Wendell Berry 218
The Roots of Originality
It is only our own town or neighborhood that is specific enough, and someday knowable enough, to enable a capable writer's imagination to imagine it clear and whole.
Fifty Dollar Tomato
Hillsdale, MI. When I first thought about writing this it was the “Ten Dollar Tomato.” But historians are more or less required to tell the truth, and it now costs…
The Stories We Tell…
Philadelphia, PA. If you have read just one of Wendell Berry’s novels or short stories, then you have glimpsed this Kentucky farmer’s love for family, place, and story. In a contemplative…
The Final Word On Cell Phones
Rock Island, IL In the early days of FPR, and then again more recently, I was impertinent enough to write disparaging remarks about cell phones, which as everyone knows are…
Dirt, Dollars, and Devices
Holland, MI. I confess: I hate farms. I hate everything about them. I hate the malodorous smells that take days to wash off. I hate the all-pervasive dirt which invades…
A Long, Long Row
“Hontar: We must work in the world, your eminence. The world is thus. Altamirano: No, Señor Hontar. Thus have we made the world. Thus have I made it.” From The…
The Reluctant Southerner: Reflections on Home and History
Moorpark, CA. In October of 1997 I attended the Southern Historical Association’s convention in Atlanta because I wanted to hear Paul Conkin’s presidential address, “Hot, Humid, and Sad.” What I…
“On the Grid”: When Electricity (and Other Things) Came to the Countryside
“Come in and look,” Quintín urged me, as he disappeared with a shuffle through the low doorway in his adobe house. I got up from the wooden bench on which…
If Cooking Slowly and Growing Organically are In, Why Is Rural Ministry Out?
Any self-respecting Christian should come down a few rungs on his ladder of self-esteem after reading Wendell Berry on the all-too-common view of organized churches toward farms, farmers, and rural…
Will Wendell Be Jailed?
Claremont, CA. Wendell Berry, writer and farmer and hero to the people, might move from the farmhouse to the big house. Speaking at one of the USDA's National Identification System…
Community
JEFFERSON COUNTY, KANSAS. "Community" is a recurring word and theme on this stoop, but it's invocation can come in many undesirable forms: as a talisman against perceived ills; as a marketing device appealing…
New Dishwasher?
Mt. Airy, Philadelphia. About a week ago our dishwasher started to issue a loud grinding sound from its hidden depths. After a few days I decided to call an appliance…
Meritocracy, Urban Design, and Culture: Observations from a Friend
PHOENIX, ARIZONA. (Note: this post has two pages, thanks to webmaster Lundy's new-and-improved FPR technology.) I am gratified by the many responses, here and elsewhere in the sphere, that were…
The Decline of Middle America and the Problem of Meritocracy
I delivered a version of the following text as a lecture at Augustana College last Tuesday, April 28 (all errors of fact and interpretation should be ascribed to my…
Causes and Lessons of the Current Economic Crisis
ERIE, PA. As a new contributor to the Front Porch Republic, I would like to thank Mark Mitchell for his invitation to participate in what is shaping up to be…
The Thee-ater of the Bozarts
Louisville, Ky. “Rural dwellers may have boundless tolerance for exaltations of the wonders and mysteries of the natural world, but the urban spirit begins to rebel. By the time this…
The Dismal Science vs. Community
RINGOES, NJ. In 1944 two very different but related books were published. The first was F.A. Hayek’s The Road to Serfdom. In a world that seemed to be succumbing…
The Populist Farmer, Revisited
Via John Schwenkler, I see that Norman Borlaug has just celebrated his 95th birthday. Borlaug, a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, is one of the primary architects of modern…
Reasoning about Stories
Devon, PA. Here is something for you that no one will dispute: all complaints about modernity, including those that fit under the rubric of "conservative," are arguments about stories. …
The Rediscovery of Agriculture?
RINGOES, NJ. Recently, a friend and I visited Polyface Farm outside Staunton, Virginia. Polyface is owned and operated by Joel Salatin, whose parents started farming these verdant five-hundred acres in…
Farm Stories: Hog Killing
Let this day begin again the change of hogs into people, not the other way around, for today we celebrate again our lives' wedding with the world -- Wendell Berry,…
It’s the Economy, Stupid
Los Angeles, CA At the risk of copyright infringement, I want to recommend a song of this title by John McCutcheon which appears on his album Hail to the Chief. …
The Human Meaning of Property
MT. AIRY, PHILADELPHIA. Before I say something rather abstract about concrete things, a few personal words about what (and who) lies behind these thoughts may be in order. The photo…
Back to the Land Economy
Well, we are all localists here, watching our national economy stagger and moan. Is there any room for a conversation about local economies? What would a local economy mean? One of…