Culture, High & Low

Ruthie Leming’s (and Rod Dreher’s) Little Way

51zyOb2vuoL._SS500_ April 8, 2013

[Cross-posted to In Medias Res]
Rod Dreher’s 2006 manifesto, Crunchy Cons…, was an inspiration (and provocation) to many, on both the left and the right. It wasn’t that the book was a tremendous intellectual break-through or an entirely new

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The Season’s Over, And I’m For Sale

for sale April 3, 2013

Why doesn’t this annual game of musical chairs occur among faculty members?

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Second-Hand Sex

1354114_cherub April 2, 2013

Hillsdale, Michigan…. Perhaps it is a function of having been reared by two alums of Bob Jones University — where, let’s be clear, I did NOT go — but I continue to be amazed by the modern West’s nonchalance

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Whither the Public Library?

library April 1, 2013

Despite constant speculation about public libraries’ “relevan[ce] in the digital age,” and serious budget cuts caused by the recent recession, the American public library is not in crisis. Local governments have made no effort to drop libraries as a basic…

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Piers Sits Ryan in the Corner

March 28, 2013

Ryan Anderson may be the most courageous person in America. Who would willingly place himself in the company of Piers Morgan and Suze Orman for the sole purpose of being their punching bag – something he had to know was…

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March Madness and the Chief of Hypocrites

magicjohnson_display_image March 26, 2013

Never was a truer word spoken–not since “hell is other people.”

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The Case for Getting Married Young

rings March 25, 2013

Hidden Springs Lane…. A couple months before my wife and I were married, a friend ask me “why do you want to get married so young?” My fiance and I were recent college graduates, holding less that lucrative jobs

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History is Bunk

Fur_traders_in_canada_1777 March 19, 2013

Serious bunkitude, dude.

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Deleting the Individual: Big Data and Presidential Campaigns

digit city March 19, 2013

The following is an excerpt from David Masciotra’s new book, Against Traffic: Essays on Politics and Identity. For sale exclusively at Amazon.
Looking back over the 2012 Presidential Election, it is easy to see how team membership, echo chamber media,…

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Going Home Again? Not Likely.

Aeneas' Flight from Troy by Federico Barocci March 18, 2013

If I am correct, it seems there is a certain kind of arch-typical narrative that has become quite popular here at FPR, and in some sense, emblematic of its defense of place and home.  It is the “Going Home” story,…

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The Mouse with Tusks: Speech, Power, Perversity

Lab Mouse March 15, 2013

Earlier this week, Terry Gross interviewed Emily Anthes, author of Frankenstein’s Cat: Cuddling up to Biotech’s Brave New Beasts, on recent development in bioengineering, including radio controlled insects, pigs which grow human organs, goats with medicated milk, and mice doing…

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On the Localism of the Spheres

angel March 13, 2013

I have a friend who is a cloistered Trappist monk and his current obsession is the ‘outer’ and decidedly non-sedentary goal of running a marathon (on the back forty of the monastic enclosure).   The sense of accomplishment inspires him.   In…

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Well, it’s not like after the Risotto

Seinfeld-Risotto March 12, 2013

First rule: triple the garlic. It’s like irony. There’s no such thing as too much.

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Life Under Compulsion: Music and the Itch

bagpiper March 11, 2013

Like dew on the gowan lying
Is the fa’ o’ her fairy feet;
Like winds in summer sighing,
Her voice is low and sweet.
Her voice is low and sweet,
And she’s a’ the world to me,
And for bonnie …

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Catholic Education Today: Scientiam Viarum Tuarum Nolumus

Hell & Its Torments March 8, 2013

About a month ago I happened upon a copy of The Concord…, student newspaper of Bellarmine University. In particular my eye was caught by a letter to the editor whereby undergraduate Wesley Scott addressed a contraversial 4.9% tuition raise.

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Caught in a Viscous Cycle

most-common-blooper-in-year-1-ad March 5, 2013

My husband got his project cut off.

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