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Russell Arben Fox

Russell Arben Fox is a Front Porch Republic Contributing Editor. He grew up milking cows and baling hay in Spokane Valley, WA, but now lives in Wichita, KS, where he runs the History & Politics and the Honors programs at Friends University, a small Christian liberal arts college. He aspires to write a book about the theory and practice of democracy, community, and environmental sustainability in small to mid-sized cities, like the one he has made his and his family’s home; his scribblings pertaining to that and related subjects are collected at the Substack “Wichita and the Mittelpolitan.” He also blogs–irregularly and usually at too-great a length–more broadly about politics, philosophy, religion, socialism, bicycling, books, farming, pop music, and whatever else strikes his fancy, at “In Medias Res.”

Articles by Russell Arben Fox

Regional Cities and the Curse of “Glocality”

[Cross-posted to In Medias Res] One of the essential themes in my continuing study of and reflection upon the character and dilemmas of mid-sized cities is their "regional" character, and…
May 25, 2016

What I’ve Learned, and David Brooks (Perhaps) Still Hasn’t

[Cross-posted to In Medias Res] Among all the major right-wing voices of America's mainstream journalistic establishment, David Brooks is perhaps the most difficult to pin down. Ross Douthat is a…

Thoughts on Localism and Resilience

[Cross-posted to In Medias Res] Yesterday, I had the opportunity to speak to the "Resilience Group," an informal gathering of environmentalists, activists, and interested others that meet regularly at the…
February 16, 2016

The Deep and Discomforting Point of Populism (and Socialism, and Certain Sorts of Conservatism Too)

[Cross-posted to In Medias Res] Over the weekend, a friend of mine shared an article which had joined in the Hillary Clinton-Bernie Sanders fight, a fight which may come to…
February 8, 2016

Soil and Sacrament in Certain Kinds of Cities

[Cross-posted to In Medias Res] This past weekend here in Wichita, I participated in the Eighth Day Institute's symposium, Soil and Sacrament: The World as Gift; Rod Dreher has a…
January 21, 2016

Sustainability in Cities that Hold Steady

[Cross-posted to In Medias Res] Wichita, KS, is a large city, a regional center for manufacturing, medicine, finance, and the arts. It's also a politically conservative place, which means that…
December 30, 2015

Christopher Lasch and the Lasting Dilemma of Localism

[Cross-posted to In Media Res] This past weekend, at the annual Front Porch Republic gathering (this year held at SUNY-Geneseo), three scholars reflected upon the writings of the historian and…
October 5, 2015

Wichita and the Dilemma of Mid-Sized Cities

[Cross-posted to In Medias Res] There's been some depressing news here in Wichita, Kansas, of late. Not the sort of depressing news that one might typically fear to hear when…
October 1, 2015

The Decline of the Tory, A Continuing Saga

In a recent broadside against the teachings of what Damon Linker correctly notes today as the world's "politically inconvenient pontiff," George F. Will--with unsurprising dogmatism, unfortunately--lays bare the liberal roots…
September 22, 2015

Whatever Happened to Communitarianism?

[Cross-posted to In Medias Res] Twenty years ago, the concept and label "communitarianism" was riding high, or at least as high as any broadly applicable yet intellectually coherent ideological movement…
September 8, 2015

From the Distant Liberal Consensus, a Defiant Conservative Yelp

[Cross-posted to In Medias Res] As I write this review, I keep hearing about Jeb Bush, campaigning for president, talking about how the invasion of Iraq and the removal of…
August 17, 2015

Bernie Sanders: Front Porch Socialist?

[Cross-posted to In Medias Res] This October, Front Porch Republic will host its annual conference in Geneseo, NY, just a short day's drive from Burlington, Vermont, the home current presidential…
August 10, 2015