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localism

Ideas in progress: Eric Miller on Wendell Berry and localism

Eric Miller   |  December 29, 2023

“I’m preoccupied with discovering ways to help us, in our communities, catch and maintain sight of wholeness, health, holiness—that whole constellation of ancient, utterly crucial words that describe what we’re made to be, what human flourishing looks like.”

Elizabeth Stice: “We have been blessed by state university presses”

John Fea   |  December 19, 2023

Over at The Front Porch Republic, Current contributor Elizabeth Stice pays tribute to small university presses. Here is a taste: It has become commonplace to bemoan the loss of smaller presses. The remaining large publishing houses seem intent upon as […]

Some historical context on the Jason Aldean controversy

John Fea   |  July 21, 2023

Here is historian Nicole Hemmer at CNN: It was mid-November 1927 when, at a Tennessee courthouse wrapped in patriotic decor to celebrate Armistice Day, a White mob seized a Black teenager named Henry Choate and hanged him from the building’s balcony. The […]

Juneteenth has always been “distinctly local” commemoration

John Fea   |  June 16, 2023

Historian Tiya Miles wonders how the celebration of Juneteenth might change now that it is a federal holiday. Here is a taste of her piece today at The New York Times: It’s been two years since Juneteenth became a federal […]

Ideas in progress: Eric Miller on Wendell Berry and localism

Eric Miller   |  March 7, 2023

What is the focus of your current book project? What are the big questions that you are investigating and the main stories that you hope to tell in this book? My book’s working title is “A Strange and Abiding Hope: […]

The Author’s Corner with Thomas A. Castillo

Rachel Petroziello   |  January 23, 2023

Thomas A. Castillo is Associate Professor of History at Coastal Carolina University. This interview is based on his book, Working in the Magic City: Moral Economy in Early Twentieth-Century Miami (University of Illinois Press, 2022). JF: What led you to […]

How small towns survive

John Fea   |  April 23, 2022

According to writer Tim Holt, they need a “Plan B.” Here is a taste of his piece at Zocalo Public Square: Mount Shasta, California, and Ashland, Oregon did it right. Located in the California–Oregon border region where I live, they avoided […]

What is happening in the red states?

John Fea   |  June 4, 2021

The Atlantic is running another fascinating piece of political journalism from Ron Brownstein. Conservatives know they have no chance of shaping national policy, so they are appealing to localism. While I am certainly supportive of cultivating local culture, as an […]

The Washington Post Magazine is looking for local stories

John Fea   |  April 28, 2021

Here: The Washington Post Magazine is looking for journalists to contribute to a special issue about the diminished state of local and community news in the United States. Our goal is not to report on the state of local journalism, […]

Local journalism and infrastructure spending

John Fea   |  April 8, 2021

Can infrastructure spending save local journalism in the United States? I sure hope so. Check out Osita Nwanevu’s piece at The New Republic: …the administration’s push for a more capacious definition of infrastructure should encourage us to think even more […]

When Facebook replaces the local newspaper

John Fea   |  April 6, 2021

The editor of Current, Eric Miller, is a resident of Beaver County, Pennsylvania. I wonder if he knows about The News Alert of Beaver County public Facebook group? I’ll have to ask him. Brandy Zadrony’s piece at NBC News reveals […]