharris.substack.com/p/remember-they-say