Tag: community

The Reluctant Southerner: Reflections on Home and History

Moorpark, CA.  In October of 1997 I attended the Southern Historical Association’s convention in Atlanta because I wanted to hear Paul Conkin’s presidential address,...

You’ve Got Mail. But Not For Long.

Claremont, CA. Tomato, the main character in Erika Lopez’s terrifically kooky Flaming Iguanas, loves the post office. She says, to be precise, that she...

Closing the Circle: An Economy of Values, and Where to Look...

It is no surprise that many of us connected with FPR welcomed the release in mid July of Pope Benedict XVI’s latest encyclical, Caritas...

Tocqueville on the Shores of Titicaca

Amid Alexis de Tocqueville’s writings on revolution in France, there is a passage that rings true for those of us who have spent time...

Cocktails at the Dump

My father in-law, Ron, tells me a story of what life was like when he moved his young family (my wife not yet born)...

“On the Grid”: When Electricity (and Other Things) Came to the...

“Come in and look,” Quintín urged me, as he disappeared with a shuffle through the low doorway in his adobe house.  I got up...

In Praise of States (and Why There Should be More of...

Wichita, KS Over the July 4th weekend, we made a quick trip south to Dallas, and were blessed with a brief look at that particular...

What’s Modernity Marx Got to Do With It? (FPR vs. PoMoCon,...

Wichita, KS Blogger though I am, I can't deny that there is a major advantage to arguments conducted through the slower media of paper (to...

Robert Nisbet’s Quest

Seattle, WA Robert Nisbet's 1953 book The Quest for Community has rightfully achieved that rare and estimable status of "classic."     What Nisbet saw more...

Notes from the Congress for the New Urbanism

DENVER, COLORADO. It seems like only yesterday that the New Urbanism was really new. But this weekend, with its annual meeting here in Denver,...