Culture, High & Low 728

Tucson, AZ. One of the pleasing genres of contemporary journalism is the coverage of bizarre happenings in academe that shock the sensibility of the middle classes.  You know the types:…

Wendell Berry and Wes Jackson would like you to think of the Farm Bill as an Eating Bill.

Alexandria, VA In the wake of the tragic shooting in Tucson, Arizona, a chorus of voices – mainly, if not exclusively on the political Left – arose in denunciation of…

An actual cowboy's life was a far cry from a John Wayne Western.

Kearneysville, WV. Edmund Burke lamented that the age of chivalry has passed. He was, of course, commenting on the attempted eradication of all social distinctions by the revolutionaries in France.…

For all the unpredictability of her outfits, there is one thing that has been quite predictable about her work: Gaga’s constant equation of love with violence and humiliation.

If we continue reaching for the Twinkie, we shouldn't be surprised to find a government bureaucrat on the other end.

A visit to a CAFO makes it clear that to have sustainable agriculture, you have to make sustainable the lives and livelihoods of the people who do the work.

What is the point of eating local? Are we actually feeding something besides our own ego and gluttony?

– for instance, the supposed proper uses of “further” and “farther.” This pedantic type borders on the obsessive/compulsive and tends toward becoming 8th grade English teachers, librarians, or NFL assistant…

The gloom and doom is contagious. We live in a time when a certain respectability seems to attach to those who predict the demise of America, freedom, prosperity, or even…

Fortunately America still gives birth to her Framers and they come with every generation.

If evangelicals are going to have trouble drawing the line in worship against Christian rock, will they really be reliable when it comes to evaluating the best texts and artistic…

Peace on Earth is still our prayer.

I still do not understand why, in a prison and particularly in a jungle prison, where needs multiply like rats, why the need for lipstick should vault to the top…

The recent controversy over the removal of a video from the Smithsonian offers a good occasion to reflect on the relationship between the artist and the polity.

It was the kind of responsibility that forces a kid to grow up.

You may think every five- to eight-year-old you know wanted an iPod this year. Not these kids.

We have, until this day, indulged in our individualistic reveries, imagining that we are always free to “light out for the Territory” and leave the ills of communal life behind…

In the ancient world, Christianity put an end to cremation, and for a century it was kept in check by Christian tradition.

While Peters is peddling his technophiliac vision below, I commend this ancient Catalonian tradition for your creche (and your garden), "the Caganer."

A splendid gift idea, especially for yourself.

But then Dylan is 69, and old enough to remember when the people of his place looked askance at empire. There were giants in the earth in those days.

One way to celebrate a culture of life is to cultivate our bodies in death.