Articles Archive
Localist Roundup: American Exceptionalism
According to this piece, online grocery shopping is on the up and up. Meanwhile, this article describes something similar happening with book subscriptions. This article tries to delineate boundaries between…
The Real Social Network
The other night I saw the end of a life well-lived. I didn’t know him; I just saw his funeral. My bus rolled through the dark night I was riding…
A Man’s Home Is His Castle
Hidden Springs Lane. After too long, I finally got around to watching The Castle (1997), a film recommended by FPR’s Jeff Polet. It’s a film you probably haven’t heard of…
Localist Roundup: Congress and Snow
A version of the long-expected farm bill has passed the House of Representatives. This piece sees the bill as an indicator of a good trend for Congress. Meanwhile, snow has…
For the Sake of His Children
“But would the father have the heart to work if he didn’t have his children? If it weren’t for the sake of his children. And in winter when he works…
Localist Roundup: Anticipatory Shipping
The news has been abuzz recently with Pope Francis's comments that the internet could be utilized to encourage community. Meanwhile, this piece looks for a silver lining in a study…
Liberty and Circuits of the Sacred
A few days ago was the first time I heard Chinese being spoken with a heavy Indian accent. Given the tenor of our times, one might expect this to have…
Nature, Labor, and a Goat Named Alcibiades
As I cranked the lever I could watch the forest become pasture. I was using a come-along, a simple winch for tightening wire, to run a new fence. As the…
Sometimes a Garden is Just a Garden
To the left of our Southern California driveway is a little plot of land, 400-500 square feet. Some homeowners just pave over a space like this, to add another parking…
Localist Roundup: Corn as Sugar
According to this piece, American presidents may be becoming more polarizing. Also on the political front, the legally powerless Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board considers NSA phone record collection illegal.…
The Piety of a Pagan
“I am Aeneas, duty-bound, and known Above high air of heaven by my fame, Carrying with me in my ships our gods Of hearth and home, saved from the enemy.”…
Localist Roundup: Local Food and Mathematical Happiness
This piece indicates that President Obama has recently scheduled a meeting with Pope Francis. Meanwhile, this article describes how food hubs help novice farmers turn a profit, thus encouraging local…
Slow Growth and Living Form
Everything seeks its own perfection or completion, and, moreover, seeks this perfection in a way proper to itself. Since both the end sought and the way of seeking are attuned…
In Praise of Mediocrity
Berwyn, PA. Everyone knows G.K. Chesterton's aphorism that, if a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing badly. Dappled Things writer Karen Ullo has deepened our understanding of that…
Good Beer
If you've not yet read Jeremy Beer's piece over at Anamnesis on "Communio, Economics, and the Anthropology of Liberalism" - well, what are you waiting for? Get thee and read posthaste.
Elite vs. Popular
This week, in Strasbourg, there was a fine and frank denunciation of the European Union by Nigel Farage, British member of the European Parliament. Developments across the Atlantic mirror the…
Localist Roundup: Small Parks and Big Data
If the assessment in this piece is correct, President Obama won't shy away from using executive orders to implement his agenda for the year. Meanwhile, legislators in Washington state have they're…
A Husband in Winter
“At the very moment when the vine has shed Its latest leaves and the cold north wind has shaken The glory from the woods, at that same moment The lively…
Citizens, Traitors, Misanthropes, and Cosmopolitans
What is it about the modern world that causes us to forget that every choice comes with a cost? The answer cannot be that modern men obsess on wish-fulfillment; ancient…
Localist Roundup: Overconnected
According to this piece, Congress has recently devised a compromise government funding bill. At the same time, the institution seems to be entertaining the notion of moving on the long-discussed…
Can We (not) Talk?
Hillsdale, Michigan. Patrick Deneen posted a vigorous rejoinder to pro-free market critics of Pope Francis’ apostolic exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium. Deneen’s takedown of Rush Limbaugh got me thinking less about the…
Localist Roundup: Local Bouquets
According to this interesting piece, school closings in response to the dreaded polar vortex demonstrate that "today we're all wimps." Meanwhile, British cabinet member Owen Patterson recently urged the U.K.…
Having the Heart to Hope
“Here for the first time he took heart to hope For safety, and to trust his destiny more Even in affliction.” The Aeneid, I, Virgil The great city of Troy…
Localist Roundup: Polar Vortex
As I write this, it's cold. On the political front, this piece tells that the Senate recently propelled a unemployment benefit extension past a key procedural vote. Meanwhile, The Weekly…