Uncategorized 1272
Localist Roundup: Fireworks and Urban Farms
This article laments the "intrusion of economics into everything else." Meanwhile, this piece highlights creative urban farm ideas from around the world. This article explains how some cities are finding…
The Best Manure
“We must observe what parts of the land must be manured, how the manure is to be applied, and the best kind to use; for there are several varieties. Cassius…
Localist Roundup: SWAT!
In this story, the author describes a week of using calligraphy to send text messages. Meanwhile, this piece emphasizes the importance of "other cities." This article bemoans the disparity between…
Localist Roundup: Across the Pond
This article make some interesting points while critiquing the entire left-right political spectrum. Meanwhile, this piece explains how a major British think tank has advocated a localist approach to politics. Lastly, this…
Playing the Right Games
“But when children play the right games from the beginning and absorb lawfulness from music and poetry, it follows them in everything and fosters their growth…” Socrates, in Plato’s Republic,…
Localist Roundup: Hospital Food
In this peculiar piece, the author describes her "internet hometown." Meanwhile, this piece describes how hospitals are starting to show interest in local and organic foods. Lastly, this article advocates a…
Localist Roundup: A Tea Party Prediction
In political news, the Republican Party has chosen a new house majority leader. Meanwhile, this piece reports on the problematic archival systems in the federal government. This piece argues that future…
The Mother of All Arts
“Whoever it was who said that agriculture is the mother and nurse of all other arts was right, because when agriculture is faring well, all the other arts are strengthened…
Localist Roundup: Civil Unrest
This piece tells how one restaurant has found a less human dining experience is a more profitable one. Meanwhile, this article discusses the impact that the local food movement is…
Give to FPR
Dear Reader, FPR is a labor of love for most of us associated with it. We believe deeply in the ideas of place, limits, and liberty and their essential relationship…
Localist Roundup: Smorgasbord
Recently, the USDA announced a new federal initiative encouraging local food. This article takes a somewhat critical view of New Urbanism based on the recent Congress in Buffalo. Meanwhile, this…
Your Computer (and everything connected to it) is Broken
Read this just before your shut your computer down for good. Here's a taste: Once upon a time, a friend of mine accidentally took over thousands of computers. He had…
FPR Conference: Get Your Ticket Now
The fourth annual Front Porch Republic conference will examine ways to promote a more comprehensive localist vision that both learns from and goes beyond the increasingly successful local-food movement. It…
FPR and Contemporary Conservatism
Check out this latest lament by Damon Linker over at The Week.
A Happy Thought
The world is so full of a number of things, I’m sure we should all be as happy as kings. Robert Louis Stevenson, A Child’s Garden of Verses In my…
Getting Detroit’s Goat
When a city's situation is as dire as Detroit's a certain amount of creativity is required. Enter the goat. And then enter Detroit's bungling mismanagers. Read the article, but don't…
On the Nightstand
Two books right now, one fiction and one non-fiction. First, the fiction: Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh. I re-read this one (revisit it?) every few years. Brideshead is quite different…
Localist Roundup: Pernicious Parking Lots
This article examines how local farms are expanding their business to serve local institutions, mainly schools. Meanwhile, this piece describes obstacles to implementing the USDA standards that encourage local sourcing…
Thoroughly Anti-Modern Milius
On John Milius, writer-director-surfer-anarchist, from The American Conservative.
Localist Roundup: Internet of Things
This article outlines some efforts in Britain to involve local communities in the upkeep of unused land. Meanwhile, this article warms that attempts to digitize interaction with physical objects may…
The Violent and the Fallen On the Airwaves
Holy Family Radio in Grand Rapids, Michigan, recently aired John Pinheiro's interview with me on his weekly program, Faith and Reason. Pinheiro asked me to discuss my new book, The…
Localist Roundup: Politically Expedient Localism?
This article on the Amazon-Hachette contract dispute illustrates some problems with having nearly all book sales in the hands of one major corporation. Meanwhile, this piece reflects on social media's tendency…
Trying to Be Like Them
“It is for you to try to be like them.” Pericles’ Funeral Oration I have to admit a problem that I’ve had with Memorial Day. I’ve often let my thoughts…
Localist Roundup: The Week’s Weakness
This piece describes the alienating aspects of technology. Meanwhile, the author of this ambitious article would have the seven-day week abolished. This article speculates as to the impact of food…