I have a column and a podcast — and I’d like to share a letter (amusing, but also somewhat painful). My Impromptus today begins with the Middle East — with the Arab–Israeli conflict. It’s very complicated, people will tell you. Layer upon layer. And they’re right, to a degree. But the conflict boils down to something fairly simple: Will Israel’s neighbors agree to coexist — or not?

In that Impromptus, I also have notes on politics, portraits (royal), step-parents, folkways, music, golf, food, and meekness (yes). See what you like, here.

My latest Q&A is a home game, so to speak: a conversation with our Richard Brookhiser. He has written many books, particularly on the Founding and Founders: biographies of Washington, Hamilton, Madison, and so on. (Don’t miss his Lincoln either.) His new book is about John Trumbull, “painter of the Revolution,” as Rick’s subtitle says. Rick himself is a kind of painter of the Revolution. One can learn so much from him.

I should have titled our podcast: “Get Ready to Trumbull.”

In my Impromptus yesterday, I linked to a Saturday Night Live sketch, aired last weekend. It is about the state of American education (and damn funny). The gist is, teachers say that the classroom is a battlefield: and “y’all won.” The students have won. “Y’all rude and y’all nasty. Not only can you not read but you are on drugs and spectrums that did not even exist in 2006. On top of that, you speak in riddles . . .”

See it here.

A reader writes,

Good morning, Jay,

I’m sitting here at my desk, preparing for a full day of teaching a class of special-needs third-graders. I regularly start my day by scanning through NRO to see what’s new (and catch Impromptus before your letters from readers later on). I can tell you that the SNL skit you mentioned has spread like wildfire through my school and then to everyone we’ve worked with at other schools, and we find it hysterically funny — and sadly, painfully, accurate. We regularly say that no one would ever believe us if they heard some of the stories we could tell. The skit is funny because it’s true, and it’s a sad statement on teaching. I love what I do, but it isn’t easy.

God bless our teachers (and students).