Articles 355
Vulgar Adolescent Bigness Fetishizers
I reflected what a Mortification it must prove to me to appear as inconsiderable in this Nation as one single Lilliputian would be among us." --Gulliver's Travels, Jonathan Swift Boy…
Love: Needs, Risks, Opportunities
Love – it draws out the timeworn clichés and greeting card verse in us, yet it is serious and necessary and hard. Without it, there would be no popular culture;…
Roots Along the River
Historically, the locals have called Pompaples, Switzerland the “milieu du monde.” Not to be confused as a claim about its importance as a cultural or political influence, the title refers…
How Marx Explains the Pomo-Con/Front-Porch Divide, In Four Easy Steps
[Cross-posted to In Medias Res] Via Rod Dreher, I see that the occasionally interesting blog Postmodern Conservative has departed its longtime home at the (often, if not always) theoconservative journal…
Whisky Tales
In a full bottle of whisky are all the aspirations of mankind, and in an empty one are all the failures of man. Mike Drury As we emerge into adulthood,…
Public Schools, Local Schools, Family Schools
[Cross-posted to In Medias Res] Yesterday was the final day of the school year at Peterson Elementary School, the public school which three of our four daughters have attended. It…
Soylent: It’s What’s for Dinner (and Lunch and Breakfast)
Hidden Springs Lane. What if you never had to worry about food again? Possible answers: 1) Wow! Think of all the time I can save, all the hassle of shopping,…
Thoughts on a Graduation Weekend
“We have a world bursting with new ideas, new plans, and new hopes. The world was never so young as it is today, so impatient of old and crusty things.” …
Mapping A Melancholy Soul: A Review of Leil Leibovitz’s A Broken Hallelujah: Rock ‘n’ Roll, Redemption, and the Life of Leonard Cohen
Leonard Cohen occupies an unusual position in popular music history. He is routinely neglected by those “Best of the 60's” nostalgia-fests you see on VH1, CNN, or PBS, yet when…
Happy St. Isidore’s Day
In “The Gift of Good Land,” Wendell Berry notes, with a tinge of regret, the largely heroic nature of the stories recorded in the Bible. “It may, in some ways,…
Natural Law and Love
The following is an excerpt from R.J. Snell's new book The Perspective of Love: Natural Law in a New Mode. Preface: According to the rightly celebrated theorist J. Budziszewski, natural…
Piketty’s Challenge: A Past That Consumes the Future
But the rate of profit does not, like rent and wages, rise with the prosperity, and fall with the declension of the society. On the contrary, it is naturally low…
A Tale of Two Bodies
With pollen blanketing my car, I stopped by a “local” pharmacy on the way to work this morning. It’s an impressive new building, with a substantial parking lot, gleaming façade,…
(Civic) Myths over (Religious) Markets: Defending the National Day of Prayer
[Cross-posted to In Medias Res] I don't often disagree with my old friend Michael Austin, partly because he's much smarter and much better read than I, and partly because he's…
Death and Life in the Country
Hidden Springs Lane. There is something especially sad about opening up a hive full of dead bees. Several weeks ago I wrote about my hives and my hope that they…
Derby Time
Louisville, Kentucky. It's Derby time here. If you have business to do with someone in Louisville this week, don't expect a quick reply. I have always run hot and cold…
Something Better than a Giant
This Christmas my daughter bought for me a CD of Welsh hymns, folk songs, and patriotic anthems, sung by the burly baritone Bryn Terfel. He's a tremendous performer, apparently renowned…
How Equality Makes Us Better (and Stupid)
Hidden Springs Lane. The concept of equality lies at the heart of the American system. School children learn by heart (or used to) those memorable lines from the Declaration of…
Dollarocracy: Money-Power, Media-Framed Elections and Inequality
When searching for semi-precious stones, one must at times loosen jewels from the mineral deposits in which they’re locked. This consideration applies to books as well as nature’s treasures. One…
Hemp, Hemp, Hooray!
From the perspective of a patriotic American who’s just researched hemp’s potential from Canada to Hawaii, Germany to Colorado, things are moving from fantasy to reality so quickly that it’s…
Equality and the Culture of Perpetual Offense
Hidden Springs Lane. Rod Dreher has recently been pointing out (for example here) the various ways that those who voice public opposition to certain positions (especially gay marriage) are routinely…
Regarding Porn
As Mary Eberstadt has recently pointed out over at First Things, evidence is accumulating that the current day usage of pornography is taking a toll on marriages and families. And,…
What’s a Localist to Do?
Hidden Springs Lane. It’s not easy being a localist. Vladimir Putin has taken Crimea and many in the West are afraid that he has designs on the rest of Ukraine…
G.K. Chesterton in 1000 Words
I once knew a woman who met Chesterton. It was a brief meeting in the 1920s when she was a girl of about ten or so. Her older sister invited…
