The Editors

Devon, PA.  Last week, Caleb Stegall's reprinting of his article on Community from the Conservative Encyclopedia excited a small objection that the genealogy of conservatism said article offered was untenable…

Quick quiz ... who said/wrote the above quote this week?  No Googling!

Claremont, CA.   Becka flew into my office, so excited that she was out of breath. "Professor," she asked, "have you heard about freedom?" I couldn't help laughing. "Why yes, Becka,"…

Devon, PA.  Much like Jeremy Beer, I have found that FPR has led me to look at 'Blogs almost for the first time in my life.  I have run across much…

Devon, PA.  Thanks in part to the series of fine essays John Médaille has provided us during the last several weeks, the implicit economic vocabulary on the Front Porch has…

I learned tonight, courtesy of American Media's Marketplace, that there is a letter-writing campaign currently afoot protesting the organic garden that was planted and is tended by Mrs. Obama.  The…

IRS says they want power to decide who prepares your tax returns. H$R Block cheers.

[Cross-posted to In Medias Res] Wichita, Kansas We feared that we'd missed out on fresh strawberries this year, both because there was an early April freeze and snowstorm that killed…

Dallas, TX. In the last installment, we maintained that the only means to economic equilibrium was the just wage: unless each person gets a fair proportion of the wealth he…

Alexandria, VA Andrew Cherlin - the Benjamin H. Griswold III Professor of Sociology and Public Policy at Johns Hopkins University - has written an important new book on marriage in…

This past Friday I attended a USDA-sponsored “listening-session” concerning the National Animal Identification System (NAIS). NAIS is, in the words of USDA, “a modern, streamlined information system that helps producers…

When hipsters like the former lead singer of the band Talking Heads are coming out in favor of the "pedaling revolution", can the masses be far behind? It's a sign…

JEFFERSON COUNTY, KANSAS.  "Community" is a recurring word and theme on this stoop, but it's invocation can come in many undesirable forms: as a talisman against perceived ills; as a marketing device appealing…

Cold Spring, NY. Leopold Kohr, the author of the great classic, The Breakdown of  Nations, once said that his approach to the world--in favor of smaller nations, smaller institutions, smaller…

Matthew Crawford - political philosopher and motorcycle repairman - has published an important new book entitled Shop Class as Soul Craft.  The book has already been exerpted in the New…

Claremont, CA. Outside of Los Angeles County, few people have heard about the latest dangerous idea in public education. Two local public school districts have adopted a "legacy admissions" policy.…

  Henry County, Kentucky.  Every Memorial Day my husband takes our children to visit three cemeteries in our county.  We take grass from the family farm for a great-grandfather, rhubarb for…

Thanks to Brian Frizzell, Brooklyn patriot and Americana music maven, this link  http://www.reverbnation.com/manofsomebodysdreamsatributetochrisgaffney to a new album paying tribute to the late Chris Gaffney, a dolefully beautiful voice of the American…

Irving, TX. A friend of mine sent this to me. It is a modern morality play, if the term “modern morals” is not itself a contradiction in terms. http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=3128543&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1 It…

Authors and readers of FPR should spend some time reading this extraordinary essay by Roger Scruton, from the most recent issue of Intercollegiate Review.  Scruton is that rarest of academic…

Allow me a moment to bask in some regional pride. Kavya is from just down the road, and I love her Kansan's dialect, flat midwestern accent, and plain manner of…

BURNED-OVER DISTRICT, NY--One of the precious and few political campaigns in recent years to embody Front Porch (or, rather, front stoop) principles was Norman Mailer's 1969 candidacy for mayor of…

Someone send Sly to the VA DMV!  

It's not a difficult argument to understand. You have a responsibility to your community because, among other things, you are not your own. So act like it. It ain't hard.…