Catholic, husband and dad of 6, CEO of @CLT_Exam - “the most disruptive and hopeful development in American education” - @KevinRobertsTX
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Mar 29 • 20 tweets • 5 min read
The Lord of the Rings art by Ted Nasmith 🧵
1. Shelob 2. Password Into Moria
Mar 26 • 20 tweets • 5 min read
Thread of ancient wonders reconstructed 🧵
1. The Colosseum, Rome (70–80 AD)
2. The Parthenon, Athens, Greece (447-432 BC)
Mar 21 • 20 tweets • 5 min read
The most beautiful basilicas on Earth 🧵
1. The Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi, Italy 2. St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican City
Mar 14 • 20 tweets • 6 min read
Sketchbooks of legendary artists & writers 🧵
1. Cats, lions, and a dragon - Leonardo da Vinci 2. Studies for the Libyan Sibyl by Michelangelo, 1510–11
Mar 8 • 20 tweets • 5 min read
Thread of stunning first-edition book covers🧵
1. The Hobbit, drawn by Tolkien himself, 1937 2. The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald, 1925
Mar 8 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
73% of all women from every class survived the sinking of the Titanic.
Only 19% of men survived.
The patriarchy was so horrific they deemed themselves more worthy of a sacrificial death than women and children.
Feb 16 • 11 tweets • 4 min read
Thread on what famous architectural landmarks would look like if they were restored or completed using drones 🧵
1. Whitby Abbey, England
Whitby Abbey, originally a 7th-century Christian monastery, later evolved into a Benedictine abbey.
During the Dissolution of the Monasteries (1536-1545) under Henry VIII, it was seized by the crown.
Today, the ruins are a Grade I Listed site managed by English Heritage.
Feb 14 • 20 tweets • 9 min read
The greatest love letters ever written 🧵
1. Franz Kafka, letter to Milena, 1920 2. John Keats, from a letter to Fanny Brawne, June 1820
Feb 10 • 22 tweets • 6 min read
The desks of authors and historical figures 🧵
1. Einstein's desk on the day he died, 1955 2. King Charles Albert’s 1840 desk
One of the finest writing tables of the 19th century, this desk epitomizes royal luxury with its magnificent craftsmanship, exquisite design, and ingenious secret compartments.
Feb 6 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
This morning was the 73rd National Prayer Breakfast. One of the most unforgettable speeches in history took place at this event in 1994.
The speaker, was Saint Mother Teresa. To her right were the Clinton’s. To her left the Gore’s.
5 Unforgettable quotes from her speech 🧵 1) “Any country that accepts abortion is not teaching its people to love, but to use any violence to get what they want.“
Feb 2 • 20 tweets • 7 min read
The most beautiful monasteries on Earth 🧵
1. Ostrog Monastery, Montenegro 2. San Galgano, Italy, has its roof open to the heavens
Jan 29 • 13 tweets • 2 min read
It was supposed to be a simple letter for his diocese in Nebraska. The goal was to provide a clear vision for education.
It accomplished that. It also became the new Magna Carta for Catholic education in the 21st-century.
10 chilling quotes from Bishop Conley’s viral letter. 1) “Every student is made for holiness, made to become a saint.”
Jan 25 • 20 tweets • 7 min read
The notebooks of great thinkers 🧵
1. Drawings from Leonardo da Vinci's notebook 2. Marie Curie passed away from aplastic anemia on July 4, 1934, due to prolonged exposure to radiation during her research.
Even today, her laboratory notebook from 1899–1902 is radioactive and will remain so for the next 1,500 years.
Jan 19 • 25 tweets • 8 min read
Thread of religious wonders so surreal you won't believe they exist 🧵
1. Fyodor Dostoevsky's manuscript draft of The Brothers Karamazov 2. Feeling down? Imagine being the editor who found this James Joyce-revised manuscript waiting in the mailbox.
Jan 5 • 11 tweets • 2 min read
In 1987 America was shocked by the release of The Closing of The American Mind.
Bloom was the first to say out-loud what many already knew.
10 chilling quotes from The Closing of the American Mind. 🧵 1) We are like ignorant shepherds living on a site where great civilizations once flourished. The shepherds play with the fragments that pop up to the surface, having no notion of the beautiful structures of which they were once a part.
Dec 28, 2024 • 13 tweets • 5 min read
Notre Dame de Paris’s reopening drew global attention, with figures like Trump, Musk, and Prince William—neither French nor Catholic—honoring a monument that transcends its physical form.
If you haven’t read my article with @KevinRobertsTX yet here’s a brief 🧵 and a link to it
The fervor surrounding Notre Dame’s resurrection is not rooted in mere Francophilia or admiration for Gothic architecture.
Something much deeper is at play here, as Notre Dame has always symbolized more than just a building.
Dec 27, 2024 • 20 tweets • 6 min read
The world’s most beautiful Nativity Scenes 🧵
1. The Christmas Nativity at the Notre-Dame Basilica of Montreal, Canada 2. Manarola, Italy
This majestic Nativity Scene transforms the Cinque Terre hillsides into a luminous tableau of over 300 figures celebrating the Christmas story.
Dec 23, 2024 • 11 tweets • 4 min read
The Christmas Truce of 1914 is one of the most heartwarming events in recent history.
In the midst of a brutal conflict, British and German soldiers laid down their weapons for a brief moment of peace, showing the power of humanity even in the darkest of times… (thread) 🧵
As Christmas approached in 1914, soldiers who had spent months entrenched in a savage war found common ground in the spirit of the season.
As chaos raged, their desire for peace and connection transcended the violence.
Dec 19, 2024 • 20 tweets • 5 min read
The most beautiful Cathedrals at Christmas 🧵
1. Notre-Dame de Paris, France 2. Cologne Cathedral, Germany
Dec 6, 2024 • 14 tweets • 5 min read
Every year, from 1920 to 1943, the Tolkien children received letters from Father Christmas hilmself.
They came with tales and illustrations of Santa Claus and his helpers — each with a North Pole stamp designed by J.R.R. Tolkien.
Here’s the story behind them... (thread)🧵
In 1920, Tolkien’s first Father Christmas letter arrived at the Oxford home of his three-year-old son, John.
It was hand-painted and carried a whimsical North Pole stamp priced at "2 kisses."