Culture, High & Low

Tocqueville’s Diagnosis

RINGOES, NJ As brilliant minds, armed with apparently endless supplies of money, thrash about Washington desperately attempting to fix what they have broken, it...

I Did Taste!

Under consideration: Michael Pollan, The Omnivor's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals, Penguin (2006), 464 pages; and In Defense of Food: An Eater's...

The Greatest Forgotten Player

PHOENIX, ARIZONA. Today is opening day, and how sweet it is. But nine days from now comes the most annoying day on the Major...

Life Amid the Suicide Machines

JEFFERSON COUNTY, KANSAS.  In small town America, business owners get to sponsor everything from the high school wrestling team to the "pride committee" chili...

Against Mother’s Day?

BURNED-OVER DISTRICT, NY--Hey, it’s time once again to send Mom that special e-card. From the vaults, the story of the men who voted against...

Blog Flu

JEFFERSON COUNTY, KANSAS.* Recently on this virtual stoop, questions have arisen about the "tone" of discussion generally, and particularly in the comment section (I refuse...

Against (Gay) Marriage

Alexandria, VA Andrew Cherlin - the Benjamin H. Griswold III Professor of Sociology and Public Policy at Johns Hopkins University - has written an...

The New “Freedom”

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...

Cultivating Gratitude

Blairsville, GA. Recently I was with a friend whose oldest son, having just completed his junior year, is home from college. The young man...

Southern Adulteration

Devon, PA.  I have had only a few hours to appreciate the spectacle of talking-heads devouring the carrion of South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford's...