It will occur to the reader that I have been talking about dynasties and this and that without giving any clear background on them. The time has come to clarify. DYNASTIES In case you don’t know, a dynasty is a […]
Culture
‘Freedom From Speech’ and Freedom From Other Things
“Freedom of speech” has been a slogan in America and the Western World for some time. But how to explain the rise of “political correctness,” which has not much affected our civil law, but has affected policies on campus, and, […]
Before Generalizing about American Culture, Travel a Bit
David Bosworth, author of the new The Demise of Virtue in Virtual America: The Moral Origins of the Great Recession, writes about the effect of constant cyberspace and television on the American character. But is there anything distinctly American about […]
Surveying Marriage vs. Cohabitation: Not a Binary Choice Any More
I have been following the Institute for American Values, led by David Blankenhorn, and the National Marriage Project at the University of Virginia, led by W. Bradford Wilcox. They have been working, among other things, on the fortunes of children born […]
LARCS, Abstinence, and Other Matters of Education
I have read Isabel Sawhill’s new book, Generation Unbound. In this, she tells us that she would encourage young people to be ‘planners’ rather than ‘drifters’ when it comes to relationships, marriage, and child bearing. [Among other implications of this, […]
C.S. Lewis and the World of Modern Technology
C.S. Lewis, in his important apologetic work The Problem of Pain, tried to envision an alternative pain-free universe [Chapter 2]: The permanent nature of wood which enables us to use it as a beam also enables us to use it […]
So-Called “Bro-Country” is a New Thing, and an Old Thing
I spent a few days in Jackson, Mississippi, last fall, and for the interest of the thing had a country music station on in my car, because you never know. It turned out a large number of the songs were […]
The Strange American Inversion of the Liturgical Year
Historically in Christian liturgy, Advent was supposed to be a sort of penitential time, a little Lent leading up to Christmas, as Lent led up to Easter. Anglican hymnbooks have an Advent section and a Christmas section. Songs like “O […]
Valentine’s Day Carols? And Other Observations
A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all our readers. As usual, what Americans call ‘The Holidays’ is an odd mix, especially in the special music now played. What are effectively Gospel carols [especially if they sing all […]
Now, Even Apartment Dwellers are Getting Choosy about their Neighbors
It has been known for a long time that homeowners have wanted to control who their neighbors are. In the past it was race; now it is for income and for how they might use their property, and often for […]