Thanksgiving Reflections I

November 27, 2014
[Editor's note] President Washington, in his original Thanksgiving Day proclamation, insisted it the “duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God,” and to be “grateful for His benefits.” Washington also gave thanks for our liberty and our temporal…
Read the full article →

Blind Auto-Repair and Breathing in a Small Town as Things Get Worse: A Dispatch

Spark plug November 26, 2014
Not one to mince words, she cuts to the chase.
Read the full article →

Berry at SAMLA

November 25, 2014
Jeffrey Bilbro reviews Wendell Berry's appearance at SAMLA.
Read the full article →

The Paganization and Dehumanization of the University

November 24, 2014
Radnor Township, PA This past Friday, I led a lunch discussion with students at the University of Chicago who had read my First Things article  “Majoring in Fear.” They verified that things at Chicago were pretty much as I had described.…
Read the full article →

Anarchism, Global Citites, and a Confucian Cosmopolitan Education

November 21, 2014
[Cross-posted to In Medias Res] I recently attended a conference in Nanjing, China, hosted by the Hopkins-Nanjing Center and organized our fellow Porcher, Adam Webb. You can read a short summary of the conference here; for my part, in the…
Read the full article →

The Market Made Me Do It (Part II)

November 20, 2014
Malibu, CA Where does Catholic Social Thought come down on this question? Not surprisingly, Catholic thought often emphasizes solutions taken at the level of the economic and political system: government-provided safety nets, support for unions, regulation of the labor market.…
Read the full article →

Two Problems for Philanthropy

conclu1 November 18, 2014
But she of her penury hath cast in all.
Read the full article →

The Market Made Me Do It (Part I)

November 18, 2014
Malibu, CA The danger in speaking after thirteen talks on Catholic Thought and Business is that there is nothing left to say. Russ Hittinger started with the observation that his job was to tell you what you already know. I…
Read the full article →

Playing With Turtles

November 14, 2014
Spring Arbor, MI (Editor’s note: Like any real front porch, FPR seeks to be a place where children are valued and welcome. Much of what we do seeks the seriousness of a child at play. This is, to my knowledge,…
Read the full article →

The Bombadil Option

November 13, 2014
Manchester, CT “Old Tom Bombadil is a merry fellow, Bright blue his jacket is, and his boots are yellow. None has ever caught him yet, for Tom, he is the master: His songs are stronger songs, and his feet are …
Read the full article →

Oneself as Another in the Controlled Burn: A Dispatch

post-21012-Squirrel-flame-thrower-GIVE-ME-deNV November 12, 2014
Low flames and smoke and visions of the eschaton.
Read the full article →

Catholic Corruption That Begs for Martin Luther

1024px-Лютер_в_Вормсе November 11, 2014
  The story of government-induced corruption and other such ills of centralization is nothing new for the Front Porch Republic. Thus, the developing story of how such issues are now haunting the Roman Catholic Church in Germany (and, as a…
Read the full article →

A Little Home Cooking

November 11, 2014
Richmond, VA I do not think it outrageous, every now and then, to despair for the future of cooking in this country. Not all the time, no, for there are still encouraging signs that many people are willing to undertake…
Read the full article →

Monday Morning Brass Spittoon: Roundtable on a Liberal Arts Education

November 10, 2014
Higher education in America has many challenges, and in many ways has become a rather strange place. The satirical novel, such as Richard Russo’s Straight Man or James Hyne’s The Lecturer’s Tale, could hardly be written any more, for…
Read the full article →

Marginalizing Care: What Happens when Healthcare and Education become Industries

November 7, 2014
Spring Arbor, MI In our age of austerity and cost-cutting, the two industries currently under the microscope are healthcare and education. The gains in productivity that have transformed other parts of our economy—agriculture, manufacturing, construction—seem to have bypassed these two.…
Read the full article →

What, Then, Are We Fighting For?

November 6, 2014
Owen Sound, ONT While in Italy last month, I learned that my nation was under attack. On waking, I found myself being told by Wolf Blitzer, redfaced and breathlessly (his only apparent means of communication) that my county would never be…
Read the full article →

← Previous Entries

Next Entries →