I recently came across the odd fact that one of the leading researchers on the brain in the twentieth century was—wait for it: Lord Brain. For real. His full name and title were Walter Russell Brain, 1st Baron Brain. What is even better, he was the longtime editor of the research journal Brain . . . . Continue Reading »
James is fond of destinguishing between ‘political libertarians’ and ‘cultural libertarians’, and the more that I read the ongoing kerfuffle over localism that has spread from PoMoCon and FPR to First Thoughts and Daniel McCarthy , the more I think a similar distinction . . . . Continue Reading »
Rusty, this has been a fun discussion of localism, particularly as I’m writing from a little town in South Dakota, back home for the summer in the one locale I really know. A thing I discovered, thinking our way through this, is the extent to which the descriptive is often taken as the . . . . Continue Reading »
Just ran into this as I started my short vacation the other day. So many questions. The first that comes to mind: Did some TSA worker have an experience with snow globes similar to The Anchoress’ experience with fruit ? . . . . Continue Reading »
1. A couple of readers suggested that I drop the pointy headed Strauss stuff and comment on the trendy localism posts of the Porchers, the (First) Thingers, and all that. My real experience is that most of them were kind of boring—no offense. 2. It goes without saying that I’m against . . . . Continue Reading »
The Anchoress has posted this beautiful video of the Nashville Dominicans, whose postulant classes, like those of the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist in Ann Arbor, have been overflowing in recent years. Meanwhile, we — our parish, that is — were visited recently by . . . . Continue Reading »
We started this discussion of localism when I mentioned that I had been reading William Cobbett’s Rural Rides . I meant only to offer our literary friends a suggestion that the beginning of Rural Rides may have influenced the beginning of Dickens’ Bleak House , but, along the way, I . . . . Continue Reading »
Out by the highway this week a big sign has appeared, advertising our town’s Fourth of July celebration. Of course, by the time I’m close enough to read anything smaller than “HISTORIC DOWNTOWN FOURTH OF JULY CELEBRATION,” I’ve already passed it, so I can’t say . . . . Continue Reading »
I’m glad Jody drew attention to Caleb Stegall’s intervention. Stegall is surely right that love is the “existential engine” of localism . Indeed, by my reckoning, love is the existential engine of any thick and substantial cultural identity. Yes, of course love is jealous. The . . . . Continue Reading »
Inspired by Patrick Deenan’s outstanding essay about sociologist and cultural philosopher Robert Nisbet, I’d like to define a term that appears as a theme in his work and was popularized by Russell Kirk: the moral imagination. It can be defined as a uniquely human ability to conceive of . . . . Continue Reading »
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