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The Water Dipper

More Articles in The Water Dipper

Reconciliation, History, and Localism

This will be the last Water Dipper for a few weeks. I’ll be taking some time off from email and the Internet. I plan to resume the Water Dipper in August, after,…
July 1, 2023

The Rust Belt, Ducks, and Lanternflies

“Barbara Kingsolver: ‘Rural people are so angry they want to blow up the system.’” Lisa Allardice talks with Barbara Kingsolver about her new novel: “Raised in Kentucky, Kingsolver describes herself as ‘Appalachian,…
June 24, 2023

The Commons, Alfalfa, and Oats

“Piety, Technology, and Tradition.” Jon Askonas responds to a critique from Alan Jacobs about the difficulty of conserving traditions in our current technological environment: “I can hand down my faith to my…
June 17, 2023

Localism, Liberalism, and Regionalism

“Fidelity to Place.” James Matthew Wilson speaks on behalf of honoring our unchosen bonds: “What is missing from modern life is fidelity—and not just fidelity in general, but fidelity to those things…
June 10, 2023

Money, the Wild, and the Metaverse

“Living as Humans in a Machine Age.” Registration is now open for our fall conference in Madison, Wisconsin. Paul Kingsnorth will be the keynote speaker, and we’ll post the full schedule soon.…
June 3, 2023

College, Conservation, and Computers

“What College Students Need Is a Taste of the Monk’s Life.” Molly Worthen explores the possibilities that college offers for helping students unplug from their devices and think deeply: “We need an…
May 27, 2023

Payne Hollow, Ice Cream, and National Parks

“Thriving on the Fringe of Society.” Carrie Blackmore Smith describes the life that Harlan and Anna Hubbard made at Payne Hollow and the work now being done to restore and preserve their…
May 20, 2023

David Foster Wallace, Brian Doyle, and Francis Fukuyama

“Fresh Cliché.” In a wise essay that puts David Foster Wallace in conversation with Wallace Stegner, Matt Stewart gives two cheers for clichés: “Surely there are phrases that are lazy shortcuts; we…
May 13, 2023

Hospitality, Exile, and Mushrooms

“Hospitality from the Front Porch.” Bethany Hebbard describes how a front porch lifestyle promotes genuine hospitality: “If you actually have a front porch or balcony, then I what I am about to…
May 6, 2023

AGI, Hiddenness, and Grace

“We Must Slow Down the Race to God-like AI.” Ian Hogarth gives a sobering assessment of the unpredictable ramifications of AGI: “I thought about my four-year-old who would wake up in a…
April 29, 2023

Cruises, Liberty, and Plastic

“Nature is Healing.” The Lamp recently put this essay online, and it’s a doozy. Stay all the way to the end of Sam Kriss’s haunting meditation in living in a digitized world:…
April 22, 2023

Diversion, Leisure, and Beauty

“We’ve Lost the Plot.” Megan Garber details the consequences of blurring the lines between reality and entertainment: “Each invitation to be entertained reinforces an impulse: to seek diversion whenever possible, to avoid…
April 15, 2023
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