Articles By: Hayden Butler

Hayden Butler is an ardent student of Literature. He is passionate about the role of narrative as a cultural device, and believes that the careful study and enjoyment of story can make us deeper and more virtuous as Christians and as human beings. He recieved his B.A. in English Literature at Biola University, graduating summa cum laude and receiving the Inez McGahey Award for Literary Scholarship. He graduated from the Torrey Honors Institute, attaining to the Order of Peter and Paul. Hayden’s academic interests include critical theory, metaphysical poetry, and philosophy of education. Outside of the classroom, he is a student of martial arts and oil painting, loves a good cup of tea, and owns an embarrassing number of Star Wars novels. He seeks to live an examined life in peace and beauty. He currently teaches AP Literature and Geometry at Capistrano Valley Christian High School and works as a waiter at a Victorian Tea House.

The Scope of Lost: In Dialogue with Joe Carter

(Warning: This post contains spoilers for the end of Lost) To no one’s surprise, the final episode of this cultural behemoth has sparked a flurry of dialogue and theory-sharing. One such theory was recently put forth by Joe Carter at FirstThings.com. His opinion, however, expresses a dissatisfaction...
May 27th, 2010 | Other | Read More

A Beginner’s Guide to Shakespeare’s Comedies

A dark stage. Candles casting an ominous glow on faux-stone walls.  A dejected actor in outdated clothing with a skull in one hand. This is Shakespeare. While that’s true, in part, it remains a sad reality that our exposure to Shakespeare fixates on his tragedies and an occasional history. This...
March 29th, 2010 | Art & Literature, Culture, Media | Read More

A Million Miles…To Where?

If Donald Miller does something well, it is the provocative marketing of storytelling. A Million Miles in a Thousand Years displays Miller’s roundabout style of making insights by emphasizing the power of personal narratives.  Both punchy and meandering, the book demonstrates that which it demands...
March 23rd, 2010 | Art & Literature, Book Reviews, Culture, Evangelicals | Read More

A Dream That Tells The Truth: Alice in Wonderland

Alice in Wonderland offers a fanciful study in dreaming that provokes the question of whether Wonderland is merely a dream from which we may at any time awaken. What makes the film great, though, is the follow-up question as to whether it being a dream even matters. At its core, Alice in Wonderland...
March 16th, 2010 | Culture, Film, Media | Read More

Reading As Conversation

Reading is a conversation. Reading a good book or a good poem is like talking with someone who has thought things through and has managed to come up with something that is really worth saying. Our reading practices should reflect that reality. Just because there is not a person sitting in front of us...
February 17th, 2010 | Art & Literature, Culture, Education | Read More

The Death of the Talent Fairy: Why I’m Learning Calculus

It is an often-overlooked truth that a mathematician is a good friend to have. In my case, I happen to have a best friend who has dedicated years of his life to the study of mathematics. We make quite a pair, and there is a unique quality to our friendship in that our conversations often dwell on how...
November 20th, 2009 | Art & Literature, Education | Read More

A Word from our Higher Powers: The MLA Seventh Edition

There is hardly a student in the United States whose work remains wholly untouched by the influence of the Modern Language Association. Whether a fledgling upstart or a seasoned scholar, anyone doing academic work in the humanities has been guided through the massive collaborative effort of the MLA....
November 5th, 2009 | Art & Literature, Blogging, Education, Media, Technology | Read More

Aren’t Choices Great!?: Check, Please by Robin Dembroff

In Notes from Underground, Fyodor Dostoevsky famously asserts the unpredictability of human beings against the determinist dogmas of his contemporary philosophical moment. Over a century later, his sentiments have been reincarnated in Check, Please, a novella by Robin Dembroff, a junior of the Torrey...
September 28th, 2009 | Art & Literature, Book Reviews, Culture, Media | Read More

Emot-iconoclasm: Deconstruction and the Devolution of Language

I suppose this begins with my mother. She has recently tasked herself with learning how to more effectively communicate via text messaging. A recent advance in her acumen is the adept manipulation of those quirky combinations of punctuation marks known as emoticons. The advent of these symbols coincides...
August 28th, 2009 | Art & Literature, Culture, Media, Pop Semiotics, Technology | Read More

Vexatious Versification: Why Reading Poetry is Worth the Effort

Recently, I participated in a discussion of T.S. Eliot’s “Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.” Amid our close reading, hesitant commentary, and prolonged silences, one of my peers interjected, “This is ridiculous. I don’t see any point to studying this!” Although such a statement struck the...
July 5th, 2009 | Art & Literature, Culture, Media, Pop Semiotics | Read More