Digital Community, Dramatic History, and Suburban Sprawl
“The Community Community.” Nathan Beacom parses the effects that digital technologies have had on the way we imagine and experience community: “something important has...
Friday Night Lights, an AI Boom, and Buggy Lanes
“The Kind of People We Need at the End of the World.” Elizabeth Oldfield shares her family’s journey into communal living and relates how...
Bees, Local Music, and David Jones
“The Death of Conservatism Is Greatly Exaggerated.” In her critical response to Jon Askonas’s essay on how technologies erode traditions, Christine Rosen takes issue...
Time, Secrets, and Water
“What is Time For?” In this excerpt from The Liberating Arts: Why We Need Liberal Arts Education, Zena Hitz queries the way in which...
David James Duncan, Peter Viereck, and Charlotte Mason
“The Liberating Arts Book Launch.” If you’ll be in NYC this September 28th, join us for a panel discussion and book launch event for...
Facts, Bears, and Democracy
“Rage against the Baseball Machine.” Bill Kauffman wasn’t keen on watching a baseball game where balls and strikes were determined by a machine: “We...
Reconciliation, History, and Localism
This will be the last Water Dipper for a few weeks. I’ll be taking some time off from email and the Internet. I plan...
The Rust Belt, Ducks, and Lanternflies
“Barbara Kingsolver: ‘Rural people are so angry they want to blow up the system.’” Lisa Allardice talks with Barbara Kingsolver about her new novel:...
The Commons, Alfalfa, and Oats
“Piety, Technology, and Tradition.” Jon Askonas responds to a critique from Alan Jacobs about the difficulty of conserving traditions in our current technological environment:...
Localism, Liberalism, and Regionalism
“Fidelity to Place.” James Matthew Wilson speaks on behalf of honoring our unchosen bonds: “What is missing from modern life is fidelity—and not just...