Mr. Asher- thank you so much for this elegant and articulate essay. Wendell Berry had been a guidepost for my scholarly work as well as my personal life - his words have been a prayer in some of the most terrifying moments of my life- now included. I am a scholar of Appalachian Studies who watched my university dismantle one of the most beautiful and meaningful aspects of my work- teaching young people how to save heirloom seeds and learn from the elders in the community in the process. So your description of Wendell’s grief and resolve hits close to home. I hold out hope everyday though that they are out there, listening, and quietly planning. Wendell changed my students lives, he changed my life, his words will follow my daughter into her life and we will find a way. Thank you for this gift❤️
As a fellow teacher and ringleader of a small, local service project between university students and elementary school kids, I celebrate your project, whatever its lifespan. I've no doubt it was one of the best educational experiences your students received. I'm sorry your university dismantled it.
We do exist. It's going to crumble and a big part of building a better society and resisting the current onslaught is returning to the land. I'm young and feisty and I'm not alone. I suspect we will become more common as the 'normal way of life' becomes less possible/tolerable.
Now my problem is why so many decided we needed to walk off a cliff as opposed to a hill, which would make building a lot easier.
Thank you, Kenny, for writing was reads like a beautiful elegy for life in agrarian America. The greater gift you have shared with us, however, is the legacy of Wendell Berry's partnership with nature and his indefatigable persistence. We will have to adapt to painful changes - or even harmful decisions - that will clearly alter the society and the world in which we live. But Berry recognizes the value - if not the soul - of his like-minded "remnants" whose knowledge, optimism and perseverence will help shepherd future generations to safety. Like the greatest prophets, the message he carries will outlive him for many generations to come.
Why do you see it as catastrophe? Dismantling the imperial capital and the forever wars demanded by cynical globalist Euro-crats is exactly what we need if we are to return to Wendell Berry's proudly local and regional America.
Can you suggest another way to get there? The way we are living now isn't sustainable as Berry presciently wrote about in books like "The Gift of Good Land." And Berry was not a liberal, not at least in his later years, when he would say stuff like having his wife type his manuscripts was vastly superior to using a word processor. Tearing the bandaid off is going to be hard and painful, but the longer we wait the more painful it will be.
It's a fair question. How do we get there. But I'm pretty sure what's happening isn't the dismantling of imperial America for the sake of Jeffersonian America. I'm no political historian, but siding with authoritarianism abroad and cutting off services to American veterans and children doesn't seem to me the way back to a proudly local and regional nation. But you know what? We both love this country and you took time out of your life to read a long thing I wrote. And I really appreciate that.
You've got it all wrong. Do you know what happened in Ukraine in the last decade? In 2014 Dick Cheney protege Victoria Nuland went to Ukraine to support the neo-Nazi Azov Battalion in a coup against the elected pro-Russian government there. Here is a transcript of Nuland helping select the post coup government in Ukraine:
Eventually the people in Crimea and Donbas voted to join Russia as they were sick of Ukraine's attack on ethnic Russians there. They begged the Russians to intercede on their behalf, and Russia held off and wanted a negotiated peace that was called the Minsk Accords. While this was going on the U.S. was building bio-weapons research labs in Ukraine and flooding the zone with the same color revolution propaganda that was used to overthrow the elected Ukrainian government. The U.S. was also advocating for Ukraine to join NATO. Eventually Russia got sick of this in the same way the U.S. would not tolerate Russia doing anything remotely similar in Mexico or Canada.
Another positive thing Trump has done is end USAID and NED which are basically organization that work with domestic NGOs in countries the U.S. government doesn't like to overthrow them.
You might want to check out some other websites for news like The Gray Zone, Judge Napolitano, and Antiwar.com Almost nothing in the corporate media is true, it is imperialist propaganda and antithetical to returning America to its localist roots.
BTW I didn't even vote for Trump, but the endless lies and smears of him in the MSM aren't helpful. There are plenty of good real reasons to dislike Trump, but his attacks on the Euro-crats forever wars and deep state spooks aren't one of them.
Very nice easy, sad, but real. I saw an interview of Wendell in which he said he does NOT advise 30 year olds to go into farming. Don’t remember the interviewer. I was devastated. I’m 71. This is a man whose agrarian ethic I revere, and now what do I tell the next generation of my family to do with our beautiful and productive farm?
Don't take it at face value. He warns against going into farming mid-life without experience, knowledge or understanding of the complexities or challenges involved. A beautiful, productive family farm that feeds a small community (rather than trying to sell to corporations) is precisely what he would advocate for, I imagine.
This is a beautiful essay, Kenny. As an artist myself I resonate deeply with the value of preserving and passing down the traditions. More important than progress, is Civilization and more important than Civilization is Self-Realization, and once reached both Civilization and Self-Realization can work in harmonic symbiosis.
I’m from Kentucky. In the 1970s, many of us were inspired by Wendell Berry. Not many people were writing about the importance of place, caring for your land and community. Many did live in small farms and some of us got traditional careers in capitalism while growing food, supporting coops and farmers markets, and a less consuming life. It was hard without a community, but the seeds were sown. Permaculture, communal living, organic farming, even a return to animism and indigenous ways have grown out of this. Just like seeds in the winter soil, these ways are here for growing after the breakdown of patriarchal systems. I feel hope and not sadness for what’s coming if we do it right.
Thank you for this truly extraordinary writing - your clarity and compassion, honesty and humility, shine through. I hope you share it with Wendell Berry as well. I know I will return to this essay to draw continued encouragement from this eloquent truth-rendering.
I had a sad image arrive even though I know the beauty of tended land Berry refers too, like Nero, Republican Representatives are fiddling as the US is consumed with idiotic digital sorting of the important packed deck of government jobs.
The chaos of so many fine and dedicated workers with no job, healthcare and challenged pensions. The monsters in command have no heart or empathy. Farm animals get more care. pray for upended people caught in an artificial yet painful storm by wealthy narcissists.
Mr. Asher- thank you so much for this elegant and articulate essay. Wendell Berry had been a guidepost for my scholarly work as well as my personal life - his words have been a prayer in some of the most terrifying moments of my life- now included. I am a scholar of Appalachian Studies who watched my university dismantle one of the most beautiful and meaningful aspects of my work- teaching young people how to save heirloom seeds and learn from the elders in the community in the process. So your description of Wendell’s grief and resolve hits close to home. I hold out hope everyday though that they are out there, listening, and quietly planning. Wendell changed my students lives, he changed my life, his words will follow my daughter into her life and we will find a way. Thank you for this gift❤️
As a fellow teacher and ringleader of a small, local service project between university students and elementary school kids, I celebrate your project, whatever its lifespan. I've no doubt it was one of the best educational experiences your students received. I'm sorry your university dismantled it.
Beautiful and timely essay. I'm not in the states but what happens there affects the entire world in one way or another.
We do exist. It's going to crumble and a big part of building a better society and resisting the current onslaught is returning to the land. I'm young and feisty and I'm not alone. I suspect we will become more common as the 'normal way of life' becomes less possible/tolerable.
Now my problem is why so many decided we needed to walk off a cliff as opposed to a hill, which would make building a lot easier.
Thank you, Kenny, for writing was reads like a beautiful elegy for life in agrarian America. The greater gift you have shared with us, however, is the legacy of Wendell Berry's partnership with nature and his indefatigable persistence. We will have to adapt to painful changes - or even harmful decisions - that will clearly alter the society and the world in which we live. But Berry recognizes the value - if not the soul - of his like-minded "remnants" whose knowledge, optimism and perseverence will help shepherd future generations to safety. Like the greatest prophets, the message he carries will outlive him for many generations to come.
Thank you for this beautiful essay and for sharing a spark of hope amidst the sadness.
Why do you see it as catastrophe? Dismantling the imperial capital and the forever wars demanded by cynical globalist Euro-crats is exactly what we need if we are to return to Wendell Berry's proudly local and regional America.
Can you suggest another way to get there? The way we are living now isn't sustainable as Berry presciently wrote about in books like "The Gift of Good Land." And Berry was not a liberal, not at least in his later years, when he would say stuff like having his wife type his manuscripts was vastly superior to using a word processor. Tearing the bandaid off is going to be hard and painful, but the longer we wait the more painful it will be.
It's a fair question. How do we get there. But I'm pretty sure what's happening isn't the dismantling of imperial America for the sake of Jeffersonian America. I'm no political historian, but siding with authoritarianism abroad and cutting off services to American veterans and children doesn't seem to me the way back to a proudly local and regional nation. But you know what? We both love this country and you took time out of your life to read a long thing I wrote. And I really appreciate that.
You've got it all wrong. Do you know what happened in Ukraine in the last decade? In 2014 Dick Cheney protege Victoria Nuland went to Ukraine to support the neo-Nazi Azov Battalion in a coup against the elected pro-Russian government there. Here is a transcript of Nuland helping select the post coup government in Ukraine:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-26079957
After that coup the neo-Nazi Azov Battalion attacked ethnic Russians in the Donabas region killing thousands of people.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casualties_of_the_Russo-Ukrainian_War#War_in_Donbas_(2014%E2%80%932022)
Eventually the people in Crimea and Donbas voted to join Russia as they were sick of Ukraine's attack on ethnic Russians there. They begged the Russians to intercede on their behalf, and Russia held off and wanted a negotiated peace that was called the Minsk Accords. While this was going on the U.S. was building bio-weapons research labs in Ukraine and flooding the zone with the same color revolution propaganda that was used to overthrow the elected Ukrainian government. The U.S. was also advocating for Ukraine to join NATO. Eventually Russia got sick of this in the same way the U.S. would not tolerate Russia doing anything remotely similar in Mexico or Canada.
Another positive thing Trump has done is end USAID and NED which are basically organization that work with domestic NGOs in countries the U.S. government doesn't like to overthrow them.
You might want to check out some other websites for news like The Gray Zone, Judge Napolitano, and Antiwar.com Almost nothing in the corporate media is true, it is imperialist propaganda and antithetical to returning America to its localist roots.
BTW I didn't even vote for Trump, but the endless lies and smears of him in the MSM aren't helpful. There are plenty of good real reasons to dislike Trump, but his attacks on the Euro-crats forever wars and deep state spooks aren't one of them.
Beautiful, although wrenching. piece. Thank you.
Gather up the scrolls of Alexandria; the ships are burning.
Loss. Grief. Saudade. Nostalgia. Remembrance.
Brilliant essay Kenny. Thank you.👏
Very nice easy, sad, but real. I saw an interview of Wendell in which he said he does NOT advise 30 year olds to go into farming. Don’t remember the interviewer. I was devastated. I’m 71. This is a man whose agrarian ethic I revere, and now what do I tell the next generation of my family to do with our beautiful and productive farm?
Don't take it at face value. He warns against going into farming mid-life without experience, knowledge or understanding of the complexities or challenges involved. A beautiful, productive family farm that feeds a small community (rather than trying to sell to corporations) is precisely what he would advocate for, I imagine.
This is a beautiful essay, Kenny. As an artist myself I resonate deeply with the value of preserving and passing down the traditions. More important than progress, is Civilization and more important than Civilization is Self-Realization, and once reached both Civilization and Self-Realization can work in harmonic symbiosis.
I’m from Kentucky. In the 1970s, many of us were inspired by Wendell Berry. Not many people were writing about the importance of place, caring for your land and community. Many did live in small farms and some of us got traditional careers in capitalism while growing food, supporting coops and farmers markets, and a less consuming life. It was hard without a community, but the seeds were sown. Permaculture, communal living, organic farming, even a return to animism and indigenous ways have grown out of this. Just like seeds in the winter soil, these ways are here for growing after the breakdown of patriarchal systems. I feel hope and not sadness for what’s coming if we do it right.
Beautiful essay, thank you.
Thank you for this truly extraordinary writing - your clarity and compassion, honesty and humility, shine through. I hope you share it with Wendell Berry as well. I know I will return to this essay to draw continued encouragement from this eloquent truth-rendering.
A very thoughtful synthesis-thanks!
I had a sad image arrive even though I know the beauty of tended land Berry refers too, like Nero, Republican Representatives are fiddling as the US is consumed with idiotic digital sorting of the important packed deck of government jobs.
The chaos of so many fine and dedicated workers with no job, healthcare and challenged pensions. The monsters in command have no heart or empathy. Farm animals get more care. pray for upended people caught in an artificial yet painful storm by wealthy narcissists.