Good day everyone,
I hope all are well. A big thank you to everyone who showed up at our 5th Annual Fundraiser the other evening. Colin, Chase and I were deeply moved. Again, thank you.
We left off in October’s essay with an introduction to the Logos Tutoring Program’s three pillars: we are Agrarian, Mythological, and Monastic. These pillars are the supporting buttresses that hold up our curriculum, which in turn is how we are attempting to “live in a different world,” as per Fr. Seraphim Rose:
The psychological trials of dwellers in the last times will equal the physical trials of the martyrs. But in order to face these trials we must be living in a different world.
I also gave the image of the Program as a monastery for young men, with the discipline of attention as the paramount virtue that we seek to draw out of your sons.
Today we are diving deep into our first pillar: the Logos Tutoring Program is Agrarian.
But first, two little meanderings…
(1) The main question for me about these essays is this:
How do I make these something useful to YOU - parent of a son in this Program paying good money and driving long-distance twice a week - rather than just offering a rehash of my favorite authors?
I don’t know. This is an experiment after all. If it devolves into the latter, I’d rather just hang it up. But if I can write in a way that genuinely helps our shared endeavor, onwards. This segues into meandering #2:
(2) I made this substack free to all members of the Program, but it is pay-walled for everyone else at $5 a month, or $50 a year. Why? Well, as strange as it sounds as I write this, the intent here is protective in nature. This is for our community and not the wider world. Yet, if someone in the wider world is interested enough in this work to pay a bit to dive in, that’s fine by me. The paywall, in theory at least, is serving in the role of boundary.
But. I’m concerned that it might actually weaken the Program because it is not freely accessible to prospective families. That seems like a big problem. So as Chase and Colin and I were talking about this the other day, we (or they, rather) came up with a better idea:
Since “Notes from Hillwood” is offering foundational stuff about the Program, let’s put it on the website for free this coming summer. That will give me time to gestate on the ideas more and receive feedback from y’all. Then, they are free to all. Meanwhile, keep it going as is.
This also brings up the issue of our website, which I know needs attention. Don’t worry, that’s coming.
I bring both of these items up because if you have ideas about either of these (how to make this optimally useful and what to do with the paywall), I welcome your feedback. Call me, email me, talk to me at Tutorial or Hillwood.
Alright, on to business → the Agrarian pillar of the Logos Tutoring Program.
To help us create some shared language around the pillar of “Agrarian,” I’m working closely with Wendell Berry’s short essay“The Agrarian Standard” as a template of sorts from which to understand the term “agrarian.” What I’m going to do this time ‘round is simply to select a few passages from Berry’s essay and then offer a quick reflection on how it ties-in to the work your sons are doing.
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