The Water Dipper 328
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…
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…
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.…
Friendship, Hospitality, and the Food System
“I Practise Philosophy as Art.” Gesine Borcherdt talks with philosopher Byung-Chul Han about his recent book: “I think trust is a social practice, and today it is being replaced by…
Memory, Maintenance, and Catholic Social Teaching
“Fare Forward Interview with Jack Shoemaker.” I somehow missed this fascinating conversation between Fare Forward and Jack Shoemaker that came out this past summer. They discuss correspondence and literary friendships,…
Humanities, Journalism, and Parishes
Tomorrow marks the beginning of Advent, which is also the start of the Christian year. I’m taking the month off from compiling these Water Dippers as I’ll be spending more…
George MacDonald, Friendship, and Michael Oakeshott
“George MacDonald: a Life of Relationships.” Radix Magazine interviewed Kirstin Jeffrey Johnson about George MacDonald and what lessons he might have for us today. MacDonald and his circle “intentionally sought…
Gerald Russello, Lyceums, and the Common Good
“In Memoriam: Gerald Russello.” Susannah Black remembers the life of a fine man who, among other things, served as the editor of the University Bookman: “He was convinced that this…
Care, Wisdom, and Neighborliness
“We are What we Eat.” Aruna Uprety describes the deleterious effects of advertising and packaged food on the health of children in rural Nepal: “The traditional practice of growing and…
Small Farms, Big Media, and Moral Societies
“I Tried to Prove that Small Family Farms are the Future. I Couldn’t Do It.” Sarah Mock published a long, thoughtful examination of the viability of the small, family farmer…
Cattle Ranchers, Vegetable Pickers, and Remote Workers
“Economists to Cattle Ranchers: Stop Being So Emotional About the Monopolies Devouring Your Family Businesses.” Matt Stoller argues that professional economists are stonewalling efforts to combat monopolistic price-fixing in the…
Dirt, Words, and Xenia
“All Mod Cons.” Bill Kauffman commends the legacy of Senator Mark Hatfield: “A radical dispersal of power may lack the bellicose appeal of strident nationalism, but those who support fortifying…
Reparations, Trainings, and Forgiveness
“Land, Limits and the Scandal of Reparations.” Allan Carlson lays out the long and tragic history that has dispossessed so many American farmers---and particularly black ones---of the land. He concludes…
Biopolitics, Good Work, and Roots
“A Case for the Porch.” Charlie Hailey writes in praise of the porch. Many of his reflections resonate with Patrick Deneen’s early essay on the name “Front Porch Republic.” “‘Biopolitics’…
Congress, the Filibuster, and Original Sin
“On Not Knowing Esperanto.” Peter Mommsen introduces the new issue of Plough. It’s a great introduction, and while I haven’t read the full issue yet, it looks to be another…
Regenerative Dairies, Hydroponic Gardens, and John Muir
“Ending America’s Antisocial Contract.” Ron Ivey and Tim Shirk warn that American policies which incentivize hoarding capital contribute to social and economic instability: “If our antisocial contract has led to…
Disinformation, Dante, and Humane War
“Bad News.” Joseph Bernstein scrutinizes the disinformation discourse and argues that its underlying technological determinism and assumptions about human persuadability stand to benefit big tech: “tech companies and select media…
Social Media, Death, and Miracles
“He is Britain’s Famous Shepherd-Author-Influencer. He Wants to Transform Farming to Save the Planet.” William Booth visits James Rebanks’s farm and puts his recent efforts to defend and practice regenerative…
Nationalism, Scruton, and Households
“Back for Good: The Fine Art of Repairing Broken Things.” Katie Treggiden profiles British artists and producers who are working to make mending beautiful in a culture that valorizes the…
Anxiety, Loneliness, and Superweeds
“The Edgerton Essays.” The American Compass and the Ethics and Public Policy Center have been collaborating on the Edgerton Essays. Editor Patrick Brown describes the project: “First, find working-class Americans,…
Washing Dishes, Sustainable Infrastructure, and Rooted Elites
“America’s Hidden Crisis of Power and Place.” In a long and important essay, David Fontana delves into “one of the most disconcerting, least-discussed aspects of our national political life: America…