What is The Hazelnut?
"Wonder is the beginning of knowledge, the reverent fear that beauty strikes within us."
–John Senior
The Hazelnut is a journal of literary and cultural renewal, dedicated to the permanent things in a spirit of wonder. We’re seeking and developing an alternative to the Postmodern, neo-Marxist, scientific-materialist dominance of culture, literary studies, and education.
The Hazelnut seeks to restore wonder and delight to the reading (and writing) of literature, to rediscover the timeless truths reflected in great art, and to interrogate the role of traditional ideas in modern culture. This is a conscious departure from the prevailing approach, in which art and culture are subjected to political agendas, and/or emptied of meaning entirely through a nihilistic, deconstructive philosophy.
The Hazelnut is dedicated to discovering the wisdom of the past and showing its application to today. We’re focused not just on looking back, but also on looking forward. We’re concerned with developing and discovering concrete ideas and real solutions to today’s cultural problems.
A guiding principle of The Hazelnut is that cultural restoration begins with what we tend to call “ordinary” things: a well-ordered household, a great book read slowly, a piece of music that cuts to the core, the wind stroking the grass in the pasture outside my window as I write.
Who is The Hazelnut for?
The Hazelnut is a quiet corner of the internet for readers who still believe that beauty, truth, and goodness are worth defending and who want to think carefully about how to live well in a noisy age.
You’ll fit in here if…
Stray scraps of classic poetry run through your head at random moments of daily life
The term “tech resistance” gets you excited
You’re interested not just in diagnosing modern cultural ills but in finding cures
You don’t see a disconnect between reading Aristotle in the morning and getting your boots mucky in the barn in the afternoon
You love the simple, the ordinary, the small, alongside the dazzling, the extraordinary, the ornate—and you recognize how much theses things overlap
You have a love for the much-maligned Western tradition
“People who get too far from fundamental things, from ploughing and reaping and rearing children, lose something that is never restored by any progress or civilization.”
—G. K. Chesterton
What kind of things are here?
Essays on literature, culture, history, technology, family, education, homesteading, philosophy, and the role of technology/AI.
Occasional interviews and podcasts
A joyful community of likeminded individuals
A monthly book club exploring great ideas and great books
Links to my fiction and non-fiction books
A reading journal designed specifically for studying the classics
Here are a few of my favorites posts on the site, just to give you a taste:
Finding Peace in Tragedy: John Keats’s ‘Ode to a Nightingale’
Cultural Renewal Case Study: A Modern City Built on Traditional Principles
Returning to First Things to Save Civilization
A Children’s Book of Wonder: The Princess and the Goblin
A 300-Year-Old Flame Still Burns: The World’s Oldest Restaurant Is Full of History and Mystery
Why become a paid subscriber?
The Hazelnut is a reader-supported publication. By becoming a paid subscriber, you enable me to keep creating valuable content and developing new projects to benefit readers. Your support means a lot to me—it puts food on the table for my little girls.
A big focus of my work is building community—so paid subscribers also get access to exclusive chats where they can interact with other members of The Hazelnut and discuss the themes of this website with intelligent, likeminded folks.
Along the same lines, paid members will be invited to participate in The Hazelnut Book Club discussions, where Hazelnut readers and I discuss works of literature, culture, philosophy, and the like.
Finally, as a special thank-you for your support, you will also receive free digital copies of my novels Hologram and Song of Spheres and a reading list of 50 Great Books.
Why become a free subscriber?
Subscribe to receive weekly essays on culture, literature, history, and what T.S. Eliot called “the permanent things.”
Never miss an update. Have access to comments.
You won’t have to worry about missing anything. Every new edition of the newsletter goes directly to your inbox.
About me
I am a father, a husband, and a literature MA. I taught literature and history at a private classical academy, and I’m committed to spreading a love for literature and culture as vehicles for truth, goodness, and beauty.
I live on a small homestead in rural Wisconsin, where I tend to my family, a Jersey cow, and the long traditions of Western thought.
My work has appeared in The Epoch Times, The Hemingway Review, The Federalist, Intellectual Takeout, LifeSite News, The Daily Caller, American Thinker, The International Business Times, The American Spectator, American Essence, Catholic Match, Catholic Exchange, Students for Life, One Peter Five, Crisis Magazine, the Mises Institute, The Remnant, Human Life International, The St. Austin Review, Satori, FORMA, 1819 News, Driftless Magazine, Sword&Spade, the Albertus Magnus Institute, and Bedrock Magazine (forthcoming).
About the title
“And with this insight he also showed me a little thing, the size of a hazelnut, lying in the palm of my hand. It seemed to me as round as a ball. I gazed at it and thought, ‘What can this be?’ The answer came thus, ‘It is everything that is made.’ I marveled how this could be, for it was so small it seemed it might fall suddenly into nothingness.”
—Julian of Norwich
Want to read my work away from the glare of the screen?
Learn more about my books by vising my Amazon page or clicking below.
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