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Rat nest archaeology

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Alternative title: “Rats as archivists.” Here is Amy Crawford at Atlas Obscura: SOMETIME DURING OR JUST AFTER the Civil War, a black rat in Williamsburg, Virginia, came into possession of a rare trophy: a solid silver fork. The rodent—a member of the […]

Here’s the latest Southern Baptist controversy

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I’ll let religion journalist Bob Smietana explain: Willie McLaurin, the acting president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee, resigned suddenly on Thursday after admitting he had falsified his rĂ©sumĂ©. “While considering McLaurin as a candidate for Floyd’s permanent replacement, […]

Commonplace Book #278

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Though the slogan “The personal is political” initially called attention to how personal life was affected by political arrangement, it also captured the sense that transforming American life could begin at the personal level. Much of a generation was inspired […]

What is popular this week at Current?

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Here are the most popular features of the week at Current: Here are the most popular posts of the last week at The Way of Improvement Leads Home blog: Here are the most popular posts of the last week at The Arena blog:

The Author’s Corner with Mairin Odle

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Mairin Odle is Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Studies in American Studies at the University of Alabama. This interview is based on her book, Under the Skin: Tattoos, Scalps, and the Contested Language of Bodies in Early America (University […]

Commonplace Book #277

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In The Triumph of the Therapeutic, the sociologist Philip Rieff…thought the emergent therapeutic culture was an “anti-culture” based on an “ethic of release,” which fostered individualism and preoccupation with the self. Falling by the wayside was the earlier belief that […]

Evangelical roundup for August 17, 2023

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What is happening in Evangelical land? Evangelical politico Bob Vander Plaats: “Iowa is going to be wide open.” Good advice on how to send money to evangelical groups working in Maui. Billy Graham Evangelistic Association is an organization to avoid […]

If it scares you, it must be Marxism

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Here is a taste of Ben Burgis‘s piece at Jacobin: Earlier this month, best-selling author Jordan Peterson declared that “climate justice” is “the new guise of murderous Marxism.” The same day, Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis appeared at a town hall event […]

Commonplace Book #276

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The world of the diversity engineers is a world in which virulent white racism and white supremacist attitudes still reigned unchallenged, a world of victims and victimizers, a world in perpetual recovery, a world of endless slights. Here racist crimes […]

Trump is indicted for a fourth time. Some responses:

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Get up to speed here. The Speaker of the House: Ohio GOP congressman Jim Jordan: Jenna Ellis (INDICTED): Tennessee senator Marsha Blackburn: Texas Senator Ted Cruz: Arizona congressman Andy Biggs: California congressman Adam Schiff: Colorado congresswoman Lauren Boebert: Georgia congresswoman […]