Moorpark, CA…. In October of 1997 I attended the Southern Historical Association’s convention in Atlanta because I wanted to hear Paul Conkin’s presidential address, “Hot, Humid, and Sad.” What I heard was largely a history of the South in
August 2009
We set up here on the porch six months ago today. Many words later, it’s still a nice place to relax and shoot the breeze.
To mark the occasion, a brief summary:
We’ve had 81,000 visitors making some 220,000 visits,…
Claremont, CA.… Tomato, the main character in Erika Lopez’s terrifically kooky Flaming Iguanas, loves the post office. She says, to be precise, that she has a “profound love for the United States Postal Service.” She laments that too few people
Alexandria, VA…
I’m late to this, but have been spending the last few weeks of the summer break gorging on episodes of David Simon’s acclaimed HBO series “The Wire.” It is a fiercely gritty, profane, violent, tough-minded look at the
Rock Island, IL…
I can’t tell whether my Sweet Precious has read the piece on marital jokes when she announces her preference for Poco Picatta tonight and then just sort of vanishes.
No matter. This is a dish as popular
This fellow has some nice things to say about what we’ve been up to here on the porch. So let me return the favor and thank him, first, for noticing, and second, for his sense that something is afoot, or…
Washington, CT.… The unanimously anointed Soothsayer of the American Republic, Alexis de Tocqueville is deservedly credited with divining the essential and lasting traits of the mythological American. That he did so, long before there really was such a collective thing
Devon, PA.… Here is a poem of mine that has just appeared in the poetry journal The Dark Horse and on Ernest Hilbert’s ever amusing daily dose of literature and kitsch, E-Verse Radio. For those who cannot be alike
Our fellow Porcher Rod Dreher says Dick Cheney is an outlaw.
Of course he is right, after a certain manner of speaking, and I have no particular comment one way or the other on Cheney’s actions or subsequent apologies. But…
Gretel Kauffman, 15, who is gonna be ten times the writer her old man ever was, reports from the magnificent Porter Farms on thebatavian.com: http://www.thebatavian.com/tags/porter-farms.…
Devon, PA. …During the next few months, I shall be writing on the centrality of beauty and art to a flourishing human life in general, to a sound theology, and also to any robust and compelling version of conservatism. The
Rock Island, IL…
My espoused saint and I have differing opinions about marital jokes. The difference is subtle and not easy to detect but goes something like this: I find them funny; she doesn’t.
For example, she never laughs when
BURNED–OVER DISTRICT, NY—Elmer Kelton, the superb Texas novelist, died Saturday. In 2006 I visited Mr. Kelton in his San Angelo home; herewith, via the late American Enterprise, the result:
Elmer Kelton was voted “Great Western Writer of All Time” by…
Almost lost among the bicentennial celebrations of Lincoln’s and Darwin’s births is the centenary of Herbert Croly’s The Promise of American Life, a child of theirs and one of the truly evil books of the twentieth century. Not evil in…
Kearneysville, WV.… Things are looking up. According to the “experts” the global economy appears to be stabilizing. For what it’s worth, the use of phrases like “economic Armageddon” are not being uttered with the frequency they were last fall. The
From the indispensable Joe Bageant:
“Dottie is doping out the Romney [WV] medical establishment for me: ‘These Indians or Pakis or whatever they are run the hospital like it was a cheap motel. The place is dirty…. Anyway, I looked…
