Front Porch Republic

Just a reminder that we have a weekly email that highlights what's happening on the Porch. You can sign up here: buttondown.email/FrontPorchRepu…

In which I recommend essays by @garthcbrown, @_alexreisner, @ZacBissonnette, @malcolmguite, @SarahSoltis02, @Zheschool, @racheljwelcher, and others.

In this week's Water Dipper, Jeff Bilbro recommends essays about pints, children, and libraries. frontporchrepublic.com/2025/07/pints-…

"The Church has begun to mimic the economic logic of the industry that abandoned it. Build bigger. Consolidate. Extract. Move on. What follows isn’t meant to be a eulogy, exactly. It’s a reflection, maybe even a small lament."

Colin Gillette: What they grieve is not the loss of status or size, but the slow unraveling of something sacred, something that once held people together, and now struggles to hold at all. frontporchrepublic.com/2025/07/what-w…

Great article. "The pre-labeled training data from which supervised algorithms learn is provided by flawed humans with flawed epistemologies." Susan Schneider writes about that.

Raleigh Adams: In a fragmented age increasingly seduced by the cult of the self, "Wuthering Heights" challenges us to reclaim the difficult virtues that make real community possible. frontporchrepublic.com/2025/07/when-t…

In which I recommend essays by @Jenpmichel, @Chris_arnade, @jennfrey, @JoshuaHeavin, @amjuster, @clairekelloway, @jenmacramos, @SarahSoltis02, @moveincircles, and others.

In this week's Water Dipper, Jeff Bilbro recommends essays about markets, slop, and Alyosha. frontporchrepublic.com/2025/07/market…

Christian McNamara: Is there such a thing as the Front Porch Republic curse? frontporchrepublic.com/2025/07/the-fr…

To identify counterfeit bills, you don't just study counterfeit bills – you know what the real thing looks like. Likewise, to build a future worth having, Congress needs to focus on what that will look like – not only on the policies we dislike. ⬇️ frontporchrepublic.com/2025/07/the-lo…

In today's piece, Adam Smith speaks with Congresswoman Marie Glusenkamp Perez about politics and place, and her particular work. frontporchrepublic.com/2025/07/the-lo…↗

Interesting

José Marichal: When the algorithm identifies someone as a “gang member” based on human-generated criteria, the model’s “ground truth,” however flawed, becomes a stand-in for reality. frontporchrepublic.com/2025/07/kill-y…

C. Ben Mitchell: The furniture of the old churches and chapels formed the habitus of those who worshipped there regularly. frontporchrepublic.com/2025/07/of-fur…↗

David Bannon: Goethe strides confidently through blueberry bushes surrounding the walls. Inside he heads directly for a steep stairwell that leads to the upper story. Mahr tries to help. “I’m quite capable,” Goethe laughs, waving him away. He climbs alone. frontporchrepublic.com/2025/07/goethe…

Eugene Callahan: How do people maintain the illusion that “the times” are on their side? frontporchrepublic.com/2025/07/the-ti…

My new piece for FPR. It's always a pleasure to write for them.

"It was a way of living within limits, a pattern of provision and patience, a quiet confidence that not everything had to scale."

Holly Stockley: He who has a piece of ground to call his own is not truly bereft, no matter what else is lost. frontporchrepublic.com/2025/07/what-w…↗

The essence of charisma is elusive. Jeff Tabone reviews Molly Worthen's Spellbound: frontporchrepublic.com/2025/07/charis…↗