On my dad, “MC Hammer”, and Dikaiopolis

Before I begin this post, let me recommend an excellent video about Aristophanes’ historical context that focuses on Acharnians and Knights: I can’t find the name of the guy who made this video, but he knows what he’s talking about and has a great intuitive sense of where Aristophanes came from and what he was

Who’s afraid of giving?

Thanks to conversations with Sarah Stroup, Maha Bali, and Mayara, I’ve realized that my recent post about “gender toxicity” did not address the really crucial point about toxic masculinity specifically–namely, the source of the “insecurity” that, I wrote, “latches onto symbols of male dominance in an endless, futile quest for reassurance.” Assuming that insecurity exists

Can young people handle free speech?

Acharnians, Aristophanes’ first play that has survived in full, was produced at the Lenaia festival in January 425 BCE, a mere nine months after Babylonians. While the apparent aim of Acharnians is to advocate for peace–and that is indeed one of its goals–it is, I think, most fruitful to consider it first and foremost part