Dinner is Served: Trimalchio’s Banquet

Dinner is Served: Trimalchio’s Banquet

In this first installment of a series on the greatest meals ever (or never) served, Jonathan Bennett reconstructs a feast so vulgar that it achieved immortality. Written in the first century by Petronius, courtier to Nero and self-styled arbiter elegantiae, the...
In Defence of Leisure

In Defence of Leisure

Forget “live-to-work”. The ancients believed leisure—not work—was the highest purpose of human life. In this essay, Jonathan defends self-cultivation through art, conversation, and exploration. “One ought, every day at least, to hear a little song, read a...
Unique Places #3 – Canada’s Last Frontier Town

Unique Places #3 – Canada’s Last Frontier Town

Jonathan Bennett makes an unplanned trip beyond the Arctic Circle to Iqaluit, a city on the margins—equal parts capital, construction site, and reluctant frontier outpost. There are few places left in the world that still feel like frontiers—real ones, not the type...
A Library of Aspirations (and Back Pain)

A Library of Aspirations (and Back Pain)

Wherein Jonathan Bennett avoids packing by reflecting on the weight—literal and spiritual—of unread books and overgrown libraries. It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a man in possession of too many books must, at some point, try to move house. That moment...
The Jar with a Face in It

The Jar with a Face in It

On Homunculi, Algorithms, and the Small Souls We Make Jonathan Bennett follows a thread from alchemy to algorithmic avatars in a reflection on our age-old desire to imitate creation—and the uncanny reflections we’ve unleashed. 19th century engraving of Homunculus from...