Author: Mike Dwyer

We’ve had two really interesting comment threads today on abortion-related posts written by Will Truman and myself. I remarked, as did commenter Chris, that both have been remarkably civil. Both posts were lengthy and...

Sometimes the inertia of public discourse is simply too hard to resist… Ross Douthat asks, “What Reduces Abortion Rates?” Specifically, Douthat is tackling the claim that better access to contraception and legal abortion reduces abortion...

Lauara McKenna is probably my favorite blogger. I sort of love her. She blogs at Apt 11D about all sorts of things but mostly about her life as a transplanted New Yorker, former academic,...

Nick Diaz is a mixed-martial arts fighter. He is arguably one of the top five fighters in the sport. When he isn’t training to fight he runs triathlons. His cardio is considered the best in...

Hey Gents! Not to toot our horn, but toot toot.  Check out #3 on this Zagat guide of “Awesome Food Getaways”.      

The other day, J.L. Wall asked in his post:  Can we really talk honestly and effectively about growing divisions between the top and the bottom without taking the middle half into account, too?   I left a...

From The Rural Blog: Studies regarding student mobility — how often students switch schools — has usually been focused on poor urban areas, but new research suggests rural student mobility may be as big...

I did a quick check of the jukebox archives and saw that is woefully short on country and bluegrass. That ends now. First one of my favorite standards. JD Crowe and the New South...

Last night’s speech had plenty of specifics that I could be critical of but I’d rather highlight the moments I enjoyed. The first came about halfway through the speech. President Obama talked about the...

We spent 5 hours running beagles all over the hills of Green County yesterday.  The 12 gauge Ithaca I traded for last spring felt good in my hands and I was glad to have...

A while back I briefly discussed Steven Rinella in post about Why I Hunt. I was a fan of Rinella’s short-lived show ‘The Wild Within’ but I was a little dubious about some of his...

Erik writes in one of his latest pieces at American Times: “…personally, but I see no reason why we need a more youthful modernized GOP when the Democratic Party is already leaps and bounds...

In June 2008 David Hawpe of the Courier Journal wrote an interesting piece asking “Where should we focus, town or country?”  Hawpe’s question was based on an effort by the Center for Rural Strategies to create...

My family and I started ‘prepping‘ this past year. For the unaware this means creating food, equipment and weapon stores in case of emergency.  I should note that this is not really because I fear a...

My post on what creates success generated a good conversation so I wanted to follow-up by expanding on the topic. Megan McArdle again provides a nice jumping off point (I love that chick). I’ve chopped...

I chose to remain silent during the recent round of Ron Paul posts. It wasn’t because I had nothing to say but it was because I didn’t think he had much of a chance...

My first Friday Night Jukebox. This one is purely self-indulgent so please forgive. The afternoon set from Phish’s legendary Big Cypress concert on NYE 1999. Somewhere in the crowd I am dancing with my friends,...

One of the subjects I am most passionate about is the notion of creating urban-suburban-rural partnerships to drive economic prosperity. Much of this interest lays in my own experience of traveling frequently between my job in...

Shortly after starting my first job as a grocery clerk, which required me to wear a white oxford shirt every day, my dad showed me how to hand-wash my collar before it went in...

For a long time I’ve gone by the alias ‘Mike at The Big Stick’ around the internet so it will probably take some time for me to get used to writing under my real...