Interviewed on a Podcast with the Humanitas Institute: Jesse Hake on the Living Patterns of Reading, Naming, and Belonging

Such a delight to be interviewed by Christine Perrin for her podcast show Composed: Timeless Ways of Living with the Humanitas Institute. Here is her team’s description:

What if the books we read aloud, the walks we take, and the names we learn for the world around us are not small extras, but central ways of forming a life? In this episode of Composed, Christine Perrin speaks with Jesse Hake, Director of ClassicalU at Classical Academic Press, about reading as a family practice, literature as a companion in moral formation, and the quiet power of naming the places we inhabit. Their conversation moves from The Lord of the Rings and Dickens to creek stomping, wildflowers, classroom liturgies, and the simple discipline of calling one’s father. For parents and teachers seeking humane, practical ways to cultivate wisdom, attention, and delight, this episode offers a hopeful vision of education as shared life.

Jesse reminds us that classical education is not merely a curriculum or a set of ideas. It is a way of receiving the world with love and giving that love to others through conversation, memory, making, and place. Reading aloud, walking attentively, and creating beautiful things together become patterns that nourish families, classrooms, and communities.

As a personal note, in this video, please pardon my unkempt beard that has come and gone of late.

Finally, I’ve also had the privilege of interviewing Christine in the past, most recently here with Teaching the Epic in Ordinary Life: Marilynne Robinson, Virtue, and Classical Education.