Russellarbenfox

LATEST ARTICLES ( 622 )

• Learning from The Left Behind

  

  [Cross-posted to Front Porch Republic]Robert Wuthnow's new book, The Left Behind: Decline and Rage in Rural America, is the best book I've read on the... Read more

  Posted on 16 March 2018 SOCIETY

• Songs from '78: "Because the Night"

  

  Forty years and one week ago, the Patti Smith Group's groundbreaking rock-punk-folk album Easter began its march into the pop charts, led by its best song... Read more

  Posted on 08 March 2018 SOCIETY

• On Supporting Bike Paths Which I Hardly Ever Use (a Reprise)

  

  [In May of 2016, when the Woodchuck Bicycle Boulevard was officially opened here in Wichita--that's where the photo was from--I wrote a reflection about my... Read more

  Posted on 04 March 2018 SOCIETY

• Just a Quick Note About "Local Solutions" and Guns

  

  Of course there's a "national conversation" taking place over guns; is there ever not in America, no matter what the most recent mass shooting atrocity, no... Read more

  Posted on 27 February 2018 SOCIETY

• Prairie Fires and Prairie Romances

  

  [Cross-posted to Front Porch Republic]Caroline Fraser's wonderful Prairie Fires is many things. Primarily it's a biography of Laura Ingalls Wilder, author of th... Read more

  Posted on 25 February 2018 SOCIETY

• Songs from '78: "Follow You Follow Me"

  

  For the second time--and not for the last--my memories of the pop music world of 1978 are shaped in part by the detritus of progressive rock, as it was... Read more

  Posted on 25 February 2018 SOCIETY

• The Joyful, and Mournful, Journey of Lent

  

  [Cross-posted to By Common Consent]This year my employer, Friends University, a non-denomination Christian liberal arts college in Wichita, KS, decided to... Read more

  Posted on 14 February 2018 SOCIETY

• Mid-Sized Meditations #14: Urban Questions (and Reponses) for Krugman

  

  [Cross-posted to Front Porch Republic]Over a month ago, Paul Krugman used his space at The New York Times to ask "what, in the modern economy, are small cities... Read more

  Posted on 12 February 2018 SOCIETY

• Songs from '78: "Night Fever"

  

  "Night Fever," released today in 1978, was the sixth and final single released--four of which had been written by the Bee Gees--from Saturday Night Fever, the... Read more

  Posted on 07 February 2018 SOCIETY

• Thoughts on Friendship

  

  [Cross-posted to By Common Consent]Friendship is one of the grand fundamental principles of 'Mormonism'; [it is designed] to revolutionize and civilize the... Read more

  Posted on 05 February 2018 SOCIETY

• Songs from '78: "Baker Street"

  

  Forty years ago today, the first single from Gerry Rafferty brilliant--and criminally forgotten among even many serious pop listeners--album City to City began... Read more

  Posted on 03 February 2018 SOCIETY

• Can Wichita Elect a Governor?

  

  [The Wichita Eagle ran a shortened version of this argument this morning; he's my fuller piece. And yes, I've already handicapped the governor's race as I see i... Read more

  Posted on 26 January 2018 SOCIETY

• Songs from '78: "Dust in the Wind"

  

  This week, 40 years ago, "Dust in the Wind," the second single released from Kansas's fifth studio album, Point of Know Return, starting climbing up the charts. Read more

  Posted on 22 January 2018 SOCIETY

• How to Stop This Man?

  

  [Long, and of interest to only three people. You've been warned.]Donald Trump has been President of the United States for a year. He shouldn't be. Read more

  Posted on 22 January 2018 SOCIETY

• Songs from '78: "Werewolves of London"

  

  For much of last year, I got caught up in just how fine a year I thought 1987 was, at least insofar as the pop/rock radio I tuned into was concerned. Read more

  Posted on 18 January 2018 SOCIETY

• Handicapping the Kansas Governor's Race

  

  Back to blogging? Well, I'll try.So a little over a week ago, the day before Governor Brownback's final State of the State address, I gamed out some... Read more

  Posted on 16 January 2018 SOCIETY

• 30 on the 30th: Cloud Nine and "That's What It Takes"

  

  Well, it's my birthday; I'm 49 years old. Looking forward to hitting the half-century mark in just a year's time, I'm wondering a lot about how I got here, and... Read more

  Posted on 30 December 2017 SOCIETY

• The Ten Best Movies I Saw in 2017

  

  In alphabetical order. Remember, these are the best the movies I saw for the first time this year, not necessarily the best movies that were new this year... Read more

  Posted on 29 December 2017 SOCIETY

• The Ten Best Books I Read in 2017

  

  Here's my list, in authorial alphabetical order:Ta-Nehisi Coates, We Were Eight Years in Power: An American Tragedy. I've read Coates's essays for years, but... Read more

  Posted on 29 December 2017 SOCIETY

• 30 on the 30th: Nothing Like the Sun and "Straight to My Heart"

  

  Coming almost to the end here of my series of great albums that I still listen to, 30 years on. I started with U2 in March, then there was Prince in April,... Read more

  Posted on 30 November 2017 SOCIETY