Digging In

I thought Wendell Berry expressed himself with intelligence and insight through most of the interview in your pages, which is why I found it baffling when he claimed that people who work for corporations “abandon their identity as individuals” and have “no moral force of their own.” Reasonable critics generally don’t indict broad swaths of society. I don’t understand how Berry can brand all corporate workers as immoral. Has he spoken to every one?

As if that weren’t enough, Fearnside feeds the flames by alleging that advertising does nothing but create a need for things that aren’t needed. Berry, in turn, paints advertising as nothing more than “false promises” and “lying.” I have seen little advertising that is an outright lie. By definition, advertising is any communication that is paid for. It serves not only to sell a product but also to inform the public that the product exists, to let consumers know they have choices.

Bill Steely New York, New York

Over the past few years I’ve become immersed in the world of sustainable agriculture, and Wendell Berry’s name has come up often as a source of brilliant and indispensable insights. I haven’t read any of Berry’s writings, so I was excited to see Jeff Fearnside’s interview with him. I was sadly disappointed, however, when I read it. I don’t know whether Berry is as much of a crank as he seems to be in the interview, but the back-and-forth between him and Fearnside was negative and tiresome: Our unhealthy food preferences! Our lack of connection to the sacred! The irresponsible mainstream media! Work that doesn’t satisfy us! The thoughtlessness of contemporary society! The best Berry can do is to say, “You have to live in the world the way it is. You can’t declare yourself too good for it and move away.”

There’s so much hope to be found in the world and so much wonderful work being done in sustainable agriculture and local food systems. I’m sorry that The Sun’s readers didn’t learn more about it.

You redeemed yourselves in August, however. I was thrilled by the interview with Judy Wicks. I can’t believe that I didn’t already know about her work. Thanks for expanding my horizons.

Jacquie Miller Houston, Texas

I was thrilled to see Jeff Fearnside’s interview with Wendell Berry in your July 2008 issue [“Digging In”]. For some time now I have been harboring a secret wish to visit Berry at his farm in Kentucky. He writes so beautifully, and with such good sense, sadness, and humor, about restoring the American agrarian tradition. I know this desire is a form of hero worship, and given the need to shrink our carbon footprints, I am staying at home in the Adirondacks and writing this letter instead.

Berry’s writing is a gift to our nation. His words convey a wisdom that the world needs as we begin to return again to a local, household economy based on an intimate connection to the land. I recently interviewed a candidate for a job at the college where I work, and I asked what she was currently reading. Without hesitation the young woman said, “I’m in love with Wendell Berry. I’m reading Jayber Crow for the fourth time.”

The college students I introduce to Berry’s work are ready and willing to roll up their sleeves and get to work. They are prepared to repair the damage to our ecosystem and live in decidedly different ways than their parents did. Berry’s voice both reminds us of what we have lost and points the way toward restoring our communication with the land.

Tom Huber Rainbow Lake, New York

I was moved by the overall structure of your July 2008 issue: It started with the Wendell Berry interview [“Digging In,” by Jeff Fearnside], then continued the themes of writing and farming through the next piece, Doug Crandell’s essay “Foreclosure.” The one-two punch of the cynical, narcissistic “Baton Rouge,” by Louis E. Bourgeois, followed by David James Duncan’s “Cherish This Ecstasy” just floored me. And it kept going from there. At the end I read the Sunbeams several times. This is what makes your magazine so special to me. By orchestrating these pieces, you create a whole that’s greater than the sum of its parts.

Scarth Locke Oakland, California