Florida Man Turns Out to be a Good Neighbor
“Florida man” is the source of many ridiculous headlines. So many that now there is a “game” you can play by typing your birthday...
Still Singin’
That this country boasts something called “The Great American Songbook” is one of the best jokes around. The Great American Songbook? Our songs—let alone...
The Beehive Plan
A folklife is made up of the food and craft, the local stories, songs, remedies and rumors—relationships that define a place as much as the geology and ecology do.
“Blackest Land, Whitest People”
From here in my long-time Midwestern location, these lots are unshakeable reminders of a place in Texas where a shameful darkness once surrounded a part of my childhood.
Mud: Our Alma-Pater
If the institutions that oversee our slow twelve-to-eighteen-year process of education are called our alma-mater (nourishing mother), why can’t the dirt-filled, dung-laden places that convey agrarian lessons taught over 20 years be our nourishing father (alma-pater)?
The Price of Place: Oeconomia over Chrematistike
The age of chivalry is gone. That of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded; and the glory of Europe is extinguished forever.--Edmund Burke, Reflections...
Rethinking the Good City: Vallejo’s Bold Vision
What Americans Want in Cities
What makes a good city? I’ve been thinking a lot about this. What makes for a city people are happy...
Robo-umps and Us
As is so often the case when new technology promises to correct the errors of human fallibility, robo-umps could be bad for everyone involved.
Bringing Wendell Berry (and Business) to Sterling
A week ago I was able to organize a small group of friends to attend a fine, relatively intimate event at Sterling College, a...
Solar’s Dirty Secret
In 2017 I moved back home to Livingston County after serving seven years in the United States Marine Corps. A father, a veteran, and...