July 25, 2026–Last week I spent a miraculous afternoon in the company of Wendell and Tanya Berry, as I had been very lucky to do on several occasions though none since the pandemic. They were in splendid form. So splendid that with the permission of Wendell and his fantastic daughter, Mary, founder of the Berry Center in New Castle, outside Louisville, I’m posting this video. 

For several hours our conversation ranged from the unspoken and constant help neighbors always give neighbors in communities tied to the land to his thoughts on the afterlife. The dialogue of the present with the eternal, and our connection with G d, was everywhere. We started with what we were reading, specifically fiction and Faulkner. I’m rereading The Old Man and the Sea, Wendell said, because I can never forget a one-paragraph review Faulkner wrote. Would you like me to read it to you? 

More on the incredible work of The Berry Center, which you should visit, this week. For now read Wendell’s The Need to be Whole, a beautiful summary of his thoughts on the severing of a nourishing link between people and land accelerated by industry and a ruthless economy that enslaves lands as well as workers, with startlingly current examples from the current administration in Wendell’s incomparably simple language for powerful, enduring thoughts that should inform how we treat each other and the world we live in. (You might not want to miss Nick Offerman’s wonderful narration on the audio version.)