The Low Standards of Norman Rockwell’s Critics
All too many people are entirely settled in their opinion that Norman Rockwell’s art presents a “falsification” of reality: in short, he is charged...
How Beauty Fits
The most fashionable and defensible position on aesthetics is to maintain that beauty is entirely subjective. Beauty doesn't exist, we are assured, at least...
Tom Fleming Retires
Rockford, Illinois. After thirty-one years at Chronicles Magazine—thirty of them as editor—classicist, poet and polemicist Tom Fleming has retired.
During his tenure at this small...
What Ronda Rousey Knows About Caitlyn Jenner
Hidden Springs Lane. Two of the biggest sports-related stories of this year include the dominance of UFC fighter Ronda Rousey and the introduction of...
Whatever Happened to Communitarianism?
Twenty years ago, the concept and label "communitarianism" was riding high, or at least as high as any broadly applicable yet intellectually coherent ideological...
Saving Life on Mars, and in Appalachia
Recently, I watched as the people of Earth came together to bring The Martian home. Interstellar, Gravity, and Wall-E all tell the “lost in...
A Better Place to Watch a Game
Only an idiot would really miss the old Durham Athletic Park - or, if not an idiot, then only someone who hadn’t actually spent...
Branding Disaster
Earlier this year, after the Charlie Hebdo shootings, I reflected on the conversations that may or may not ensue from the changing of a...
Palio
On an intercontinental flight these days one has dozens of options. Not only do they have the most recent movies available for your enjoyment,...