Short 494
After Virtual: Health
The penultimate session from the FPR conference After Virtual: The Art of Recovering Lost Goods addresses health. Philosopher Adam Smith from the University of Dubuque and medical doctor Brian Volck,…
Time, Pig Farms, and Peer Review
I’m helping to lead a study abroad trip in Rome for the next couple of weeks, so the Water Dipper will be on hiatus. But I plan to return at…
Os Guinness & The Great Quest
My guest is Os Guinness, long a resident of the Washington, D.C. area, Guinness was born in China and educated at Oxford. He is a prolific author, most recently of…
Surveillance, Hope, and Poetry
“Police Seize on COVID-19 Tech to Expand Global Surveillance.” A team of AP reporters—Garance Burke, Josef Federman, Huizhong Wu, Krutika Pathi and Rod McGuirk—detail how COVID surveillance technologies are being…
Mary Bailey, Francis Bacon, and San Francisco
“Generations.” Plough’s new issue is out, and while I’m waiting to read it until my physical copy shows up, Peter Mommsen’s opening editorial, probing the yearning for roots and the…
After Virtual: Chris Arnade
Chris Arnade, the keynote speaker at the After Virtual conference, has traded global finance for skid row photography. Chris discusses his journey from Wall Street board rooms to a booth…
Luddite Teens, George MacDonald, and The Waste Land
“I’m a Stranger Here Myself.” FPR contributor Brian Kaller has a moving essay on returning to his hometown of Ferguson, Missouri for a few weeks this summer after being away…
Snowflakes, Wallace Stegner, and Brokenism
“No Snowflakes are the Same. These Stunning Close-up Photos are Proof.” Amudalat Ajasa explains how Jason Persoff captures amazing images of snowflakes and showcases some of his photos. If you’re…
Chickens, AI, and the Legal Conversation
“Daughter of Forgottonia.” Liz Schleicher describes a family rooted in a plot of land near where the Illinois River joins the Mississippi. Guided by a matriarch, they have lived well…
After Virtual: Education
The second episode from the FPR conference After Virtual: The Art of Recovering Lost Goods looks at education. Jeff Polet discusses walking away from Hope. Angel Adams Parham talks about…
Payne Hollow, Camels, and Distributism
“Who's Preserving Harlan Hubbard's Beloved Payne Hollow?” Bob Hill writes a lovely account of the Hubbards’ remarkable life and explains the hopes of the recently formed nonprofit organization Payne Hollow…
Dorothy Day, Humility, and Ed McClanahan
“Will the Real Dorothy Day Please Stand Up?” In this review of D.L. Mayfield’s new biography of Dorothy Day, Myles Werntz offers a masterclass in how we ought to befriend…
Alan Jacobs on Ursula Le Guin and Anarchism
Alan Jacobs is not, to my knowledge, a Porcher, though he ought to be; his insightful reflections upon Christianity, literature, society, and the state are hugely relevant to all sorts…
After Virtual: The Church
For the first of our episodes from September’s FPR conference After Virtual: The Art of Recovering Lost Goods, we go to church. Carl Trueman, Gregory Hogg, and Charlie Cotherman share…
Wendell Berry, Ronald Blythe, and Oat Milk
“One of Our Most Beloved Environmental Writers Has Taken a Surprising Turn.” I don’t think Berry’s new book is “seething with resentment,” but Daegan Miller’s thoughtful review of Need to…
Scale, Science, and Polarization
“The Fourth Revolution.” Paul Kingsnorth’s latest essay is, I believe, out from behind a paywall. As always, he’s worth reading—in this case, on the ways that local, human-scale approaches to…
Important Elections, Art Vandals, and Going Home
“This Is Not the Most Important Election of Our Lives.” Here in Pennsylvania, there’s a lot of talk about the upcoming election that will apparently decide “the future of democracy.”…
Mark Mitchell on Plutocratic Socialism
Mark Mitchell, author of Plutocratic Socialism: The Future of Private Property and the Fate of the Middle Class and President of Front Porch Republic, joins the podcast. Mitchell and Murdock…
TikTok, Bees, and Lab-Grown Meat
“Will Lab-Grown Meat Save Us?” Elizabeth Wainwright reads environmentalist George Monbiot’s latest book and considers its arguments in the context of two local communities she knows well, one in Devon…
Annette Kirk: From Long Island to Mecosta
Annette Kirk was kind enough to sit down with me to talk on a recent visit to Piety Hill in Mecosta, Michigan in the brick Italianate home that she and…
Barns, Screens, and Whisky
“American Barn.” In a marvelous essay, Joshua Mabie reflects on the iconic meaning of barns in America: “Attention to barns’ actual history as well as to their cultural value can…
Conference Videos, Jon Stewart, and Frodo
If you weren't able to join us two weeks ago for our conference, you may want to set aside some time to watch the video recordings of the talks. We'll…
Luke Sheahan on The University Bookman and Academic Freedom
Luke Sheahan of Duquesne University and the newly appointed editor of The University Bookman, a book review journal founded by Russell Kirk and edited by him until his death. Dr.…
Conference Recap, Chess, and the Waste Land
The FPR conference this weekend was a great delight. The only problem is that I wanted to have long conversations with everyone who came. I was mollified, however, by seeing…