The One Where I Talk About Buddhism
Religion class teaches that Buddhism is the teaching of Siddhartha Gautama. Most Japanese Buddhists barely mention him. That absence turns out to be the most interesting thing about the religion.
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Wicked and the Crisis of Competence
Why a Broadway musical about a misunderstood green witch is secretly about meritocracy, narrative gamesmanship, and our current crisis of competence.
Mozart's Greatest Fear
Three of Mozart's greatest operas share the same plot: a powerful man tries to take your wife. The pattern reveals an artist working through his own anxieties about power and class.
Did the Islamic Republic of Iran Plagiarize My Undergrad Thesis?
In June 2017, I submitted my thesis on China's Middle East strategy. Two months later, an Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs scholar published a paper with the same argument.
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