Articles Archive

A room once filled with my son and his belongings was mostly empty. It wasn’t the absence of his stuff that hurt; it was his absence. But as I ran…

In conjunction with the most recent issue of Local Culture and with FPR’s fall conference, we’re listening to songs about work on this week’s Symposium of Popular Songs.

Colleges and universities should focus on forming the uniquely human attributes that AI cannot replicate.

Charlotte Alden profiles the fascinating school that the brilliant Donald Antenen has started in his hometown.

Between places.

As Gurney’s family and friends wrestle with the loss of their friend, I hope they—or more accurately we—will lean into being lonely inside a web of love.

While I was talking with one Texan who was at her first FPR conference, she told me, "I think I've found my people."

My guest is my friend Andrea Kirk Assaf, whom I have known for, well, a few decades now. She is the author most recently of 365 Lessons From the Stoics…

Smith's poem has returned to my mind several times, especially in moments, like our current one, of cultural and political turmoil.

Her essays feel like invitations to look for joy.

Bars, saloons, taverns, whoopie spots—we talk about them all this week on A Symposium of Popular Songs, and I get to give one of my hackneyed theories about Cheers, too.…

I stood amongst bones bleached dry and white.

Amber Lapp goes to Oliver Anthony’s Rural Revival and explores the conditions for genuine, constructive populism.

They filled our shared porch with plants in beautiful stone pots.

For anyone who endeavors to read or teach "Paradise Lost" for the first time, I could hardly imagine a better single-volume guide to the work’s author, context, themes, and significance.

Returning home on any other evening, I might have noticed the gold leaf edges of the icons on the shelf smoldering from the sun through the window.

We’re listening to music about music on this week’s Symposium of Popular Songs. I’ve got fewer literary readings for you than usual, but more personal stories, including my all-time favorite…

We don’t have to ride along.

Nobody told Jeremy Beer that people don’t read books anymore. So he’s launching a new publishing venture.

Wendell Berry has written a ninth Port William novel, and it is unlike any other in the set.

Is there any room for common ground between these competing views?

Kudos to Ari Aster and his film "Eddington" for showing us the truth of what is happening to us in our social media saturated world.

Christopher J. Scalia is at the American Enterprise Institute. He and I have been Twitter mutuals for awhile, but I had the pleasure of meeting Chris in Grand Rapids at…

Deep down, humans not only want but also require enduring, stable relationships.