It seems there’s a bit of a rebellion over at the porch, where the iconic Wendell Berry, the Kentucky sage, is brought down a peg or two by FPR contributing editor and founder of the late, and beloved, The New Pantagruel: Hymns in a Whorehouse, Caleb Stegall. Is this what localism has become?
Friday, December 4, 2009, 1:52 PM
Robert Cheeks
December 4th, 2009 | 4:16 pm
I got to agree that Wendell is way silly and way fawning here. I also agree with Caleb’s that Bush’s stabs at manual labor were far more real and far more manly. In general, Berry’s politics are not is strong point, and Caleb is right to try to establish some Porcher distance from them.
December 4th, 2009 | 5:36 pm
Yes, we fusty old locals aka “porchers” are a vindictive bunch, fussing over our back issues of Farmall catalogs and hoping against hope that nobody has a good time, at least on purpose.
When one of the Sachems treats with the enemy for fire water or compliments the Great Father in our charming Babylon on the Potomac, there is bound to be some Ghost Dancing Start up and one hopes it will get ugly.
December 5th, 2009 | 12:46 pm
City folk (like me) are always surprised by the gossipy and outright bitchy disposition of farmers. We romanticize them, and our feelings are hurt when we uncover how small and petty they typically are. It was the children of farmers who first pointed this out to me.
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