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Front Porch Republic

Despair Is Part of Life, but Not All of Life

Her heartfelt lament may sound like despair, and in a way it is, save for a crucial difference.
June 18, 2025

What We Forgot About Death (And Life)

Without the Incarnation, the philosopher’s death remains incomplete.
June 17, 2025

Compound Interest in an Attention Economy

There is something life-giving about rooting oneself in a single community—about investing ourselves in a mutual fund, so to speak.
June 16, 2025

The Quiet Divide

The rift isn’t just about politics. It’s about pace, and place, and respect.
June 14, 2025

News, Notes, & Podcasts

Jeffrey Bilbro
Newsletter Editor:
Jeffrey Bilbro
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Handshakes, Extinction, and Chess

“The Intellectual Virtues of the Small Magazine.” Jeff Reimer brilliantly narrates the joys of an intellectual life and the role that small magazines can play in foster this: ‘Now remember…
April 26, 2025

Local Porch in NOVA: The Tech Exit with Clare Morell

Join Ben Christenson and others for a discussion with Clare Morell.
April 25, 2025

Aristotle’s Virtue Ethics

Laurie Johnson is teaching an introduction to Aristotle's virtue ethics for the Maurin Academy this summer. The schedule and details are here: We need a solid understanding of ethics now…
April 21, 2025

Seasons, Steel, and Profit

“In Due Season.” Chris Gregorio reviews and praises Matt Miller’s Leaves of Healing: “As he reflects on each slice of liturgical time and the period of garden time in which…
April 19, 2025
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More Articles

The Waters of Mirabah

In quiet Ottawa County, Michigan, a water crisis is not merely brewing—it is already here.
May 26, 2025

The Proper Education of Ambition

Politics, at its best, requires those willing to risk greatness.
May 24, 2025

The Census Taker in a Church Pew, Part 7

His hands remind me of a topographical map. Even now with their nail scars, do Jesus’ hands bear also the marks that come with age and years as a craftsman?
May 23, 2025

Leaving the Keys in the Truck: Trust, Tension, and the Rural Bargain

Trust in rural places isn’t built on virtue; it’s built on visibility. It’s knowing you’ll see the person again.
May 22, 2025

From the Editor: Local Culture 7.1

There is no law preventing us from being worthy pupils of the spring rains, the dead, and the plants. We can mind first principles; we can keep our hands off the principal.
May 21, 2025

Remodeling the Porch

Amateur operations are fragile and tenuous. But we’re grateful for a much-improved virtual home.
May 19, 2025

Time To Tell The Truth

How much longer will we prioritize a Wild West notion of freedom over protecting children and teens? The truth is, like cigarettes and alcohol, these devices are incompatible with healthy childhood development.
May 19, 2025

The Full Life of Empty Rural Spain

Though we may choose to live out our lives differently upon the land, there remain in both places people who still care for and respect land and community. I have learned much from the Spanish way of life that I…
May 17, 2025

Seeking the Sacred: Douthat’s Case for Religious Tradition in an Age of Uncertainty

We are pilgrims in this world. We must be content to wonder as we wander. Douthat is asking his readers to cast their nets into the deep.
May 16, 2025

Bobwhite

Every year that we farm in the old ways, more of nature returns, despite the mistakes we make. Each return teaches hope.
May 15, 2025

It Ain’t Funny: Or, Why We Don’t Laugh Together

The laughter of a faithless culture is bitter, derisive. It no longer springs from a merry heart but from dry bones. A culture of faith is a culture that can truly laugh.
May 14, 2025

What is a Miracle Anyway?

My miracles are many, too many to count or explain. Maybe yours are too.
May 13, 2025

From the Archive