Culture, High & Low

The Limits of Place

Hidden Springs, VA. Recently Ross Douthat commented on Rod Dreher’s new book in a column devoted to the rising incidence of suicide and the...

The Coiled Hose

I spent the last eight months working on a dairy farm, and every morning after finishing milking and cleaning the stanchions, I would coil...

Life Under Compulsion: Noise

The child’s language is melodious.  The words hide and protect themselves in the melody – the words that have come shyly out of the...

On Not Knowing Nothing: Mastery and Expertise

I belong to a guild. As such, I'm recognized by its practitioners as a peer, a fellow, even, like them, a master. By this...

Food Stamps and Krazy Glue

On a recent Monday morning, an officemate and I were discussing the current financial state—always a cheery subject on a Monday.  Mark, a financial...

Biopolitical Tyranny?

John Milbank has written a remarkable critique of gay marriage that points to the ways it will ultimately and immeasurably strengthen the modern liberal...

On Buying Local Food, And Why

I decided some time ago that I wish to eat as little as possible from the “industrial” food chain; that is to say, I...

Dinner, Anyone?

In Dr. Mark Mitchell’s recent post on Front Porch Republic, “Wither the Family Dinner?”, he asks the question, “Are family meals important?”  My short answer is: yes. ...

What Then Must We Do?: Worker Ownership Redux

The following is an excerpt from from Gar Alperovitz's What Then Must We Do? (Chelsea Green, 2013) and is reprinted with permission of the publisher. Learn more about...

Horse Burgers and the Lives of Others

If you could boil our global problems down to seven words, they might be these: we don’t see where stuff comes from. Most of...