Russellarbenfox

LATEST ARTICLES ( 622 )

• Why I Strongly Support Bike Paths (Which I Basically Never Use)

  

  The past week or two have been good ones for bicycling in Wichita. Thanks to the efforts of many people over many months, several long-developed and... Read more

  Posted on 17 May 2016 SOCIETY

• Invisible Church, Immanent Community

  

  [Cross-posted to By Common Consent]In the liturgical calendar of the Christian tradition, today is Whitsunday, the Day of Pentecost, a day to commemorate a... Read more

  Posted on 15 May 2016 SOCIETY

• Saturday Night Live Music: "Never Surrender"

  

  Today was my tenth graduation day as a professor here at Friends University--and it also happened to be a day on which I formally bade farewell to the largest... Read more

  Posted on 08 May 2016 SOCIETY

• The Passing of a Senator

  

  Senator Bob Bennett, a three-term Republican senator from Utah, passed away Wednesday evening. I never met him, and never particularly cared for his political... Read more

  Posted on 05 May 2016 SOCIETY

• Three Reasons I Just Gave More Money in Support of Sanders (and So Should You)

  

  So, I'm still contributing to the Sanders campaign. Why? Because I think his win yesterday in Indiana is the breakthrough, that all of sudden the math is going... Read more

  Posted on 04 May 2016 SOCIETY

• What I've Learned, and David Brooks (Perhaps) Still Hasn't

  

  [Cross-posted to Front Porch Republic]Among all the major right-wing voices of America's mainstream journalistic establishment, David Brooks is perhaps the... Read more

  Posted on 03 May 2016 SOCIETY

• So, What Has Russell Been Watching?

  

  If I'm going to get back into blogging, I might as well begin with something simple--like, what have I been doing over the past few months when I haven't been... Read more

  Posted on 03 May 2016 SOCIETY

• Clearly, Price Charles Was Born to Play Polonius

  "[T]he press was still the last resource of the educated poor who could not be artists and would not be tutors. Any man who was fit for nothing else could... Read more

  Posted on 25 April 2016 SOCIETY

• Prince Rogers Nelson, RIP

  

  I was actually planning to write a blog post today, my first in a couple of months, talking the passage of time and how it's leaving me with feelings both good... Read more

  Posted on 21 April 2016 SOCIETY

• Mid-Sized Meditations #11: Thoughts on Localism and Resilience

  

  [Cross-posted to Front Porch Republic]Yesterday, I had the opportunity to speak to the "Resilience Group," an informal gathering of environmentalists, activists... Read more

  Posted on 16 February 2016 SOCIETY

• The Deep and Discomforting Point of Populism (and Socialism, and Certain Sorts o...

  

  [Cross-posted to Front Porch Republic]Over the weekend, a friend of mine shared an article which had joined in the Hillary Clinton-Bernie Sanders fight, a... Read more

  Posted on 08 February 2016 SOCIETY

• Mid-Sized Meditations #10: Soil and Sacrament in Certain Kinds of Cities

  

  [Cross-posted to Front Porch Republic]This past weekend here in Wichita, I participated in the Eighth Day Institute's symposium, Soil and Sacrament: The World a... Read more

  Posted on 21 January 2016 SOCIETY

• "No Doubt."

  

  Rest in peace, Mr. Rickman. So many of your performances on stage and screen were wonderful, but my favorite role of yours was Colonel Brandon is Emma Thompson'... Read more

  Posted on 14 January 2016 SOCIETY

• Assessing the Freedom Of, and the Freedom From, Cities

  

  [Cross-posted to Bleeding Heart Libertarians]Jacob Levy's Rationalism, Pluralism, and Freedom is a superb work of political theory and intellectual history. Read more

  Posted on 12 January 2016 SOCIETY

• Five Farewells to Our Thin White Duke

  

  Innumerable tributes will pore forth today for David Bowie, who passed away yesterday from cancer, just two days after his 69th birthday and the release of his... Read more

  Posted on 11 January 2016 SOCIETY

• A Year of Hard Love

  

  [Cross-posted to By Common Consent]I've joked for years about being a closet Lutheran--joked about it for so long, in fact, I can't remember when I first starte... Read more

  Posted on 31 December 2015 SOCIETY

• The Ten Best Books I Read in 2015

  

  This year's top ten reads reflects my interests pretty well: only one work of fiction, one memoir, one work of scripture, and the rest all research or theory... Read more

  Posted on 31 December 2015 SOCIETY

• Mid-Sized Meditations #9: Sustainability in Cities That Hold Steady

  

  [Cross-posted to Front Porch Republic]Wichita, KS, is a large city, a regional center for manufacturing, medicine, finance, and the arts. Read more

  Posted on 30 December 2015 SOCIETY

• The Ten Best Movies I Saw in 2015

  

  As before, these are the ten best movies I managed to watch this year, whether they are old or new. In alphabetical order:American Hustle: a movie with wonderfu... Read more

  Posted on 30 December 2015 SOCIETY

• Ten Psalms to Remember

  

  [Cross-posted to By Common Consent] Last week, continuing my slow journey through the Old Testament, I finished the Book of Psalms, aided as always by the work... Read more

  Posted on 27 December 2015 SOCIETY