Porch Talk : Stories of Decency, Common Sense, and Other Endangered Species

Evoking a time when life revolved around the front porch, where friends gathered, stories were told, and small moments took on larger meaning, in today’s hurry-up world, Philip Gulley’s essays remind us of the world we once shared—and can share again. When Philip Gulley began writing newsletter essays for the members of his Quaker meeting in Indiana, he had no idea one of the essays would find its way to radio commentator Paul Harvey Jr. and be read on the air to 24 million people. Fourteen books later, with more than one million copies in print, Gulley still entertains as well as inspires from his small-town front porch. Philip Gulley has become the voice of small–town life and an observer of humanity without match. With his heartwarming, humorous storytelling, his books have both lump–in–the–throat poignancy and laugh–out–loud humor. In this collection of stories told from his own life experiences, Gulley's musings on such topics as leisure, marriage, faith, enjoyment, and more hold an earthy wisdom that reminds us of what we hold dear, and what's truly important in life. These witty stories reflect the kind of conversations Gulley overheard in his youth, in a time when neighbors gathered on front porches across America, a glass of lemonade in hand, the sounds of crickets buzzing in the air, and lazy stories spilled from lips from generation to generation. "Social scientists and preachers offer a number of reasons for the decline of civil society: broken homes, poverty, disease, television, and increasing secularism, to name a few. I believe all that is wronte with our world can be attributed to the shortage of front porches and the talks we had on them. Somewhere around 1950, builders left off the front porch to save money, and we've had nothing but problems ever since." Beloved American storyteller Philip Gulley evokes a time when life revolved around the front porch, where friends gathered, stories were told, and small moments took on large meaning. In today's hurry-up world, Gulley's observations are frank and funny, reminding us of the world we once shared, and can again. With poignancy and humor, Gulley writes about small-town life, things he thinks about while sitting in his Quaker meeting, and why Donald Trump should pay more taxes. Porch Talk is a tribute to common folk, including Charlie the hardware priest, the Bettys at the newspaper, and other paragons of decency not many people know, but should