The Water Dipper
Baseball, O’Connor, and Nostalgia
“Play (and Watch) Ball!” Bill Kauffman praises baseball as a community-building pastime, and he highly recommends Will Bardenwerper’s new book: “I started going to ball games with my parents and brother at…
More Articles in The Water Dipper
Seeds, Reality, and Eucatastrophe
“Syria’s Seed Planters.” Plough’s Summer 2022 issue on “Hope in Apocalypse” has many essays on this important virtue. One of the most moving, I think, is Mindy Belz’s account of Assyrians who…
The Regime, Progress, and the Last Battle
I'll be taking the month of June off email and, for the most part, the Internet. FPR will continue publishing essays while I'm away--we have some substantive essays on tap--but my weekly…
Fiction, Insects, and Baseball
“The Colorado River is in Crisis, And It’s Getting Worse Every Day.” In a beautifully produced, well-illustrated essay, Karin Brulliard journeys down the Colorado River and highlights the communities and ecosystems that…
The End of the World, Pawpaws, and Local Journalism
“Not That Brothers K.” Ken Sundet Jones praises David James Duncan’s brilliant novel on the thirtieth anniversary of its publication: “It’s about American angst, familial drama, and Seventh Day Adventist questions of…
Christian Anarchism, Sigrid Undset, and Third Places
“Introduction to Christian Anarchism Summer 2022 Seminar.” Laurie Johnson is offering an online seminar exploring the tradition of Christian anarchism: “The five sessions will center on these themes: 1. basics of Christian…
Work, Time, and Seeds
“Christopher Beha Left the Catholic Church and then Came Back. Now He’s Writing a Book about Why..” Mary Grace Mangano talks with Chris Beha about his sickness, his return to Catholicism, and…
Local Food, Hope, and Death
“Spring 2022.” The Berry Center’s spring newsletter has several good pieces, including Wendell Berry’s note of gratitude for the continued practice of local subsistence, in this case manifest during a hog butchering.…
Repair, Homeschooling, and Ownership
“Repair and Remain.” Kurt Armstrong shares some wisdom about fidelity that he’s picked up along a winding life: “for twelve years now I’ve had a hybrid operation, juggling a one-man autodidact home-repair…
Predictions, Literature, and Baseball
“Will Technology Enhance or Deplete Relationships?” Matthew Loftus draws lessons on electronic medical records and our broader use of technology from What is Not Sacred?, a book by the Tanzanian priest Laurenti…
Disinformation, Friendship, and Beauty
“The Death Spiral of an American Family.” Eli Saslow profiles a family in Detroit who are at loose ends after the death of their patriarch, a man who had done well for…
Public Writing, Fences, and Neighbors
“Democrats are Kicking Rural America to the Curb. Again.” Art Cullen gives Democrats a tongue-lashing for their plans to change the primary schedule and give less influence to rural voters in Iowa…
Scruton, Globalization, and Concentric Roots
“Scruton Makes His Case.” John G. Grove reviews a new collection of Scruton’s essays and finds that they display his optimistic “pessimism[, which] paradoxically leads us to fields of hopeful labor by…
Load More