The Barbershop

The Hope of the American Republic: Local Coffee Shops

Because of coffee’s popularity, coffee shops can draw people together like very few other modern institutions.

There’s No Place Like Home

We are desperately in need of a collective vision of what it means to love our homes.

College Radio

We can gain something from the Ike Carters and the student DJs of our communities: a human connection, a community connection—not to mention great music.

Confessions of a Caffeine Addict

My addiction, rather, is of a more respectable variety.

A Defense of College Football Rivalries as Local Culture

College football is a local endeavor that should be enacted by those with a connection to that place.

Do-able Simplicities: On Letter Writing and Fountain Pens

Holding the letters was a delicate experience, noting the brittle nature of the paper, being careful not to let them tear at the aged folds, and yet the blue ink, obviously done with a fountain pen, was as clear as if it had been written yesterday.

Shopping Local in a Storm

I mourn the storm. It’s far from over. But I also do not mourn without hope.

Two Cheers for E-Bikes

Automobiles shield you from the outside world, its sounds, its colors. But on my bike, I encounter my environment directly.

The Middle Ground of Wit and Insult, Considered Together With Their...

In other words, knowledge and reason are no match for our gargantuan vices. The giants passion and pride cannot be held at bay by the ignorance that prevails in public discourse and certainly not by the bluster it hides behind.

Figures of Death and Deathlessness  

But our culture’s celebration of Halloween suggests that we know yet more. We sense not only that we are dust and will return to it; we also sense that life exists beyond death.