A Blog on McConnell Center Life

Our good friend Joe Dablow lost his grandfather this week and we send our condolences to him and his family. Scott Jennings (2001) and his wife Autumn lost an unborn baby girl over the weekend and we wish them all the strength to carry on. Thank you both for being such good friends to us all . . .

My friend, our friend, John Kleber announced his retirement at the end of our retreat yesterday morning. Though his announcement was met with a standing ovation from the students, the tears told the deeper story of the day. John has been my friend for nearly a decade and he has become an essential part of the McConnell Center over the last five years. I am not sure what we will do without him, but the good news is that he will not be going far. He will still attend our annual retreats and will occasionally pop in to programs that interest him. But, as he said, he has other lives to live and he must go on to those. Yesterday morning I picked up John Lukacs' Last Rites and found this line: "When we love someone we see her as God sees her . . ." This is appropriate to say about our friend John Kleber. We have been able to love John and will continue to do so. Perhaps we love him so because he has allowed us to see him as God sees him. His generous spirit will serve t...

Our annual retreat was another great success. The McConnell Scholars once again proved themselves to be among the most talented and interesting young people in the Commonwealth. From penetrating questions for our guests to long and late-night sing-a-longs, McConnell Scholars are always good for some entertainment and enlightenment. We heard some great mountain music and enjoyed our visit with Daniel Boone. We hiked to Chain Rock and in the Cumberland Gap. We visited the 'historic' Thomas Walker house. We talked about James Still and his novel, The River of Earth . We swam. We hiked. We talked. We reconnected with one another. We visited with Senator McConnell who honored us with his honesty, advice and good humor. And, we prepared for another great year of intellectual and personal exploration at the McConnell Center. Thanks to Sherry Allen, Tina Talley, Aaron Vowels, and Glypie Grider for making this retreat yet another success. I wish everyone a really terrific year.

The scene at Fancy Farm was one that I had only seen in movies that portray old county fairs. The main, white shelter had american flag banners hanging from the roof which most of the crowd couldn't fit under. Booths surrounded the main area with southern food, car raffles, and a giant game of bingo. No one was afraid to wear their affiliation on their sleeve... or prop... or costume. Among the variety of political t-shirts were "NeanderPaul" man (advocating anarchy), a dolphin (accusing Conway of being a "flipper"), a guy with an tin foil fat (hinting that Rand Paul is crazy), and a couple of Grim Reapers (killed by Conway's 'Death Tax.') Each of the major campaigns also had their own methods for creative insults. Rand Paul supporters handed out Cap and Trade 'flip flops' and carried around several boxes of 'tax code.' The Conway booth (adorned with a Sorry above the Handicap sign) was made to be like a Waffle House that handed out ...