Friends, by now you’ve noticed that “Nor’easter” has become “The Common Man.”
Why the change? Well, because I never wanted to write a newsletter called “Nor’easter.” I joined Substack at a friend’s recommendation, not expecting much to come of it. I needed a subdomain, and “noreaster” was the first thing that popped into my head.
As it turns out, though, Substack is great. And since WordPress (which hosts my blog) keeps getting progressively worse, Substack has become my home base.
But why “The Common Man”?
First of all, because that’s the name of my favorite chain restaraunt. (Why lie?) More importantly, though, because I wanted a name that encompassed the spirit of my three heroes: St. Francis of Assisi, Theodore Roosevelt, and Robert Frost.
St. Francis saw the face of Christ in every priest, every peasant, every soldier, every beggar, every thief, every leper.
Teddy fought for the right of ordinary Americans to pursue their own excellence—economic, yes, but also moral, physical, and spiritual.
Frost wrote about the beauty of familiar things and places and people, and taught us never to take them for granted.
This newsletter will be devoted to “everyday mystics” like these. The Christian knight. The yeoman farmer. The man in the arena.
It’s for folks who can see that “the world is charged with the grandeur of God,” as Father Hopkins said—and who, like St. Irenaeus, believe “the glory of God is man fully alive.”
We’ll plumb the depths because we believe what King Solomon said, that “wisdom is a kindly spirit” and will come to those who call her. We’ll consult a range of wise men (and women): Diogenes of Sinope, Marcus Aurelius, Augustine of Hippo, Thomas More, John Adams, Henry David Thoreau, Charles Péguy, G. K. Chesterton, C. S. Lewis, Dorothy Day, and Wendell Berry, to name just a few.
They tried to be good men, and to attain the Good Life. They sought to live by “the laws of nature and of nature’s god.” We do, too.
But of course—above all, and in all things—we’ll strive to imitate the Holy Family, whose life in Nazareth was the rule and measure of all human flourishing.
I’ll do my best to keep this space free of politics. Let’s say this newsletter will be conservative (in the Russell Kirkian sense) and progressive (in the Theodore Rooseveltian sense). But we’ll try to steer clear of those categories. As my friend Thomas Howard once said, “To be Catholic is to be free from ever having to temporize.”
Speaking of Catholics, we won’t go in for “church politics” much, either. I lost my taste for chancery gossip a long time ago. But we’re committed to a broad and (I hope) generous traditionalism. Above all, we know that God is love. And we agree with Savonarola: “Love does not consist in written papers. The true books of Christ are the apostles and the saints; the true reading of them is to imitate their lives.”
Next week, I’ll be launching the “Common Man” podcast. For now, it will just be me talking into a microphone for fifteen minutes every week. I want it to be a little more personal—you and me sitting on the porch with a bottle of Old Grand-Dad, watching the sun go down. (Of course, you won’t get a word in edgewise.)
I really do appreciate hearing from my readers, though—and that’s no virtue on my part. The one thing I’ve learned is that people really are interesting if you just shut up and listen to them. So, if you feel so inclined, drop me a line through my blog’s contact page. I promise I’ll shut up and listen.
Thanks for sticking with me, folks. Peace and the Good!
P.S. — Check out my latest for The American Conservative, “How to Win the West (Again)”.