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Trump and the Furies of Empire

Trump, in his crude way, is forcing us to confront the false stories we have told ourselves about who we are.

Chatbots, Agency, and Water

Roosevelt Montás articulates the effects reading has on individuals and societies.

The Prospect of a Meat-Free Future

There are problems that we do not have the luxury of waiting for lab-grown burgers to solve.

A Day (Un)Like Any Other Day

And then I noticed that she had a Children’s Hospital visitor sticker on her sweater and that, hardly before I finished my admonishment, she began to sob.

In Marce Catlett Wendell Berry Remembers for Us

Hardship fades from memory with each generation. Those who lived it remember the weight of it. Those who didn’t often forget.

Hashish and the Very ai

Generative ai systems, like drugs, impact cognition directly.
May 12, 2026

American Gospel

Are our first principles as Americans, as humans, as creatures, sifted and rightly laid down?
May 11, 2026

Regenerative Farming, Jonathan Swift, and Palantir

James Rebanks warns of the fragility of a food system that prioritizes efficiency above all else.

The Sorrowful Love Nests of Never Again

The saddest pair of words in the English language is the phrase never again.

Why AI Will Not Replace Human Love

“Relationships” between human beings and machines are not real relationships because machines cannot relate to the experience of living a human life.

A Locksmith’s Love

To truly listen to locks requires the love of a locksmith.

A Pleasant Blast From the Past: Why a Working Scoreboard Still Matters

When the scoreboard lit up at my son’s game yesterday, it felt like a small miracle.

Set Me Free from This Mighty, Mighty Fire: Songs About Salvation

It’s songs about salvation this week on A Symposium of Popular Songs—and not nearly as much Christian rock as I was afraid I’d play! Send your song recommendations to symposiumofsongs@gmail.com.

Want to Find Yourself? Volunteer In Your Church’s Nursery

To gaze into the eyes of a helpless baby was to see my actual condition as a creature laid bare.

Roundup, Virtues, and Wit

Nate Halverson has a level-headed and disturbing report on the use of glyphosate to manage US forests.

Forsaking Success: Wendell Berry’s Return to Kentucky

As one Kentuckian wondered, why would he give up the “glitz and glamour” elsewhere to come back home to farm?

Chasing Eden: On the Present Age and the Possibility of Humanity

Once, a very long time ago, man and woman lived in a garden and walked with God.

Crossings

So many before me have made this crossing. So many died for control of these waters.
April 29, 2026

Flying Home

The only area in Green Valley that has escaped urban sprawl is Mr. Henry’s Farm, at which stands an old oak tree named Birch.

A Fool’s Hope for Higher Education

Universities are peculiar institutions, and they need peculiar leaders.

Chop Saws, Oranges, and Gemini

Alexander Sammon narrates the incredible, complicated, tragic story of Florida’s dying crop.

From the Editor — Local Culture 8.1

Nostalgia, properly speaking, is homesickness. In its etymologically precise sense it is a longing not for a time but for a place.
Jason Peters
April 24, 2026

The Balance of Us: On the Strange Therapeutic Power of Faulkner’s Prose

The prose in As I Lay Dying simultaneously provides a mirror for and an escape from my experience.

The Need for Non-Ironic Limits: A Review of The Philosophy of Philip Rieff

We often find ourselves fleeing “forward,” one might say, to escape the meaninglessness that forever snaps at our heels.