Asides

November 1, 2013

I'm in the middle of writing a short essay on John Crowe Ransom's first book, Poems about God (1919).  In…

October 31, 2013

When I think we can't hit new lows, I run across something like this: http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/10/selfies-at-funerals/280972/ I am hardly familiar with…

October 31, 2013

For those readers at all interested in Angela Merkel's dismay, or the reach of our homeland spy agencies, here are…

October 30, 2013

There's a computer program called Lexile that purports to measure the complexity of books and thereby determine the grade level…

October 24, 2013

Anyone blessed enough to be within shouting distance of Batavia, New York, this Saturday, October 26, at 8 pm is…

October 24, 2013

Every semester, on the first day of the poetry courses I teach, I hold up Lilla Cabot Perry’s portrait of…

October 20, 2013

Hillsdale, Mich. Misery loves company, they say, but maybe not if the company is Comcast. Yes, I have returned to…

October 18, 2013

Hillsdale, Michigan. Thanks to Comcast (who says I never thank them), I noticed a headline from the Daily Beast today…

October 15, 2013

Scale matters and a one-size-fits-all solution is a function of a state that exceeds a proper scale (and ignores a…

October 14, 2013

"I love Old October so/I can't bear to see her go," sang the Hoosier Poet of this most resplendent and…

October 14, 2013

In ISI's on-going series titled "Conservatism: What's Wrong with it and How Can we Make it Right?" Gerald Russello argues…

October 11, 2013

From The American Conservative, my review of Jesse Walker's terrific new book The United States of Paranoia.