Articles 355
Iowa is for Peace-Lovers
BURNED-OVER DISTRICT, NY---Our daughter will be spending the snowy months rehearsing her role as Marian the Librarian in her high school’s production of Meredith Willson’s “The Music Man,” that tuneful…
Occupy Food! (And Other Simple Things)
[Cross-posted to In Medias Res] As Christmas and the end of 2011 approaches, I find myself thinking gratefully about what Leroy Hershberger has enabled my students and me to learn…
The Founding Gardeners
I’ve just finished Andrea Wulf’s beguiling book entitled “ Founding Gardeners, The Revolutionary Generation, Nature and the Shaping of the American Nation”. Published this year by Knopf, it delves into…
“Even mainstream Democrats have no time for Mr. Paul . . .”
Devon, PA. We face only two feasible policies in America's engagement with the world. We can seek to be a bomb-throwing hegemon until the money, and the credit, and the bodies, run…
Electing Beaver: The Politics of Place in the Public Square
“The greatest thing a human soul ever does in this world is to see something, and tell what he saw in a plain way …” John Ruskin I do not…
A Tale of Two Symbolic Systems
I am angry with my friend; he has betrayed a secret of mine perhaps, or maybe instead he has formed an intimacy with persons he knows to be my enemies. …
The Euro: Crisis and Opportunity
The Euro is in trouble, and the news just keeps getting worse. There is now open talk of a post-Euro Europe, and such a turn would be a serious strike…
Vonnegut Laid(?) to Rest
Burned-Over District, NY---I’m reading Charles J. Shields’s absorbing new biography of Kurt Vonnegut, And So It Goes, and while its morose subject deservedly never won Father or Husband of the…
The View From Your Front Porch
Queens, NY -- The idea was to design an English village from scratch, within railroad-commuting distance of Manhattan. It was meant to include homes for families of different income levels,…
The Lovely Real and the Long Game
One pernicious aspect of our age is its commitment to techne, the quasi-religious belief that all manner of things shall be made well with the right tool, expertise, specialist, or…
iHero: Steve Jobs, Fred Shuttlesworth, and Modern Heroism
The Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth was a civil rights legend and American hero. Born deep in the Jim Crow south during the 1920s, he grew from the humble, but durable roots…
Occupy Oligarchy!
The “Occupy Wall Street” movement has proved to be significant in its appeal – a majority of Americans support the movement, even though it has been less than articulate in…
The View From Your Front Porch
Nashville, Tennessee -- This is a tale of two neighborhoods, a move from one to the other, and the inherent contradictions of gentrification. Our old neighborhood, close to downtown, was…
Power Made Perfect in Weakness
If we expect others to rely on our fairness and justice we must show that we rely on their fairness and justice. —Calvin Coolidge My wife and I recently vacationed…
Small-souled Masters of the Universe
The Spring 2011 issue of The City includes an insightful piece by Wilfred McClay on “The Illusion of Mastery” in public policy. When the “will of God” no longer suffices…
The View From Your Front Porch
Mayville, North Dakota -- You're looking northwest from our front porch in Mayville, North Dakota. The picture, taken Sunday afternoon, November 13, casts doubt on what everyone knows about the…
Compensation: The Cultural Contradictions of Philanthrocapitalism
Every excess causes a defect; every defect an excess. — Ralph Waldo Emerson It is appropriate that Robin Rogers begins her informative essay on the state of philanthrocapitalism with a…
The View From Your Front Porch
Lincoln, Nebraska -- When I first read about FPR's View from Your Porch series, I immediately decided to submit something. Then I thought about the view from my front porch.…
Debating Conservatism: An Old Mistake in The New Inquiry
Late last week, The New Inquiry published an email exchange between Daniel Larison of The American Conservative and political theorist Corey Robin. Larison had taken issue with Robin's argument that…
The View From Your Front Porch
Phoenix, Arizona -- Looking east from our front porch in Willo, you see the results of one of Phoenix's bigger Big Mistakes: the distant office towers on Central Avenue. Those…
Catholic Universities, Protestant Ministries, and the Purpose of Education
Devon, PA. Last week, Villanova University's Office of Mission and Ministry invited several faculty members to speak about the contributions of their religious faith traditions to the life and mission…
Classic Cinema and Our Future
I want to see films for all ages, devoid of hip countercultural irony. I want to see low-budget teleplays in which today’s equivalent of Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland put…
