Articles 355
Soil and Sacrament in Certain Kinds of Cities
[Cross-posted to In Medias Res] This past weekend here in Wichita, I participated in the Eighth Day Institute's symposium, Soil and Sacrament: The World as Gift; Rod Dreher has a…
Remembering Florence King
Louisville, Kentucky. “Reading Florence King is like opening a blast furnace,” reporter Liz Trotta said of her years ago. That fire is now out. The writer and satirist died on…
In the Pilsen Snow
My wife and I were married at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church, on the near west side of South Bend, Indiana. I’ve written about her before, that Church, fashioned nearly two…
An Age of Unmaking
Over the years, I have made the case, here and elsewhere, for the recovery of the traditional work of poetry. The habits of mind and body that we cultivate and…
From The Multiversity Cave: General Education
Saginaw, MI This post is part of a series that will explore what prominent thinkers can teach us about today’s public multiversity, the modern university with its many colleges, departments,…
A Meditation on My Porch
I heard someone say recently, “Porches are back. They’re on all the new houses.” And I thought, “No, no they’re not.” Porches on newer houses are hardly more than…
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 facebook profile picture. As my facebook…
FPR Update
Dear Readers, When FPR launched in 2009, we weren't sure what to expect. We knew our culture, economy, and politics were broken, and believed that we would have some repairs in…
Finding ‘Boston Strong’ In Oklahoma
I’d been through this movie before. Streets closed to traffic, a procession of elite athletes before tens of thousands of spectators. And then the cheers turned into screams. Abandoned strollers…
The Philanthropic Revolution
West Chester, PA [Editor's Note: Late last month, American Philanthropic hosted a launch party for Jeremy Beer's new book The Philanthropic Revolution. Jeremy is one of the founders of FPR,…
The Answer, My Friend
From The American Conservative, my thoughts on FPR contributor Jeff Taylor's new book on Bob Dylan.
Saving Trees Across The Ocean
The view from above was one of devastation, even if it was the pregnant devastation of a construction site that is not what it will finally become. The leafy green…
Does North American Cultural History Provide for a ‘Third Option’?
Having read several books on American history recently, including Colin Woodard’s book American Nations, itself based partly on David Hackett Fischer’s four-nation thesis in Albion’s Seed and sociologist William Graham…
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 much time there and didn’t know…
An Ordinary Life and the Pitfalls of Greatness
I will confess that when J. Arthur Bloom announced he was joining Front Porch Republic’s editorial team, I had not heard of it. So I went and took a look,…
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 space” tale with more filmmaking skill…
The Holy Earth and Liberty Hyde Bailey’s Front Porch Cred
He wrote sixty-five books and had a hand in another hundred and thirty-five.
Monastic Stability: In One Place with God and Others
Some time ago I was asked if I would be willing to participate in a forum on localism. I hesitated. I did not even know what localism specifically was about…
Seeing Like A Traffic App
A year ago I started exploring my traffic navigation app, wondering what advice it would give about the various routes I took to work in southern California. I found the…
Christopher Lasch and the Lasting Dilemma of Localism
[Cross-posted to In Media Res] This past weekend, at the annual Front Porch Republic gathering (this year held at SUNY-Geneseo), three scholars reflected upon the writings of the historian and…
Wichita and the Dilemma of Mid-Sized Cities
[Cross-posted to In Medias Res] There's been some depressing news here in Wichita, Kansas, of late. Not the sort of depressing news that one might typically fear to hear when…
Whatever Happened to Communitarianism?
[Cross-posted to In Medias Res] Twenty years ago, the concept and label "communitarianism" was riding high, or at least as high as any broadly applicable yet intellectually coherent ideological movement…
Sanders, Corbyn, and the Radical Politics of Anachronism
Last month, the Washington Examiner upbraided two Democratic contenders for the Presidency, Bernie Sanders and Martin O’Malley, for wanting to "turn back the clock." It seems like a rather strange…
From the Multiversity Cave: The Universal Sciences
Saginaw, MI This post is part of a series that will explore what prominent thinkers can teach us about today’s public multiversity, the modern university with its many colleges, departments,…