The Water Dipper 334
Useless Reading, Bothies, and Davos
“Fables of School Reform.” The lead of Audrey Watters’s essay says it all: “Over the past five years, more than $13 billion in venture capital has been sunk into education…
Originalism, Local Fiction, and the March for Life
“Remembering Fr. Richard John Neuhaus.” Ten years after Neuhaus’s death, Wilfred McClay reconsiders his life and work. This is a rich, thoughtful profile that brings Neuhaus’s ideas to bear on…
Free Markets, Transhumanism, and Populism
"On the Experience of Entering a Bookstore in Your Forties (vs. Your Twenties).” Steve Edwards explores the ecology of reading, pondering the way that books, life, and place are hitched together.…
Dairy Farming, Monks, and Kirk
“For Love of Place: Reflections of an Agrarian Sage.” Allen White interviews Wendell Berry: “I don’t know how to bring about a major transformation of a huge economy, one that…
Craft, Rural America, and Beauty
The Porch will likely be quiet this coming week as we celebrate the Christmas season. Enjoy these next few days on a real porch (or, more likely, in front of…
Amish, the Farm Bill, and Universities
“Conscience and Resistance.” Earlier this year, Scott Russell Sanders described the profound effect that Thomas Merton had on his life: “Beginning with ‘Rain and the Rhinoceros,’ his work has helped…
Port William, Front Porches, and Mobility
“A Clearing.” The Hudson Review published a new short story by Wendell Berry, narrated by Andy Catlett. “On the Front Porch, Black Life in Full View.” Audra D. S. Burch…
Sabbath, Membership, and Monopolies
“A Grave Climate Warning, Buried on Black Friday.” In the “news that isn’t news” category, Robinson Meyer summarizes the National Climate Assessment. It’s not a cheery picture. “Tallgrass.” Robin Wall…
René Girard, DNA Testing, and Turkeys
"The Evolution of René Girard.” In this excerpt from her new intellectual biography of Girard, Cynthia L. Haven synthesizes the key aspects of his one great insight. “Deneen Among the…
Amazon, Cities, and Farming Colleges
“Inhuman Communication: Søren Kierkegaard Versus the Internet.” Patrick Stokes draws on the Danish philosopher to gain insight into our digital media ecosystem: “According to Kierkegaard, … the media ― his…
Wildness, Attention, and Making Something
“Wild and Domestic.” Wendell Berry writes in Orion Magazine about this odd binary: "With only a little self-knowledge and a little sitting still and looking, the conventional perspective of wild…
Recycling, Flyover Country, and Reclaiming the Household
“Percy and the Persistence of Alienation.” Emina Melonic reviews Brian Smith’s Walker Percy and the Politics of the Wayfarer, arguing that Percy’s definition of the human as wayfarer has much…
Parenting, Geoengineering, and Picking up Trash
“Corporate Progressivism.” Patrick Deneen reviews Darel Paul’s From Tolerance to Equality: How Elites Brought America to Same-Sex Marriage. Here’s a taste: There is a striking alignment between this progressive valorization…
Wolves, Russell Kirk, and Ex-Voters
“Politics as the New Religion for Progressive Democrats.” Emma Green reports on a new poll gauging voter engagement: “Religiously unaffiliated voters, who may or may not be associated with other…
Localism, Uncertainty, and Berea
“US Plan to Genetically Alter Crops via Insects Feared to be Biological War Plan.” Erin Durkin reports that “Government-backed researchers in America are aiming to use virus-carrying insects to genetically…
Wendell Berry, the USMCA, and Liturgy
“Wendell Berry’s Right Kind of Farming.” Gracy Olmstead interviews Wendell Berry for the New York Times. “Gardeners and Pilgrims: Reviving Place in the Christian Imagination.” Wilfred M. McClay writes a…
Leisure, Suburbs, and a Wild Public Square
“Magnolia Silos to Host Church Under The Bridge during I-35 Work.” Mike Copeland narrates a unique church’s temporary relocation. Having attended Church Under the Bridge, I can attest that it’s…
Sabbath, Tyranny, and Democracy
“Evoking a Life of Shalom.” Allan F. Brooke II reviews FPR’s recent book Telling the Stories Right: Wendell Berry’s Imagination of Port William, concluding: Telling the Stories Right collects a…
Integrity, Cape Breton, and Nationalism
“Living with Integrity.” Comment Magazine has a new issue out that focuses on how liberal individualism has perhaps warped our understanding of integrity. Along with some excellent essays, it includes…
Tangier Island, Anthems, and Wendell Berry’s Horses
“Restoring Appalachia.” McKay Jenkins writes about different ways that residents of coal-country are trying to grow food, make money, and restore the damaged ecosystem: “Making a living without coal means…
McCain’s Favorite Poem, Defending Chess Tables, and 1968
“How Civil Must America Be? Americans care about being nice. How do we disagree with our neighbors about guns?” Jacqui Shine visits Grinnell, Iowa, home to a liberal arts college,…
Instagram, Silicon Valley, and Hunger Stones
“The Unlikely Activists Who Took On Silicon Valley—and Won.” Nicholas Confessore tells the story of how a real estate investor convinced California to pass a data privacy law despite the…
Monsanto, Walking, and Hardware Stores
“Monsanto Ordered to Pay $289m as Jury Rules Weedkiller Cause of Man’s Cancer.” Sam Levin reports on the remarkable finding of a San Francisco jury against Monsanto. Obviously this verdict…
The Humanities, Baseball, and Hunting
“Simone Weil’s Deeper Grace.” Scott Beauchamp explains why Simone Weil is such a necessary thinker for us to listen to. Keep an eye out for my review, coming Monday, of…