Articles Archive

While the pickings are generally slim, the NYTimes can sometimes reveal a glimmer of localism, at least in the only section worth reading, the "City" section on Sundays. A few…

Alexandria, VA. In a recent column, E.J. Dionne precedes his praise for a new economic populism - anger of the populace directed at economic elites - with a somewhat gratuitous,…

Devon, PA.  At the root of American and, indeed, western public life rests a fundamental assumption: the specific is dangerous, the particular a menace, the exclusive "unfair."  Local government is…

Claremont, CA. The news is dreadful: According to the Census, since 2006 we have been living in a republic where, for the first time in the history of the republic,…

Let this day begin again the change of hogs into people, not the other way around, for today we celebrate again our lives' wedding with the world -- Wendell Berry,…

For anyone interested in practical advice about farming, check out the small farmer's journal The journal comes highly recommended by two of our own: Allan Carlson and Katherine Dalton. Below…

Wichita, KS President Obama's speech last week on the various hopes and goals his administration has in mind as they address the issue of public education in America gave rise…

LEXINGTON, KENTUCKY. One of the structural evils of our two-party system and our editorial pages is the inherent bias of both towards two.  If not A, then B.  If not…

Mt. Airy, Philadelphia. Imagine human beings brought up from childhood in a cave, bound fast with their heads all facing one direction. On the wall before them they see only…

Rod Dreher posts a letter from a young 'un asking about law school and farming.  Similarly, a commenter here last week asked: I have only ever been acquainted, through my extended…

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090319/ap_on_go_pr_wh/white_house_garden The White House is getting a garden.  Will this inspire millions to do the same? Will Obama pull his own weeds? Can a First Chicken Coop be far behind?

ROCK ISLAND Now that all public space is the exclusive property of cell-phone users and the deaf people they talk to, a jeremiad is in order, though I'm going to try…

Alexandria, VA It has become a commonplace to observe that the thought of John Maynard Keynes is back in fashion. Keynes argued strenuously on behalf of government spending - including…

Milford, Indiana. We'll take what we can get. In this mysterious, sky-drenched land of contradiction--where letter jackets are still common and a tapas bar, of all things, has recently been opened…

Devon, PA.  Most people, agrarian or otherwise, do not read poetry anymore.  Ours is not merely a forgetful culture, but one that has long since ceased to approve of memory…

Two news items of note that have recently caught my attention.  The first, that China has been taking advantage of the global firesale of stuff, along with its massive cash…

And good for Pa. State Rep. Samuel Rohrer, about whom I know nothing. Nor do I know why such a rally for states' rights came into being. Paul doesn't provide…

http://www.amconmag.com/article/2009/mar/23/00014/

BURNED-OVER DISTRICT, NY--Edward Abbey died twenty years ago today. A product of the perfectly named Home, Pennsylvania, son of the conjugation of a Woman’s Christian Temperance Unionist and a Wobbly…

JEFFERSON COUNTY, KANSAS.  Everyone here seems to pretty much agree that we are in a pickle.  The symptoms are there for anyone to see.  The root causes are perhaps more…

Mt. Airy, Philadelphia. This is not an argument for intelligent design. It is, however, an argument that creation is the only scientifically acceptable explanation for the existence of the universe.…

  Devon, PA.  Some years ago, early in my graduate student days in South Bend, I was invited to begin an opinion column in the campus newspaper, The Observer.  The…

Phoenix, Arizona. Catapulted by his inclusion on the exclusive FPR blogroll, Ross Douthat has been tabbed as a new opinion columnist for the New York Times. This is good news.…