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Articles Archive

A Disposable Society

Princeton, NJ At most cafes today there is a station where packets of sugar, canisters of milk and cream, and coffee stirrers are conveniently available for the personalization of each…
Patrick Deneen
May 4, 2009

Nation at the Crossroads

RINGOES, NJ. The world is hunkered down. For some months now we have been holding our collective breath, waiting to see if the financial meltdown is going to stabilize or…
Mark T. Mitchell
May 4, 2009

Life in Circle Six

Irving, Texas. G. K. Chesterton begins his Utopia of Usurers with a description of a world in which all art has become commercial art. He does not find it out…

Ohio’s Backyard Scientist

"Would that thou couldst last for aye, Merry, ever-merry May!" William D. Gallagher (the forgotten Ohio poet) BURNED-OVER DISTRICT, NY--The clouds of April have scattered, so look skyward (while keeping…
May 1, 2009

Farm Stories: The Flag of Rough Branch

Drilling with the Pitchfork (photo by AMS) JEFFERSON COUNTY, KANSAS.  The call came from the neighbor yesterday at about four in the afternoon.  Your cows are out.  Damn!  I was…
May 1, 2009

Why we do not own a Television

April was "Media Awareness Month" at our sons' school. I took a couple weeks off from the Porch, and I also published a first draft of this piece in the…

Canon Fodder I: Uncle Remus

New Castle, Kentucky. We can't talk about the economy all the time, or anyway I can't.  Today instead I want to sing a song of the literature of place--and my refrain is,…
Katherine Dalton
April 30, 2009

Never Let a Crisis Go to Waste

I've been reviewing a number of the online offerings of Chris Martenson, whose "crash course" on contemporary economics was made known to me on a recent "Kunstlercast." I was particularly…
Patrick Deneen
April 29, 2009

Souter and His Front Porch

I'm willing to bet that in all likelihood, a large majority of those reading this site do not have kind feelings for retiring Supreme Court Justice David Souter, assuming they…
April 29, 2009

Taking Secession Seriously–At Last

Mt. Pleasant, SC--As little as I wished to make my first post for FPR an overtly political essay on contemporary affairs--I had meant to rumination growing up in a small…

By the Book

My piece, titled as above, on the future of publishing, and particularly "conservative" publishing, is up now for subscribers at the American Conservative. You should subscribe. It's worth it --…
Jeremy Beer
April 29, 2009

I Love Rock and Roll

Claremont, CA - The first thing you see, when you enter the Memphis Rock N Soul Museum, is a front porch. This front porch is a dilapidated thing, decorated with…

Causes and Lessons of the Current Economic Crisis

ERIE, PA. As a new contributor to the Front Porch Republic, I would like to thank Mark Mitchell for his invitation to participate in what is shaping up to be…

Walking to School, Slackerdom, and Other Revolutionary Acts

Wichita, KS I was born in 1968, and my childhood was the 1970s. My family lived, during those years, in five different homes (all in the same county, though, so…
April 28, 2009

A Call to Arms

JEFFERSON COUNTY, KANSAS.  The review below was first published in the Intercollegiate Review in the fall of 2006.  Look Homeward, America was my first introduction to the work of the…

On Passing Water and other Spiritual Considerations

The Bar Jester is nearly as funny as Jeremy's limp cigar and Carrie Nation look of shocked indignation at the beverage he has just been served.  And this bit By my…
April 27, 2009

Obama’s Small Town Values – Not

I posted this piece at What I Saw In America on Friday last; for any readers of both these sites, I apologize for the redundancy.  However, I think this posting…
Patrick Deneen
April 27, 2009

I Want to Be a Consumer

A bit of doggerel from Punch Magazine (25 April 1934). I Want to Be a Consumer “And what do you mean to be?” The kind old Bishop said As he…
Mark T. Mitchell
April 26, 2009

Why Conservatives Should Care About Transit

Via a friendly reader, comes a link to this fine and wise comment about the important role which public transportation ought to play in the minds of anyone who is…
April 26, 2009

Abraham Lincoln and the Destruction of Place

In case you missed it, 2009 is the bicentennial of Abraham Lincoln’s birth. Earlier this week I participated in a roundtable discussion on Lincoln’s legacy sponsored by Messiah College and…

Walkaway

In addition to frequent searches that lead people to an earlier posting on "monoculture" on my site "What I Saw in America," among the most frequently searched words that bring…
Patrick Deneen
April 24, 2009

Letter from a Traditional Conservative

Devon, PA.  Upon reading an essay of Patrick Deneen's, a close and dear relative recently wrote me, protesting the uselessness of the terms "liberal" and "conservative."  They are simplifying terms, and inadequate…

Home-Making for Home-Coming

RINGOES, NJ. You’ve seen the commercials.A middle-aged couple drops their son off at college. As they drive away, nest now empty, they feign sorrow. Quickly, though, their mournful countenances are…
Mark T. Mitchell
April 21, 2009

Modernity, Fecundity, and Being a Competent Geek

Wichita, KS. Not too long ago, I asked my readers at my main blog just what sort of geek I should be. (The answer, in case it wasn't apparent at…
April 21, 2009