A Case for Shame
In Canto XXX of the Inferno, Dante becomes fascinated with an argument between Sinon the Greek and Master Adamo, both of them condemned for...
The Wonderfully (if Perhaps Insufficiently) Radical Bill McKibben
I've been a fan of Bill McKibben's writings for close to 30 years. That doesn't mean I've agreed with, or even enjoyed,...
Taxes from the Porch
Local communities, not the federal government, should hold the true authority over one’s life, especially in matters of taxation.
Bringing Wendell Berry (and Business) to Sterling
A week ago I was able to organize a small group of friends to attend a fine, relatively intimate event at Sterling College, a...
A Politics of Presence
When we stop trying to be everywhere at once, we have enough time for the meaningful things.
Regional Universities Educate for Merit—It’s too Bad Our Elites Just Want...
The Varsity Blues parents didn’t really care if their children learned anything; they were concerned that they got their ticket to success stamped by the right institution.
The Case for Confucianism in America: How an Ancient Chinese Philosophical Tradition...
In such times, a centripetal lurch is what we desperately need.
Blessed Are the Working Poor
I am in love with my neighborhood because I am in love with the people, how resilient and complicated they are, and how they teach me how wrong I have been about the world. They have proven to me what Jesus said in his most famous sermon, the one on the mount: “blessed are the poor in spirit, for they shall see God.”
The Right Stuff
Precisely because it is limitless, space is the best place to test the limits of our courage and abilities.
Moon Missions and the Southern Tradition
"…this city of Houston, this State of Texas, this country of the United States was not built by those who waited and rested and...