News, Notes, & Podcasts

Maureen Swinger goes to an Oliver Anthony concert and describes his efforts to repair broken places and subvert the structures of the celebrity machine.

We’re talking about fire in all its forms this week on A Symposium of Popular Songs, and I managed to get all the way through the episode without referencing Beavis…

Antonio Spadaro responds to plans to build a bridge across the Strait of Messina.

It’s party time at A Symposium of Popular Songs, though we’re going to oscillate wildly between the kind of party you go home from in an ambulance and the kind…

Tara Couture writes about the mysterious relation between simple joys and hard work.

We’re talking about freedom this week on A Symposium of Popular Songs, and I demonstrate my freedom by going all the way from “guy with guitar” folk to overcranked contemporary…

The details of the dissolution of the Honors College at Tulsa continue to be quite discouraging.

Inspired by some recent criminal activity in the Christian rock world, this week on A Symposium of Popular Songs, we’re listening to songs about fame—mostly its negative aspects.

Charles Eisenstein lays out some initial policy proposals that could help farmers stay solvent while transitioning to more regenerative agricultural practices.

This week on A Symposium of Popular Songs, we’re listening to songs about restlessness—or, as the scholar Frederick R. Karl calls it, spatiality. I managed to do this whole episode…

Christine Rosen pens a biting response to Katherine Boyle’s rosy picture of techno-families.

In conjunction with my recent FPR article “Terrestrial Otherness,” this week on A Symposium of Popular Songs, we’ll be listening to music honoring the noble six-legged creatures whose world we…