Russellarbenfox

LATEST ARTICLES ( 606 )

• Remembering Radio (and Me), Part 2: 1983

  

  So, 1983, the year I turned 15, my last year in junior high (in Spokane, WA, at that time they divided up the grades K-6, 7-9, and 10-12) and the first and... Read more

  Posted on 27 August 2013 SOCIETY

• Remembering Radio (and Me), Part 1: 1978

  

  Last week, Matt Yglesias asked why people don't remember the 1990s more fondly. (This isn't the first time he's blogged nostalgically for his Clinton-era youth.... Read more

  Posted on 26 August 2013 SOCIETY

• Orson Scott Card, Unoriginal Fantasist

  

  So, I see exploding all over the internet the news that science-fiction author Orson Scott Card has waxed lyrical (at nearly 3000 words) about a "silly thought... Read more

  Posted on 14 August 2013 SOCIETY

• Thoughts on Elshtain

  

  [Cross-posted to Front Porch Republic]Jean Bethke Elshtain, a profound and important political theorist and ethicist, died yesterday. Read more

  Posted on 13 August 2013 SOCIETY

• The Big Two-Oh.

  

  On a Friday the 13th, twenty years ago today--or twenty years ago, less about six hours from now--Melissa Madsen and I were married in Salt Lake City, Utah. Read more

  Posted on 13 August 2013 SOCIETY

• Taking Stock of the Summer, Part 1: Home Improvement

  

  Well, it's Friday, August 2--which means I only have about ten days left before all the meetings and the mad preparations for fall semester begin. Read more

  Posted on 02 August 2013 SOCIETY

• Science is Stunning, Sometimes

  The must-see video of the day: compiled and corrected footage from two different space shuttle flights results in our being able to watch, and listen, as the... Read more

  Posted on 29 July 2013 SOCIETY

• "I Can't Quite Visualize It; I'll Have to See It On Film"

  A post on Rod Dreher's blog, praising An American in Paris, gets my Monday morning started off right, by reminding me of one of the, in my opinion, greatest... Read more

  Posted on 22 July 2013 SOCIETY

• Pondering St. Francisville, Gilead, and Our Stories of Place

  

  [Cross-posted to Front Porch Republic]Jeremy Beer's recent review of The Little Way of Ruthie Leming leads me to once again reflect upon Rod Dreher's excellent... Read more

  Posted on 19 July 2013 SOCIETY

• Because You Can Never Get Enough of the Trio

  Or, I can't at least, as the dog days of summer settles in, and I find myself thinking about old friends.Props to whomever applied their internet skills to the... Read more

  Posted on 05 July 2013 SOCIETY

• Just Another Day, Just Another Example of Judicial Imperialism

  

  [Cross-posted to Political Context] This morning the word came down from the Supreme Court: in the matter of Shelby County v. Holder, the landmark (and... Read more

  Posted on 25 June 2013 SOCIETY

• Saturday Night Live Music: "Love Hurts"

  A friend of recently got me to rethink The Rolling Stones--or at least Keith Richards. He sent me a copy of the wonderful A Stone Alone, a collection of... Read more

  Posted on 16 June 2013 SOCIETY

• Saturday Night Live Music: "Route 66"

  Sorry for no live music last week, but we'd just returned from a week-long trip from Kansas to Michigan and back again. And actually, we were on Route 66 for a... Read more

  Posted on 09 June 2013 SOCIETY

• Stuff That a Brilliant (and Often Wise) Left-Wing Jewish Intellectual Had to Say

  

  Tony Judt, a much-praised historian and all-around intellectual-provocateur, died of Lou Gehrig's disease nearly three years ago. Read more

  Posted on 06 June 2013 SOCIETY

• Holy Crap, Ayn Rand is Alive and Well and Has an Office at the Wall Street...

  New York City, the wealthiest and most powerful city in America, cowers in fear and lays helpless before the all-powerful and totalitarian bicycling lobby.... Read more

  Posted on 04 June 2013 SOCIETY

• Some Summertime (and Hopefully Sabbatical-Worthy) Speculations on Cities

  

  That's Wichita, KS, right there, the city which has been our family's home since 2006 and will, quite possibly, remain our home until Melissa and I shuffle off... Read more

  Posted on 17 May 2013 SOCIETY

• Getting Star Trek Mostly Right

  

  I'm not going try to compete with Matthew Yglesias's tremendous survey the whole Star Trek mythos. (Well, actually, as he admits right at the beginning, it's no... Read more

  Posted on 15 May 2013 SOCIETY

• Saturday Night Live Music: "(What's So Funny About) Peace, Love and...

  I know I did an Elvis Costello number recently, but I have to put up this one as well: a fine, smooth take on this classic Nick Lowe tune, which Costello had... Read more

  Posted on 12 May 2013 SOCIETY

• Saturday Night Live Music: "While My Guitar Gently Weeps"

  One of the greatest songs from the whole Beatles catalog, of course, and perhaps George Harrison's greatest composition (though I'm quite fond of "That's What i... Read more

  Posted on 28 April 2013 SOCIETY

• The Problem of Undertheorized Agrarianism in Most Actually Argued Localism

  

  [Cross-posted to Front Porch Republic] That's a terrible title for this post, I know. But hopefully it'll make sense, if you actually make it to the end. Read more

  Posted on 26 April 2013 SOCIETY