News from the Front Porch Republic
Greetings from the Porch,
I'm down in Charlottesville this weekend for a conference, and spring is much further along down here than it is in western PA. The redbuds, fruit trees, (and, yes, even the Bradford pears), are in their full glory.
- In this week's Water Dipper I recommend essays about doubt, fungi, and water.
- LuElla D'Amico examines the friendship modeled by Frog and Toad in Arnold Lobel's classic stories: "If we fail to recognize friendship for what it is, and for the role it plays in the maturation process of children and young adults, we lose out on a world that is diverse in the relationships it values."
- David Bannon considers how Dwight and Mamie Eisenhower dealt with the death of their beloved three-year-old son: "Eisenhower and Mamie walked through the valley of grief together. Their relationship was rewarding, despite and perhaps in some ways because of Ikey’s passing. They came to value the transience of life and found meaning along the dark path of loss they shared."
- Jesse Russell reviews Tim Flight's Basilisks and Beowulf: Monsters in the Anglo-Saxon World and commends its reminders that "the past is not completely lost to us, and the fascination with fantastic beasts remains."
- Jon Schaff reviews David J. Betz's The Guarded Age: Fortifications in the Twenty-First Century and suggests why it might be of particular interest to Porchers: "If you are reading Front Porch Republic, I would guess a book on fortifications is not at the top of your reading list, thus making The Guarded Age a tough sell. Let me suggest that even if you are not into military strategy books, this book might just be for you. . . . We are more supervised in our daily lives than ever. Our actions are regularly surveilled, recorded, documented, and saved for later."
I recently read Harrison Scott Key's Congratulations, Who Are You Again?: A Memoir. It's both hysterically funny and also quite wise. Key dedicates his life to fulfilling his dream of becoming a famous author, and when he sort of succeeds, he realizes that this may not have been his dream after all. His reflections on the workings and purpose of humor are also quite good, and his set pieces on all manner of things are delightful. For example, here's his description of reading books to prepare for a career shift from the academy to the world of fundraising:
I found many great books, like The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, which gave me great career advice while simultaneously making me want to microwave my own head. The advice included such helpful nuggets such as “synergize,” which is known as “collaboration for jackasses.” The book also taught me to “put first things first,” in which I was instructed to “complete urgent tasks before non-urgent tasks,” which made me sad that the world needed a book to explain this. And so I non-urgently hurled this book into the garbage. Other books introduced me to bone-chilling new words and phrases, such as “influencer,” “low-hanging fruit,” and “breakfast meeting.”
Thanks for spending some time with us on the Porch,
Jeff Bilbro