Jonathan Heaps

“They jest at scars that never felt the wound,” Shakespeare said

Being You — Jonathan Heaps, PhD

If you're prep-ing your Fall courses, I want to share this short essay with you. I wrote it a few years ago as students were returning to the classroom after pandemic lockdowns, etc. and I still use it to help set the tone for each semester: www.jonathanheaps.com/being-you

I hope a lot!

I sometimes wonder if his line about having a good cry, a glass of wine, and a bath to get over melancholy was meant to be a little funny or not

St. Thomas has a funny line about how a sign of God‘s grace at work in your life can be no more than that doing good stops being repugnant to you. like, you’re not stoked to be doing what’s right, but you don’t hate it anymore.

A bit of evidence in favor of the Aristotelian/Thomist account of habit as objective:

While me getting up early to go to the gym has become more probable, it has never gotten easier.

a man is driving a car and talking on a walkie talkie with the words pop quiz , hot shot . ALT: a man is driving a car and talking on a walkie talkie with the words pop quiz , hot shot .

President Trump has been designating drug cartels as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTO).

Pop Quiz: what consequence does FTO designation have in terms of law or policy?

Okay, the *most* realistic thing is Ian Malcolm hitting on his female colleague by mansplaining chaos theory, but after that

Most realistic thing in Jurassic Park: 3 academics are shown a billionaire-funded technological miracle & all they have to offer are a bunch of pessimistic anti-capitalist criticisms of the project (which turn out to be 100% correct).

Least realistic: lawyer never says phrase “liability insurance”

Also, “profane your remains” is an allusion to a great Deadwood line:

“Gabriel’s trumpet will produce you from the ass of a pig.”

Like, I’m not mystified by the dynamic, but the experience of the stark contrast is still a little uncanny

This is a genuine internal conflict I feel re: the personal use of defensive violence.

If it’s just me, I think I might actually risk letting someone kill me to avoid killing another person.

But get my kids in the frame & I have perfect clarity that I would profane your remains.

Dispatch from Modern Parenting: I already know most of the K-pop Demon Hunters English lyrics and I’m gonna help the 8 y.o. learn some of the Korean this week

Super good

Dispatch from Modern Parenting: I already know most of the K-pop Demon Hunters English lyrics and I’m gonna help the 8 y.o. learn some of the Korean this week

Ordering a Mudslide, a basket of chicken tendies with a side of honey mustard and some Cajun waffle fries at the White House

I briefly had a 2013 Jetta Turbo Diesel Wagon and it was glorious but it was *ahem* involved in the VW emissions cheating scandal so, while I make a little money on the proposition, I did not get to keep it.

Flashback: Your Weekly History Quiz, Aug. 9, 2025 Can you sort 8 historical events?

Is it a humble brag to say I found this wildly easy?

Flashback for August 9, 2025

28 points
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Play here:
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Make a wagon with a flip down rear seat again, cowards. Bonus points if they face sideways.

Two eminently practical things that I want but they barely seem to sell anymore: balmoral boots and a proper station wagon.

Herbert McCabe on the love of God

the radical socialist Catholic Dominican theologian Herbert McCabe basically called these people out uh, last century?

YouTube video by Minor Threat - Topic Straight Edge

Punk (DC Hardcore): “Straight Edge” by Minor Threat youtu.be/gsAu-nOg3Tw

My hot take is that if Clifford Brown hadn’t died, he’d have been bigger than Miles Davis. I think he was the only guy Davis really felt threatened by on the trumpet.

Grammy’s river house

Know*

I don’t now how I can explain to my family why I’m cackling rn

I’m on one just called “Drama” which is awesome

I want to (re)read a lot of Newman over the coming year, in case anyone wants to join in. Planning to do 15 sermons, development of doctrine, apologia, idea of a university, and grammar of assent.

A grand jury investigation into James has also convened in Albany, New York, according to a source familiar. The grand jury probe into James is said to be looking into deprivation of rights, which means violating someone’s constitutional rights, against Trump.

my instinct is that they're going with deprivation of rights under section 242 because trump was prosecuted under section 241, and this administration operates according to the venerable legal principle of "I know you are but what am I" www.cnn.com/2025/08/08/p...

This has big “Abbott sends state troopers to Austin” vibes