Russellarbenfox

LATEST ARTICLES ( 629 )

• Kathleen Jolley Fox, 1945-2025

  

  [Cross-posted to By Common Consent] By the time my youngest brother, Baden, and I arrived at the Spokane Valley Hospital in Washington state on Thursday,... Read more

  Posted on 25 January 2026 SOCIETY

• The 10 Best Books I Read in 2025

  

  Phil Christman, Why Christians Should be LeftistsA wonderful, short--and yes, somewhat rambling, but only in the way the best kind of earnest testimonies... Read more

  Posted on 31 December 2025 SOCIETY

• Recognizing Christianity’s Universal Leftism for What It Undisputedly Is

  

  [Cross-posted to Religious Socialism]Phil Christman, a writer and lecturer at the University of Michigan, is a committed Protestant Christian. Read more

  Posted on 30 December 2025 SOCIETY

• The 10 Best Movies I Saw in 2025

  

  As always, this is my listing of what I think were the best movies I saw in the past calendar year, not necessarily movies that came out during that year. Read more

  Posted on 29 December 2025 SOCIETY

• Becky Elder, a Local Kansas Matriarch (and More)

  

  Last week, on a clear and cold Friday afternoon, I joined a couple of hundred other people to attend, and pay our respects during, the graveside service of... Read more

  Posted on 17 December 2025 SOCIETY

• Listening to Lennon #8: Milk and Honey (Plus, a Summary)

  

  John Lennon was murdered 45 years ago this evening, on December 8, 1980. The photo attached was taken that afternoon--ghoulishly, but entirely coincidentally, i... Read more

  Posted on 08 December 2025 SOCIETY

• Listening to Lennon #7: Double Fantasy

  

  Double Fantasy is an iconic album, for obvious reasons. Leaving behind Los Angeles, May Pang, the experiments (and exasperation) in the studio of Walls and... Read more

  Posted on 30 November 2025 SOCIETY

• Listening to Lennon: Rock 'n' Roll (along with McCartney's CHOBA B CCCP and Run...

  

  It would be nice to believe that Lennon wanted, in early 1975, with his immigration woes and his conflicts with the U.S. government apparently finally coming... Read more

  Posted on 31 October 2025 SOCIETY

• Two Comments and Two Questions About Religious Liberty

  

  [Cross-posted to By Common Consent]Last week I attended the "Kansas Summit for Religious Freedom," a gathering designed to provide representatives of multiple... Read more

  Posted on 26 October 2025 SOCIETY

• Listening to Lennon #5: Walls and Bridges

  

  Lennon recorded Walls and Bridges back in New York City, in the summer of 1974, after having lived for most of the previous year away from Yoko Ono in Los... Read more

  Posted on 30 September 2025 SOCIETY

• Rauch Among the Mormons

  

  [Cross-posted to By Common Consent]Jonathan Rauch’s Cross Purposes: Christianity's Broken Bargain with Democracy, the latest book by the longtime policy... Read more

  Posted on 07 September 2025 SOCIETY

• Could President Trump Take Over Policing in Wyandotte County? (A Brief Primer...

  

  [An expanded version of my Insight Kansas column, which appeared in Kansas newspapers this weekend.] Three weeks ago, President Trump declared that "the Distric... Read more

  Posted on 31 August 2025 SOCIETY

• Listening to Lennon #4: Mind Games

  

  Mind Games is usually seen as Lennon backing away from the direct, seemingly (but in actual fact almost never truly) spontaneous engagement with radical and... Read more

  Posted on 31 August 2025 SOCIETY

• An Urban History of Prosperity’s Menace, and Those Who Sought (and Still Seek) t...

  

  [Cross-posted to Front Porch Republic] Regarding Abundance One of the big topics of conversation among left-leaning and liberal pundits, politicians, and... Read more

  Posted on 11 August 2025 SOCIETY

• Listening to Lennon #3: Some Time in New York City

  

  In August of 1971, John Lennon and Yoko Ono moved to New York City, according to them to help Yoko obtain custody of her daughter Kyoko (which was a failure;... Read more

  Posted on 31 July 2025 SOCIETY

• On Superman, Sentimentality, and Citizenship (or, What Gunn's Superman Knows...

  

  Daniel McCarthy expanded upon his New York Post editorial, the one I responded to previously, in the pages of his journal, Modern Age. Read more

  Posted on 21 July 2025 SOCIETY

• Defending Superman's Sentimentality

  

  [Note: Spoilers follow.] I’ve seen James Gunn’s Superman, and I’ve written up my take on it on social media: I thought it was absolutely wonderful, one of the... Read more

  Posted on 16 July 2025 SOCIETY

• Stella, My Dear

  

  Martha my dear, / Though I spend my days in conversation, / Please remember me.At roughly 12:30am this morning, the fog and pain and confusion and frustration... Read more

  Posted on 08 July 2025 SOCIETY

• Listening to Lennon #2: Imagine

  

  By the spring of 1971, Lennon's confused mess of anger, resentment, and frustration had a focus: his oldest and truest friend, Paul McCartney. Read more

  Posted on 30 June 2025 SOCIETY

• Listening to Lennon #1: Plastic Ono Band

  

  So, as promised, my review of Lennon's solo albums begins.By January of 1970, the last time the Beatles ever worked together as "The Beatles" was more than... Read more

  Posted on 30 May 2025 SOCIETY