Why This Site Exists
A statement of purpose for a personal record of historical study and continuing liberal and classical education.
ReadHistory · Liberal Education · Classical Learning
A record of an education in progress.
I hold an M.A. in History and a B.A. in Political Science. This site serves as my portfolio to satisfy the requirements of the M.A. and records my continuing effort to build a serious liberal and classical education through reading, study, writing, and revision.
Selected writing
Learning tested in public.
Essays, reading notes, and study-journal entries are organized by subject and remain open to correction as the underlying education develops.
Liberal Education as a Practice, Not a List
A liberal education depends less on completing a canon than on learning how to read, compare, judge, and revise.
ReadThe curriculum
A broad education with an accountable structure.
The program is organized around fields, questions, primary works, supporting scholarship, written reflection, and a visible record of what is current, completed, or deferred.
Define the question and its setting
Begin with chronology, vocabulary, historical context, and a strong overview before approaching difficult primary works.
Primary texts with serious companions
Read inherited works attentively while using history, commentary, and criticism to recover what the text meant and why it endured.
A ledger of arguments and progress
Track books, courses, lectures, questions, claims, disagreements, and the status of each part of the program.
Understanding made testable
Use essays and notes to expose incomplete reasoning, invite criticism, and preserve what has actually been learned.
Why this site exists
Formal education gave me disciplinary training in history and political science. It did not exhaust the work of becoming educated.
This site is a durable notebook for that continuing work: what I am reading, how the curriculum is organized, what arguments survive scrutiny, and how my judgment changes over time.
Read the statement of purpose