I talked this morning with Matthew Mehan, author of The American Book of Fables. Our conversation is about history, memory, faith, hope, wit, and wisdom.
I pray you find it encouraging and that it makes you want to double down on virtue and joy with your family and friends and neighbors in whatever way you feel called this weekend. I encourage you to give the book a look, and share it with others.
Bill Buckley often talked of gratitude for the patrimony we are stewards of. His attitude was both utterly serious and remarkably fun. Matt’s book is very much in that spirit.
I continue to urge us all to take a page out of the Dolly Parton legacy and commit to providing books to the children in our lives. I didn’t manage to talk with Matt about Dolly, but New Jersey and Jon Bon Jovi did come up. Don’t dread on me at a Garden State rest-stop, is all I have to say for now. As the kids say on social media: “IYKYK.” (Actually, you just have to listen to our conversation!)
For additional celebration of some of the best of American popular culture (it’s not all of the devil, my dearest right-wing friends, though certainly some of it is!), I invite you to listen to “Be More Dolly: Gratitude for the Parton Way.”
