Slow. Slow. Quick-quick. This formulation sticks in my head more than anything I’ve learned in the weeks of ballroom dance lessons my wife signed us up for. That’s good, since these four steps are the cornerstone of the dances we’ve studied. We’ve learned to foxtrot. We’ve learned to waltz. We learned the meringue. All of which are easier than you’d think. We’ve also learned the triple-time jitterbug, a dance no sane person would ever dance voluntarily since after about four... Read more
Dear Ladies, The degeneration of our culture has given rise to some pretty nasty girls. The combination of media that glorify celebrity bodies, an overall ethos of materialism, the devaluing of fathers and the encouragement of sexual incontinence have come together to produce scads of young women who are shallow, entitled, vapid and cruel. You know who I am talking about. These women, in spite of their shortcomings, get a lot of attention, capturing stares with their attitudes and appearance.... Read more
The question of whether women should work outside the home confuses a lot of people. A recent twitter conversation made this clear. A friend put this question to me and seemed to expect a simple yes or no, the kind of response suited to a 140-character medium. But, simple answers to questions that already inspire confusion rarely do more than increase people’s perplexity. To answer this question well, we first have to look at what kind of question it is.... Read more
The most common charge made against homeschoolers is, of course, that they are socially backward. They aren’t prepared to cope with the real world. They’ll never be able to make friends. By now, these accusations are so common even mentioning them feels like spouting clichés. That these charges are common and easily refuted by both anecdotal experience and more systematic research doesn’t keep some people from building their lives around them. Take, for example, an pseudonymous blogger whose story was... Read more
Once in a while, I say something that ruffles a few feathers, disturbs tender souls and cuts against the grain of common assumptions. I did all this the other day with a single tweet. I wrote: There is no such thing as “sheltering” your children too much. — Dean Abbott (@DeanAbbott) October 16, 2015 The incensed comments began flowing in. It is possible to shelter children too much, they insisted. I was regaled with tales of children who are not... Read more
Just imagine a little room, big enough for two, maybe three if one is a child. The furnishings are comfortable. It’s warm, maybe there’s a fire you can sit by. On a table sits a full plate. No one here is going to starve, or even want for much. For amusement there are books, games, even perhaps a computer. Outside there are other rooms in other homes where neighbors and friends dwell. This room with all its accouterments, when filled... Read more
One function of the home is to hold the world at bay. Here, in the walls of our home, we ought to find a reprieve from the ceaseless pressures of the world, from its values and its expectations. All this is especially true for children. It is in the home where the boundaries protecting them from the nefarious forces of culture ought to be strongest. Unfortunately, what ought to be in place often is not. A great example of the... Read more
Not many books offer social critiques so trenchant they become classics. Even fewer pull off this feat in fewer than two hundred pages. Neal Postman’s Amusing Ourselves to Death does both. The book remains relevant thirty years after its initial publication. At the heart of its argument is the claim that television has radically altered every aspect of American life for the worse. Television, Postman claims, has changed religion, politics, and culture by rendering them little more than entertainment. Or... Read more
There’s creepy, and then there’s truly scary. The Twilight Zone, at its best, perfected the art of capturing that distinction. A 1963 episode called “Living Doll” shows us how it’s done. The creepy comes from the fantastical elements of the story, a menacing child’s toy that manages to speak, uttering consistently less-veiled threats as the story progresses. The truly scary, however, comes from the realistic. The truly scary character in this story is Eric Streator, husband of Annabelle, step-father to... Read more
The Memory of Old Jack, one of Wendell Berry’s early novels, is a mostly excellent book. It is to Berry’s credit that its flaws are noticeable largely in comparison to his masterful later novels, Jayber Crow and Hannah Coulter. The shortcomings of The Memory of Old Jack are, in a way, reassuring. It is comforting to see that even a writer of Berry’s caliber has improved over time. The novel consists of twelve chapters and an epilogue. The final chapter... Read more
The Road Home
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