Uncategorized 892
Defending Distributism
Until one of us finds the time to slap down Joe Carter's attack on distributism (as Rod Dreher called upon us to do), I'll direct our good readers to a…
A Newer Atlantis
I received the latest issue of the essential journal The New Atlantis yesterday, and was honored once again to appear in its pages. The essay in question - entitled "The…
Transgendered Anarchists of Wall Street, Unite!
The New Yorker examines the animating ideas behind OWS. I suppose this is what happens when childishness, boredom, social media, anxiety, and apocalypticism mix. Or, history repeating itself as farce.…
Front Porch Revival?
The Atlantic Cities blog this month takes a look at a quarterly home design trend survey from the American Institute of Architects. Apparently in hard economic times, homeowners have different…
Back to Texas
I will be lecturing tomorrow, Thursday, November 17 at the University of Texas at Austin. My lecture is entitled "Why Great Books?" and is being sponsored by the Jefferson Center…
FPR Conference Video Is Now Available
Video of the September 24, 2011 conference at Mount St. Mary's University is now up on You Tube. Search for "human scale conference" or click here. Thanks to the tech…
Don’t It Make You Wanna Go Home Now?
Mobility is the great undiagnosed sickness afflicting America. All of our ruling class and most of our writing class consist of deracinated careerists who scorn the placebound as ambitionless losers…
Rebuilding a rural economy
Readers of this site might be interested in a recent Daily Yonder newsstory on job creation in southeastern Ohio. This Ford Foundation-underwritten project is trying to create rural jobs by adding value…
Come Saturday Evening…
....we'll be reading aloud--for the fourteenth consecutive year--from the works of Batavia's native (if sometimes wayward) son John Gardner. Where? The Pokadot, literary-culinary capital of NY, at the corner of…
Rousseau on Economics
"If what you wish is merely to make a great splash, to be impressive and formidable, to influence other peoples of Europe, you have before you their example: get busy…
B Movies–in Black and White
No, not the tune by the Fabulous Poodles, but rather my memories of Peter H. Clune, who was gunned down in the bleakest film noir you'll ever see: http://www.theamericanconservative.com/blog/the-last-picture-show/.
George F. Will and the Decline of the Tory
[Cross-posted to In Medias Res] Wichita, KS I don't know how many people in the conservative public sphere read George F. Will closely any longer--maybe lots of them do, but…
To the Windy City and the Golden Dome
I'll be in The City of the Big Shoulders this Thursday and Friday, October 13-14, both to attend and to participate in a conference at the University of Chicago honoring…
The Capivari Option: A Local Currency Bolsters a Poor Town
On September 20, 2011 the Wall Street Journal ran an article on the advantages of localism to the poorest parts of Brazil. Paulo Prada, reporting from Brazil, interviewed townspeople who…
Jane Jacobs: A Symposium
The American Conservative has published a symposium commemorating the 50th anniversary of the publication of Jane Jacobs's book The Death and Life of the Great American Cities. The symposium features…
The Return of the Red Tory
Our friend Phillip Blond returns to the U.S., landing first in Washington, D.C., where he will join me tomorrow evening, Thursday October 6 for a "conversation" about his recent work,…
Porchfest
A neighborhood in Ithaca, NY is doing something special. It's called Porchfest. Here's a taste, but be sure to go to the story and scroll down to the video. Porchfest…
Plutonomics
I'm a month late on this, but the September Atlantic has a cover story on the disappearing middle-class. If economics refers to household management, then it does seem anachronistic to…
Rod Dreher is Going Home
Here's a taste: Yesterday I rented a house in the historic district of St. Francisville, my hometown. I was on the phone with Mr. Walter, the owner, settling the terms.…
A New FPR Series
We are pleased to announce that John Schwenkler has joined our merry band and has agreed to edit an on-going series titled "The View From Your Front Porch." The first…
“Thrift and Thriving in America”
...is the title of a new multi-author volume edited by Joshua J. Yates and James Davison Hunter of the Institute of Advanced Studies in Culture at the University of Virginia.…
Register Now or Git off the Porch!
Actually, feel free to stay in your rocking chair, but if you plan to attend the conference on Saturday, please register here. This will make things much easier for the…
Rd U Ltr NOT :(
More reportage, now by Niall Ferguson, of the obviously depressing news - we are raising a nation of idiots. Half of today’s teenagers don’t read books—except when they’re made to.…