RUSSELL KIRK READS 'THERE'S A LONG, LONG TRAIL A-WINDING'

My old boss conservative historian and cultural critic Russell Kirk loved Halloween. It was his favorite holiday. During the the Halloween I spent there the day was a major event. Dr. Kirk would dress up and the foyer to the Kirk home would be transformed into a spooky chamber. A wide-eyed boy looked around the room and asked Dr. Kirk, 'Do you live here?' Without missing a beat Dr. Kirk replied to the innocent, 'When we were alive we did.'

Dr. Kirk was an award winning writer of ghostly fiction, and his best known story was 'There's a Long, Long Trail A-Winding'. Through the magic of the Internet, a reading of it by Dr. Kirk is available in streaming audio.

He would be pleased that he reads it to us beyond the grave. One of his favorite quotes came from his friend T.S. Eliot's poem 'Little Gidding': "the communication / Of the dead is tongued with fire beyond the language of the living."

KIRK ON GHOSTS

The closest I ever came to believing in ghosts was when I lived in Mecosta, Michigan working for Dr. Russell Kirk. Trust me: You would have begun to consider the possibility, too, after a night alone in the vast Kirk manse. Dr. Kirk not only believed in ghosts, he wrote about them, and who can turn down a good ghost story? ISI has archived a number of Dr. Kirk's lectures, but also his reading of his own award winning ghost story, 'A Long, Long Trail A-Winding'. Suitable listening for Halloween, and it's nice to hear his voice again.

THOUGHTS ON A SOUTHERN ACCENT

On a newly discovered blog (ie, newly discovered by me), Tertium Quid (my favorite political party) ponders the Southern accent and our moden society's attempt to homogenize it away.

From Burke to Kirk and Beyond has officially been placed in my favorites.