Region & Place 427
Can You (or anyone) Put Wendell Berry’s Lightning in the Bottle of U.S. Higher Education?
Below is the text of a review for Orthodox Presbyterians -- of all people -- of Jack Baker and Jeff Bilbro's new book on Wendell Berry (some words have been…
On Being Less than We Are
What you miss out on by not making the climb is too great a loss on such a morning as this.
The Holy Waters, the Bra Tree, and The Unexpected: A Study in Contrasts; Or, Gone Fishin’ (Again)
And then comes the last kayak, plenty buoyant, and in it a beauty contestant in minimal black swimwear.
Once More to the Garden (Then to the Trout Streams): A Dispatch
I wonder if Mr. Big in the sky would be willing to give us a Do-Over.
Prairie Fires and Prairie Romances
[Cross-posted to In Medias Res] Caroline Fraser's wonderful Prairie Fires is many things. Primarily it's a biography of Laura Ingalls Wilder, author of the justly famous Little House books, and…
Urban Questions (and Responses) for Krugman
[Cross-posted to In Medias Res] Over a month ago, Paul Krugman used his space at The New York Times to ask "what, in the modern economy, are small cities even…
Catalonia Could Happen Here
As a scholar of Regional and Place Studies and a historian of secessionist movements I believe Catalonia’s brand of separatism could come to the United States, and sooner than Americans…
And Then Came the Chickens, Part Two: A Dispatch from Dumb-Ass Acres
“Bawk-bawk be-gehk!” she cries, and I know just where she’s coming from.
The Dryers are Coming! The Dryers are Coming!
South Korea lives on the cutting edge of technology -- just ask the young smart-phone zombies that slowly roam the campus where I teach. On second thought, better to send…
On Place, Permanence, and Microbrews
“It is a pleasure to carry out one’s duties of a citizen and to receive in return a receipt or a neat styrene card with one’s name on it certifying,…
And Then Came The Chickens—After the Bobcat: A Dispatch
Heaven favored me with three successive clement weekends.
A Place Called Home – Even When You’re Young
Since posting "A Place Called Home" we have learned of the passing of Otto Warmbier. Just as home is the place where absence is felt most durably, so home is…
Two Last Suppers and Ordinary Greatness: A Double Eulogy
What are the compensations on the downhill side of life?
Don’t Miss This Book
Front Porcher Rob Grano has a lovely little review of John Lewis-Stempel's The Running Hare: The Secret Life of Farmland. It's over at The University Bookman. Here's a taste: "Really:…
Dash, Grandpa’s Three-Legged Dog
I wasn’t there. In fact, I’m not sure who all was. And as I write this sitting in Michigan, I’m far from those who might know. My Grandma was alive…
Our Escape to Sacred Space
Utah Max Weber never visited the American Southwest, but few theories explain the mass tourism of the region better than his iron cage of disenchantment. The German sociologist saw the…
After Trump #2: Getting Populism Right
[Cross-posted to In Medias Res] Coming to grips with what the 2016 election means many things, especially for those of us who are hoping to find in Trump's victory a…
After Trump #1: Getting Urbanists and Localists Together
[Cross-posted to In Medias Res] So at the beginning of the month, when I finally got my election reflections out of my system, I concluded by re-iterating what I said…
Sources of Order: Rooted Cosmopolitanism and the Origins of City Life (Conclusion)
Queens, NY The city goes on. And this phenomenon, of a city continuing even as it is under threat or attacked-- of resiliency in a city-- is surely one of…
Sources of Order: Rooted Cosmopolitanism and the Origins of City Life (Part III)
Queens, NY Under ordinary circumstances, with very few exceptions, it is these crews that do the actual work of the city. And under extraordinary circumstances, it is they that bring…
Charles Taylor’s Front Porch Democracy
In the wake of the election, Taylor (and the New Yorker!) advocate for some of the central ideas of "Porchism." http://www.newyorker.com/culture/persons-of-interest/how-to-restore-your-faith-in-democracy
Sources of Order: Rooted Cosmopolitanism and the Origins of City Life, Part II
What follows is an expanded version of a talk originally given at the 2016 Front Porch Republic Conference at Notre Dame, where Susannah Black spoke on a panel on Promoting…
Sources of Order: Rooted Cosmopolitanism and the Origins of City Life
What follows is an expanded version of a talk originally given at the 2016 Front Porch Republic Conference at Notre Dame, where Susannah Black spoke on a panel on Promoting…