Articles Archive
Dwindling Towns
Over at Urbanplains Magazine is this interesting piece on the disappearance of small, urban towns. It's one of the catastrophes of our age.
Gettysburg at 150: Some Essays
Holland, MI My wife will be the first to point out that I’m not much of one for marking anniversaries, but it seems - to use Lincoln’s language - fitting…
Localist Roundup: Buy Your Own Town!
Earlier this week the first federal challenge of NSA surveillance opened. At this point in the proceedings, the main question seems to be whether any of the various challengers have…
First Lecture
On Monday, November 11, I delivered the first "First Lecture" to students at the University of Notre Dame. This series - modeled on the idea of the "Last Lecture" -…
Localist Roundup: Schoolyard Farms and the Death of Writing
This Monday was Veterans Day, prompting this intriguing piece, which examines flaws in the public's perception of veterans and in veteran's perception of themselves. Meanwhile, this article addresses the continuing…
What You Need to Know About Niccolò Machiavelli
Niccolò Machiavelli wrote The Prince while unemployed and in exile following the restoration of the Medici to Florentine rule in 1512. He dedicated it to Lorenzo de Medici, Duke of…
Secret of the Marriage Bed
Penelope (to Telemachus): “If really he is Odysseus, truly home, beyond all doubt we two shall know each other better than you or anyone. There are secret signs we know,…
The Anti-multitasker, RIP
The Stanford professor who debunked the myth of effective multitasking, Clifford Nass, died unexpectedly of a heart attack on November 2. But he leaves behind his interesting work on the…
The Triumph of the Liberal State
First published in Dutch as De triomf van de liberale staat in the anthology Essays Over Het Midden (Groningen, The Netherlands: Uitgeverij de Blauwe Tijger, 2013) It was sometime back in the Dark Ages—by which I…
The Monster and the City
“I was, besides, endued with a figure hideously deformed and loathsome; I was not even of the same nature as man.” So says Frankenstein's creature. After being animated, the beast…
Gravity’s Rainbow
If a rainbow is a symbol of hope, there's a bright 'bow in the sky' to be found in Alfonso Cuarón's Gravity. And, just maybe, the movie might be an…
Return of the Master, Readiness to Fight
‘You, herdsman, and you, too, swineherd… Would you be men enough to stand by Odysseus if he came back?
Politics on a Human Scale: Book Review
Politics on a Human Scale: The American Tradition of Decentralism. Jeff Taylor. Sept. 2013. 582 pages. Lexington Books. On occasion a political book emerges with such a wealth of information…
Poems about God
I'm in the middle of writing a short essay on John Crowe Ransom's first book, Poems about God (1919). In his early poems even more obviously than in the later…
Uncle John is Dead, But I Look Fabulous!
When I think we can't hit new lows, I run across something like this: http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/10/selfies-at-funerals/280972/ I am hardly familiar with this "selfie" phenomenon, but I can't see it as a…
A spook speaks–just in time for Halloween
For those readers at all interested in Angela Merkel's dismay, or the reach of our homeland spy agencies, here are a few pertinent quotes from Paul Pillar, speaking on NPR's…
To Quantify the Complexity of a Book
There's a computer program called Lexile that purports to measure the complexity of books and thereby determine the grade level for which they are best suited. Here's the description: Lexiles…
The Uselessness of Liberal Education: An Apology
It is necessary for the perfection of human society that there should be men who devote their lives to contemplation. --St. Thomas Aquinas The trouble with mere pragmatism is that…
Gardnering at Night, Again
Anyone blessed enough to be within shouting distance of Batavia, New York, this Saturday, October 26, at 8 pm is invited to drop by the Pok-a-Dot, venerable and funky diner,…
The Joy of Being Edwin Arlington Robinson
Every semester, on the first day of the poetry courses I teach, I hold up Lilla Cabot Perry’s portrait of Edwin Arlington Robinson and tell the students an only slightly…
Politics on a Human Scale: Historiography
The language of “human scale” politics originated, at least in modern America, among the New Left and the Counterculture. More recently it has been adopted by traditional conservatives (appropriately enough).
Pursuing Happiness
Arthur Brooks dropped out of college when he was nineteen. He played French Horn in orchestras and ensembles around the country. He joined the City Orchestra of Barcelona. He had…
It’s the Scale, Stupid
Hidden Springs Lane. The great shutdown charade (less than 50% of workers furloughed) is over for now. However, though our leaders are patting themselves on the back for ending the…
Too Big To Fix
Hillsdale, Mich. Misery loves company, they say, but maybe not if the company is Comcast. Yes, I have returned to a subject of previous kvetching, though this time I am…
