On Being Less than We Are
What you miss out on by not making the climb is too great a loss on such a morning as this.
Blowing Up the Bert: The Outside Story
Two years ago I witnessed the abrupt transformation of an old and distinguished literary magazine. For the people doing the transforming, of course, the...
AirSpace Colonizes the College Town
As a localist and a voracious reader, it is only natural that I would be deeply devoted to my local independent bookstore. Here in...
Naftzger Park, Planning, and the Problem of “Growth”
Naftzger Memorial Park was a small, pleasantly run-down city block of trees, grass, and benches, near the center of downtown Wichita, KS, just a...
“Anything Less than Ownership is Unacceptable!”
Many Americans do not need a data visualization to see that their places, especially their cities, are sharply divided along racial lines. Even so,...
In Praise of the Children’s Choir Accompanist
Every few weeks, in what I assume is a uniquely Protestant ritual, a dozen small children stand at the front of our church and...
A Tale of Two Tragedies
This past week, the Baton Rouge district attorney announced he would not press charges against the two police officers who shot and killed Alton...
The Economic Value of Streetcars
Although you would hardly know it today, Baltimore was once a city of streetcars. Crackling densely across the city’s center like fissures in old...
Reading Chatwin in Silesia
When I moved to Poland it was the first time I had left Britain. I have lived in the same town for four years...
A Few Favorable Words About Jud Heathcote
I understood immediately why Skiles was a Spartan and I was not.