Front Porch Republic

Wendell Berry to Deliver 2012 Jefferson Lecture

Purcellville, VA…. Our readers will be delighted to know that Mr. Wendell Berry has been named the 41st Jefferson Lecturer in the Humanities. The 2012 Jefferson Lecture, sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities, will honor Mr. Berry’s

Read Full Article...

Wendell Berry Receives Humanities Medal On March 1, Wendell Berry was awarded one of the...
Wendell Berry Pulls his Papers from U of KY I don't think the University of Kentucky can be so...
Wendell Berry on Patriotism This is what I would call patriotism: the love of...

What’s Wrong With Iowa? (A Transplanted Professor Knows)

Across the River from Iowa… The Chronicle of Higher Education ran a story recently about the travails of Stephen Bloom, a professor of journalism at the University of Iowa, who, in a piece he wrote for The Atlantic, all but

Read Full Article...

Iowa is for Peace-Lovers BURNED-OVER DISTRICT, NY—Our daughter will be spending the snowy months...
Iowa… Place of the Drowsy Ones OWEN TOWNSHIP, WINNEBAGO COUNTY, ILLINOIS…: According to one legend, the...
Allan Bloom and Homogenizing Nature What is the purpose of education? ...

Van Gogh’s Nature Paintings in Philadelphia

FPR readers in Philadelphia should visit their new exhibit featuring several unusual Vincet Van Gogh nature paintings. Here is an excerpt from the New York Times: “It examines van Gogh’s relationship to nature at its most intimate, cutting a narrow path… Related posts:

B Movies–in Black and White No, not the tune by the Fabulous Poodles, but rather...
Allan Bloom and Homogenizing Nature What is the purpose of education? ...
The Season of Nature’s Boon Everything now portends the close of something desperately cherished....

Conservative in America

Kearneysville, WV.… As this election cycle grinds on, and as Washington prepares for CPAC’s 2012 event, each Republican candidate continues to claim that he best represents the conservative ideal. In this on-going contest over a word, the various contenders have

Read Full Article...

What is a Conservative? The Atlantic offers characteristics of conservatives. How does the Porch...
Is There a Conservative Tradition in America? The answer is hardly obvious....
Why I am a Conservative If you love place, limits, liberty, and think they are...

Protest and Tradition

Jesus without religion is like thinking without tradition. Related posts:

The Alternative Tradition in America Alexandria, VA …Since Caleb has posted his lecture from a...
Obama the Pragmatist From today’s edition of Inside Higher Education: In remarks kicking...
Making Hookups Happen Enterprising students at the University of Chicago have managed to...

A Day Late, and a Mint Julep Short

I had previously thought that Ground Hog Day was strictly a holiday for the residents of the virtuous commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Turns out that the day is celebrated far and wide by localists of all kinds, even Canadians. But as…

Read Full Article...

Ministries of Thought and Stunts of Renewal Williamston, MI… If the woodchuck hasn’t been dead too long,...
One Tea Party Too Late Derbyshire in the latest TAC: [H]ere are the Tea Partiers...
Life Amid the Suicide Machines JEFFERSON COUNTY, KANSAS. …In small town America, business owners get...

There is No Such Thing as a Bank Loan

“Dexia” is not a word familiar to most Americans, and if told that it is a French bank in need of a fresh bailout, the knowledge would likely elicit no more than a yawn. Interest might increase, however, if they…

Read Full Article...

A Doomsday Cycle Increase regulations or remove the safety net? ...
Aristotle and Aquinas, Bank Regulators But if there is one thing that both Democrats and...
A Tale of Two Banks He discovered that he could solve the dependence on...

Dark Places and Dappled Things

Devon, PA.… The Catholic magazine of arts and letters, Dappled Things, is no stranger to the writers of FPR, having published a debate on the free market between John Médaille and Robert T. Miller, last spring. The most recent issue

Read Full Article...

Easter and Economics Robert T. Miller and I discuss two opposed views of...
Beating Back the Alien Dark In 2007, we bought a house and moved to Greenville,...
The Places of Teen Pop Culture It's not only that the richest people are getting richer;...

Surviving Five O’Clock

There’s nothing the smell of this can’t solve.

Read Full Article...

Breakfast with the Bar Jester (Part 2) Ladies, get your eggs ready!...
The Pickup and the Pasta; or, How I Satisfied Two Women in One Afternoon Well I’ve satisfied one woman; by God, I’ll satisfy the...
The Teleology of Vodka Millions were waiting for "Breakfast with the Bar Jester, Part...

What is a Conservative?

The Atlantic offers characteristics of conservatives. How does the Porch fit in? Related posts:

ResPublica’s 10 Best for 2010 I am proud to say I made the list.…...
Deneen, Pangle, Walzer Patrick Deneen recognized as one of America's top political theorists....
Dear Friends . . . or Maybe Not! Several times lately I’ve opened my email and found notices...

Monsanto vs. Family Farmers

Today in New York City the oral arguments will be heard. You can read more here and here. On January 31, family farmers will take part in the first phase of a court case filed to protect farmers from genetic… Related posts:

Friends Abroad: Vandana Shiva LEXINGTON, KENTUCKY. …One of the structural evils of our two-party...
Alito Gets it Right about Free Speech As I predicted last October, the Supreme Court has made...
Farmers Ditch Tractors for….Oxen? A New York Times piece, describes the renewed interest in...

Education and the Way Home

Holland, MI… The recent dispute between Joe Carter over at First Things and various occupants of the Porch has already received a good deal of attention, but also demonstrated a regrettable level of talking past one another. This, in no

Read Full Article...

Wrong Lesson, Senator Soon-to-be-former United States Senator from Utah, Bob Bennett, gives some...
The Real History of Carter’s “Malaise” Speech A couple of young, progressive liberals (Kevin Mattson and Ezra...
TAC Counter-Programming on Tea-Party Day FPR readers should certainly check out the American Conservative today. ...

On Wisconsin

My friend Paul Buhle, the great historian of the American left, has edited, with his wife Mari Jo Buhle, It Started in Wisconsin: Dispatches from the Front Lines of the New Labor Protest (http://www.versobooks.com/books/1076-it-started-in-wisconsin), just out from Verso. The best… Related posts:

Watching Walker Percy The author of The Moviegoer would make a fascinating subject...
Jesse Walker, No Depressor Jesse Walker, managing editor of Reason, is one of my favorite...
The Signs You Don’t See Those who benefit most from collective bargaining limits in Wisconsin...

Ciceronian Society Meeting at UVA: Call for Papers

CALL FOR PAPERS: CICERONIAN SOCIETY 2012 ANNUAL MEETING AT UVA… The Ciceronian Society will be holding its annual meeting at the University of Virginia, March 29-31, 2012. This will be an academic conference in which panelists can present on a Related posts:

Ciceronian Society Conference at the University of Virginia, March 17-20th Our panels will examine issues of tradition and place in...
March of the Ciceronians A reader asks: anyone interested in joining the Ciceronian Society,...
New Academic Journal and Call for Papers: ANAMNESIS, A Journal for the Study of Tradition, Place, and ‘Things Divine.’ This new academic journal will address many themes central to...

The GOP in Limbo: How Low Can You Go?

Newt Gingrich is a master of righteous indignation although he’s far better at being indignant than being righteous. What's going on with conservative Christians?

Read Full Article...

Post-Iowa Advice for the Paul Campaign Ron Paul didn't win Iowa but he did well. What...
Talkin’ Pauken At last, true localist and traditional voice from the land...
The Best Foreign Policy is No Foreign Policy Or, Domestic policy is the only policy....

Saul Alinsky, Localist

Well no, not exactly. But as anyone who has ACTUALLY READ ALINSKY KNOWS–in contrast to those who simply parrot his name as part of rather stretched smear of anyone they which to paint as dangerous un-American radical–Alinsky was primarily about… Related posts:

Saul Sung True From The American Conservative, Reason‘s Jesse Walker on Nicholas von...
Catholics Discover Distributism Over at “Inside Catholic,” one of their stable of writers,...
Hail to the Publican A friend sent me the other day two issues of...