Short 494
Work, Time, and Seeds
“Christopher Beha Left the Catholic Church and then Came Back. Now He’s Writing a Book about Why..” Mary Grace Mangano talks with Chris Beha about his sickness, his return to…
Local Food, Hope, and Death
“Spring 2022.” The Berry Center’s spring newsletter has several good pieces, including Wendell Berry’s note of gratitude for the continued practice of local subsistence, in this case manifest during a…
Literary Saints With Jessica Hooten Wilson
Jessica Hooten Wilson is author of the new book The Scandal of Holiness: Renewing Your Imagination in the Company of Literary Saints from Brazos Press. Jessica is a professor at…
Repair, Homeschooling, and Ownership
“Repair and Remain.” Kurt Armstrong shares some wisdom about fidelity that he’s picked up along a winding life: “for twelve years now I’ve had a hybrid operation, juggling a one-man…
Predictions, Literature, and Baseball
“Will Technology Enhance or Deplete Relationships?” Matthew Loftus draws lessons on electronic medical records and our broader use of technology from What is Not Sacred?, a book by the Tanzanian…
Announcing the 2022 FPR Conference
We have a date, location, and keynote for our fall conference. Stay tuned for a full schedule and registration information, and make plans to join us!
Unicorns & Tapestries with Danielle Oteri
My guest is art historian Danielle Oteri who wrote a wonderful article published in The Paris Review about the Unicorn Tapestries in the Met Cloisters. Danielle and I discuss mystery…
Disinformation, Friendship, and Beauty
“The Death Spiral of an American Family.” Eli Saslow profiles a family in Detroit who are at loose ends after the death of their patriarch, a man who had done…
Public Writing, Fences, and Neighbors
“Democrats are Kicking Rural America to the Curb. Again.” Art Cullen gives Democrats a tongue-lashing for their plans to change the primary schedule and give less influence to rural voters…
Shouting Softly With Allen Mendenhall
My guest this episode is Allen Mendenhall, Associate Dean and Grady Rosier Professor in the Sorrell College of Business at Troy University, and author of the book Shouting Softly: Lines…
Scruton, Globalization, and Concentric Roots
“Scruton Makes His Case.” John G. Grove reviews a new collection of Scruton’s essays and finds that they display his optimistic “pessimism[, which] paradoxically leads us to fields of hopeful…
Local Culture and Global Paper–Update
The paper supply chain turmoil has come for Local Culture. Once the order of paper arrives, the magazines will be printed and mailed to subscribers. They are hoping a new…
Suffering, Happiness, and Baseball
“How Tech Despair Can Set You Free.” In a rich essay on Jacques Ellul, Samuel Matlack faces the dangers of our technological society squarely and considers the possibilities for hope:…
Soil, Friendship, and Laughter
“Why Putin is no Hitler.” Daniel McCarthy warns against falling into wrongheaded patterns of thinking as war takes place in Europe: “Certain reflexes remain irresistible in Washington, not only among…
Wendell Berry, Urban Planning, and Gleaning
“Wendell Berry’s Advice for a Cataclysmic Age.” In a surprisingly sympathetic essay—surprising given its appearance in the New Yorker, a publication not known for its sympathy with agrarians from rural…
Boys, Protests, and the Metaverse
“Big Business Games the Supply Chain” Rose Adams describes how companies like Amazon and Walmart are better positioned to profit from supply chain snarls while small businesses struggle acutely. Yet…
Shakespeare, Maus, and Mushrooms
“‘Aw, Partners, It’s Been a Bitch.’ A Letter from Ken Kesey After His Son’s Death.” Ken Kesey’s letter to Wendell Berry and other mutual friends describing the death and burial…
Fr Harrison Ayre & The Sacramental Worldview
Father Harrison Ayre is one of the co-hosts of the podcast Clerically Speaking. I definitely recommend it as it is a favorite of mine. Father Harrion’s new book is Mysterion:…
Idols, Democracy, and Communion
“The Migration of the Holy.” Paul Kingsnorth weighs England’s purported secular culture and finds it wanting. As he argues, “everything is religious,” and when we turn from a transcendent God,…
Social Media, Hyperbole, and Walking
“Can Our Campuses Be Reasonable?” Zena Hitz praises Jonathan Marks’s Let’s Be Reasonable: A Conservative Case for Liberal Education, but she calls for a higher ideal than mere reasonableness: “The…
Trees, Old Books, and Local Politics
“The Trees at the Heart of Creation.” Andrew Peterson and Tim Mackie (from the Bible Project) talk about the role of trees in the biblical narrative and the implications we…
Swan Songs With Réginald-Jérôme de Mans
This episode’s guest is the author of the new book Swan Songs: Souvenirs of Paris Elegance. He writes under the pseudonym of Reginald-Jerome de Mans. In the book, he chronicles…
Spring 2022 Issue of Local Culture…
The spring issue of Local Culture is shaping up to be a good one. When we launched this print journal in 2019, we weren't sure how many people would want…
Great Books, Pecans, and Local Bars
“My Pandemic Book Club Changed the Way I Think about Literature — and Community.” Christopher Frizzelle writes about the goods that came from a Zoom-based book group he’s been leading.…