The Water Dipper 328
Fantasies, a City on the Hill, and Baking Bread
“Failures of Leadership in a Populist Age.” In an essay that rings even more true after the events of Wednesday, Yuval Levin warns would-be populist leaders to shun the temptations…
Happiness, Regionalism, and Jefferson’s Bible
“If Mr. Kristof Is Taking Names, Apple Should Be Next.” Anthony Barr points out the profit-generated blind spot that permits Apple, Disney, and other American companies from profiting off of…
Abundance, Wilderness, and Algorithms
Merry Christmas, Porchers! Thanks for joining us in this virtual space throughout what has certainly been an interesting year. While we missed our yearly conference, we've hosted a lively set…
Coffins, Books, and Haunted Nations
I’ll be taking a break from compiling these weekly roundups during the Advent season. See you all after Christmas! “The Trappists’ Coffins.” In a moving essay, Leah Libresco Sargeant writes…
Families, Hospitality, and Death
“What are Families For?” The new issue of Plough is out, and it looks excellent. I am trying to avoid reading these essays, though, until my print copy arrives in the mail.…
Avoiding Demagoguery, Quantification, and the Dire Hose
“How to Protect America From the Next Donald Trump.” While proposals to abolish the Electoral College are popular at the moment, Bryan Garsten recommends strengthening the constitutional culture and local…
Gentleness, Conviviality, and Poetry
“Magic in the Dirt.” Julia Turshen visits three small farms to talk with the farmers about their philosophy and the bounty of this strange year. Brian Dawson’s videos and photos…
Integration, the Reality of Limits, and Lost Opportunities
“On Integration.” Jesse McCarthy and Jon Baskin critique the kind of anti-racism made popular by Robin DiAngelo’s White Fragility. Instead, they follow Harold Cruse in advocating for actions that would strengthen…
Big Tech, History’s Arc, and Secession
“The Irony of the Google Antitrust Suit.” Franklin Foer writes that the government’s suit against Google is long overdue and marks the end of Big Tech’s unchallenged accumulation of power.…
Meritocracy, the Wingfeather Saga, and Civility
“What if Local and Diverse Is Better Than Networked and Global?” Damien Cave profiles Helena Norberg-Hodge and her work with Local Futures for the New York Times. “Our Fractured Communities: Piecing…
Humanity, Fraternity, and a Wisdom that is Woe
“Our Humanity Depends on the Things We Don’t Sell.” In a profound essay, Mary Harrington links such apparently disparate topics as strip-mining, prostitution, and enclosure to defend the ordinary work…
Liberal Arts, Institutions, and Truth
“The Forgotten Front Porch Is Making a Comeback.” Spike Carlsen notes a promising development: “Thanks to the pandemic, the front porch is enjoying a new golden age. Like their near…
Fly-Fishing, Patient Ambition, and Healing the Wounds
“The Market Made Me Do It: The Scandal of the Evangelical College.” Eric Miller draws on the example of the institution I’ve taught at—Spring Arbor University—to highlight the failure of…
Book Exhibit, Bison, and Homeschooling
“Notre Dame Press Virtual Book Exhibit.” Steve Wrinn and the University of Notre Dame Press are regulars at FPR conferences. Since we had to cancel this year’s main conference, the…
Affability, Simone Weil, and Cassiodorus
“Jason Peters Writes to Entertain his Friends and Exasperate his Enemies.” Bill Kauffman is the perfect reviewer for Jason’s new book. Read the review, then read the book: “Peters, the…
Infected Brand Ambassadors, Corporate Clergy, and Anarchy
“How to Save British Farming (and the Countryside).” This summer I read James Rebanks’s new book English Pastoral. My short take is that it’s excellent. My long take on Rebanks’s three…
Melville, G.D.P. Fetish, and Sheep Shearing
“The Things I Tell Myself When I’m Writing About Nature.” In this “not-too-serious and also quite serious list that is entirely non-prescriptive, and is absolutely not a set of instructions,”…
Salmon, American Chicken, and Scrutopia
“‘The Fish Rots from the Head’: How a Salmon Crisis Stoked Russian Protests.” Anton Troianovski traces the complex politics in an eastern Russian region where precipitous declines in salmon runs…
Serious Fun, Supernatural Justice, and a Wise Bald Eagle
“Reconsidering the Statesmanship of Abraham Lincoln.” Allen Guelzo reviews—and highly commends—Jon Schaff’s Abraham Lincoln’s Statesmanship: “The reader will come to the book’s end wishing that such a statesman as Schaff describes…
Hidden Wound, Living Bridges, and Local Food Processors
“What is Happening at Spring Arbor University?” I was informed this past week that this year will be my last at Spring Arbor University. I don’t have much to say…
Tech Monopolies, Church Forests, and Publish and Perish
“Closing Time: We’re All Counting Bodies.” Clare Coffey reviews two recent books that diagnose American rot: “Who is in any serious doubt that the American health-care system is cobbled together…
Cooperatives, Lasch’s Prescience, and Political Wisdom
I enjoyed some time off email and social media this past month, but I'm ready to resume these Water Dipper posts. I also want to take this opportunity to say…
Left Conservatism, Public Lands, and Flannery O’Connor
As I try to do each year, I’ll be taking a break from the internet for a couple of weeks. FPR will continue publishing under the able guidance of Matt…
Poetry, Localism, and Postliberal Epistemology
“Verse Lines When the Streets Are on Fire.” James Matthew Wilson offers a stirring defense of poetry in a season of chaos: “Disease, disorder, and riot are reminders to us…