The Water Dipper

Rural Kansas, Moby-Dick, and Online “Community”

“The Tweeting of the Lambs: A Day in the Life of a Modern Shepherd.” Sam Knight profiles James Rebanks, a shepherd in England’s Lake...

Nick Offerman, Alan Jacobs, and Robert Farrar Capon

“Five Questions with Nick Offerman about Wendell Berry.” Nick Offerman talks about Look & See, which aired on PBS this week. “Remembering the ‘Spooky Wisdom’...

Dirt, Manners, and Patrick McManus

“Can Dirt Save the Earth?” Moises Velasquez-Manoff’s long essay is worth reading. A taste: “If you focus on the health of the soil and...

Localism in the New York Times, Wendell Berry on Dairy Farmers,...

“Trump’s Enemy is Not Your Friend: Why We Shouldn’t Defend Amazon.” Thomas Frank doesn’t like the false dichotomy that Trump’s recent attacks on Amazon...

University Press of Kentucky, Group Think, the Farm Bill, and more

“An Open Letter.” The bad news is that the University Press of Kentucky lost some of their funding in the new state budget. The...

Baseball, Liberty Hyde Bailey, and more

“Quit Trying to ‘Fix’ Baseball: Its Leisurely Pace Is Just What Our Society Needs.” Gregory Hillis tells Rob Manfred (and the rest of us)...

Convenience, Digitized Childhood, Hunters, and more

“Make Communities Great Again.” James Bruce argues the federal government should adopt policies that would strengthen local communities. “The Tyranny of Convenience.” Tim Wu writes...

Tanya Berry, Bitcoin, Technology, and more

“Staying Human: The Tech Issue.” Plough Quarterly has a new issue on technology with several thoughtful essays. My favorite is Susannah Black’s profile of...

Wendell Berry Interview, Life after Liberalism, and More

“The Agrarian Life with Wendell Berry.” Bryan Wood and Mike Kline from Back to the Roots Podcast conduct a long interview with Wendell Berry....

Loneliness, Rural College Students, and More

It's been a busy first week on the remodeled porch, and we have an excellent lineup of new essays coming next week. For now,...