[Cross-posted to
If it so happens that someone who sees this post lives in or within driving distance of Wichita, KS, then let me invite you: the author, journalist, and blogger Rod Dreher, someone whom I consider to be one of the most important popular thinkers and cultural critics in America today, will be speaking on the Friends University campus next Monday and Tuesday. His first presentation will be March 24th, 7pm, in the Sebits Auditorium in the Riney Fine Arts Center, titled “Why Community Matters: How You Can Go Home Again, and Maybe Ought to.”; the second on March 25th, 9:30am, in the Alumni Auditorium in the Davis Building., titled “Heart vs. Head, Ruthie vs. Rod: Why a Mature Christian Needs Both Faith and Doubt.” Rod’s presentations will revolve primarily around his wonderful book, The Little Way of Ruthie Leming: A Southern Girl, a Small Town, and the Secret of a Good Life (about which I have blogged here, here, and here), but he’ll also be talking about family, community, localism, religious faith, and how traditional ways of life can be conserved in modern America. Whether you agree with Rod’s priorities and perspectives or not, his is a voice and a story worth listening to and learning from. Hope anyone who can plausibly make it will find a way!