I presume this was intentional, but I found your first paragraph hard to read. I had to go through it twice to get the meaning of each sentence down. In contra

I presume this was intentional, but I found your first paragraph hard to read. I had to go through it twice to get the meaning of each sentence down. In contrast, I find the "ornamental" language of the essay itself to flow easily. It's all part of the register we're typically accustomed to. Shibboleth, for example, is instantly recognizable to me (though it always reminds me of The West Wing).