> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.merionwest.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # COLLECTION VII: Decennial - URL: https://www.merionwest.com/collection-vii-decennial/ - Published: 2026-10-05T16:59:01.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-05T17:55:31.000Z - Author: Henri Mattila - Tags: Collections Leaving Washington D.C. Behind—and a More Wholesome Life *◆* Pulitzer Prize-Winning Photographer of the Seton Hall Dorm Fire *◆* Old Men Coughing *◆* At the Cardiologist’s *◆* With Every Classmate I’ve Lost, I Feel like I’ve Failed a Test *◆* Respite *◆* A Photograph of Fading Memories *◆* To the Girl After Me *◆* Feminists of the West, Women Are Hurting in the Middle East *◆* Standing Up for Dave Chappelle *◆* Robin DiAngelo’s White Fragility Theory Falls Prey to Logical Fallacies *◆* Balance Is Needed in the Fight Against the Coronavirus *◆* As the Word “Racism” Loses Its Meaning *◆* When Censorship Is Outsourced to the Private Sector *◆* Why Cancel Culture Won’t Last *◆* Against David Brooksism *◆* British Conservatism Is Doomed *◆* Woke Kids Are Speaking; Weak Adults Are Listening *◆* Young Voters Do Not Belong Inevitably to the Left *◆* Why We Have Banned Social Media for Our Child *◆* Leaving Washington D.C. Behind—and a More Wholesome Life *◆* Pulitzer Prize-Winning Photographer of the Seton Hall Dorm Fire *◆* Old Men Coughing *◆* At the Cardiologist’s *◆* With Every Classmate I’ve Lost, I Feel like I’ve Failed a Test *◆* Respite *◆* A Photograph of Fading Memories *◆* To the Girl After Me *◆* Feminists of the West, Women Are Hurting in the Middle East *◆* Standing Up for Dave Chappelle *◆* Robin DiAngelo’s White Fragility Theory Falls Prey to Logical Fallacies *◆* Balance Is Needed in the Fight Against the Coronavirus *◆* As the Word “Racism” Loses Its Meaning *◆* When Censorship Is Outsourced to the Private Sector *◆* Why Cancel Culture Won’t Last *◆* Against David Brooksism *◆* British Conservatism Is Doomed *◆* Woke Kids Are Speaking; Weak Adults Are Listening *◆* Young Voters Do Not Belong Inevitably to the Left *◆* Why We Have Banned Social Media for Our Child *◆* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/2c/bf/2cbf55d5-edac-4019-bf5c-bf6b4bf7d745/content/images/2026/07/flag2.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/2c/bf/2cbf55d5-edac-4019-bf5c-bf6b4bf7d745/content/images/2025/05/Rx1-3-2-1.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/2c/bf/2cbf55d5-edac-4019-bf5c-bf6b4bf7d745/content/images/2025/08/image2-1-1.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/2c/bf/2cbf55d5-edac-4019-bf5c-bf6b4bf7d745/content/images/2026/03/image-1.png) Special Ten-Year Collection # Decennial ![](https://www.merionwest.com/assets/images/fiction_break.png) 2016–2026 ![Erich J. Prince and Henri Mattila holding Merion West mugs, 2018](https://storage.ghost.io/c/2c/bf/2cbf55d5-edac-4019-bf5c-bf6b4bf7d745/content/images/2026/09/founders-2018-hazy.jpg) 2018 ![Erich J. Prince and Henri Mattila at the Haverford School, 2021](https://storage.ghost.io/c/2c/bf/2cbf55d5-edac-4019-bf5c-bf6b4bf7d745/content/images/2026/09/founders-2021-hazy.jpg) 2021 [Letter](#letter) [**I** America](#america) [**II** Abroad](#abroad) [**III** Faith, Art & Letters](#faith) [**IV** The Human Person](#human) [In Hindsight](#hindsight) [Poetry](#poetry) Letter from the Editor and Publisher Dear Friends & Readers, This special collection gathers articles and interviews from the earliest days of *Merion West*, beginning with Erich’s first article, through this year. We hand-selected them from nearly two thousand candidates. They are some of the very best we have published, and the process of choosing them brought back many memories. Since the beginning, part of our ethos has been to publish writers willing to take reasoned, bold stances against prevailing opinion. Toward the end of the collection, [In Hindsight](#hindsight) sets some of the best of those articles beside the year each was published. They were unpopular when they ran; many have since proved to be more right than wrong. This collection celebrates our progress, but just as importantly it honors the writers and friends who are the backbone of this magazine. We will continue the celebration next spring in the Philadelphia suburbs, and you can [sign up here](#book) to indicate your interest. It will also be your chance to order *The Best of Merion West: 2016–2026* in print form, which we will keep as reasonably priced as possible. With great appreciation, ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/2c/bf/2cbf55d5-edac-4019-bf5c-bf6b4bf7d745/content/images/2026/09/erich-j-prince-mw-engraved-transparent.png) **Erich J. Prince**Editor-in-Chief ![Henri Mattila and Erich J. Prince](https://storage.ghost.io/c/2c/bf/2cbf55d5-edac-4019-bf5c-bf6b4bf7d745/content/images/2026/07/sigs-new-5.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/2c/bf/2cbf55d5-edac-4019-bf5c-bf6b4bf7d745/content/images/2026/09/henri-mattila-mw-engraved-transparent.png) **Henri Mattila**Publisher I ## America > “It is my conviction that we are going through the greatest technological and economic shift in human history, and our political class is completely asleep at the switch.” Andrew Yang, to Henri Mattila, 2018 [ 2016 Where Are the Flags in U.S. Universities? The first article we ever published: Erich J. Prince, back from a round of college visits, asks why American campuses fly the banners of foreign nations and every advocacy cause but so rarely their own country’s flag. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/2c/bf/2cbf55d5-edac-4019-bf5c-bf6b4bf7d745/content/images/2026/07/flag2.png) ](https://www.merionwest.com/where-are-the-flags-in-u-s-universities/) [ 2026 Is There a Problem with Our Generic Drugs? Our first long-form investigation, by Henri Mattila, into one of the overlooked corners of the healthcare system: whether the generic drugs that fill most American prescriptions might be priced too low to be safe. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/2c/bf/2cbf55d5-edac-4019-bf5c-bf6b4bf7d745/content/images/2025/05/Rx1-3-2-1.png) ](https://www.merionwest.com/is-there-a-problem-with-our-generic-drugs/) Essays [ 2020 Why America?A personal essay by Alexander Zubatov on his family’s journey from the Soviet Union to New York in the 1970s, and on what the immigrant sees in America that the native-born person often forgets. ](https://www.merionwest.com/why-america/) [ 2025 Year of the Plague: Jake Gardner and the Ghosts of 2020A memoir essay by Matthew Chabin, who returns to a night in Omaha that rattled the nation to show another side of an old friend at its center. ](https://www.merionwest.com/year-of-the-plague-jake-gardner-and-the-ghosts-of-2020/) [ 2024 These People All Know Each OtherA column by Erich J. Prince on the small world of American commentary, where the same writers, editors, and podcasters turn up at the same parties, and on Charles Krauthammer’s habit of staying home. ](https://www.merionwest.com/these-people-all-know-each-other/) Interviews [ 2018 Interview with Andrew Yang, 2020 Presidential CandidateHenri Mattila’s interview with Andrew Yang, then a long-shot candidate, on the economic shift he believed Washington was sleeping through. ](https://www.merionwest.com/interview-with-andrew-yang-2020-presidential-candidate/) [ 2019 Vice President Mondale Comments on Today’s Democratic PartyErich J. Prince’s interview with Walter Mondale, who, at ninety-one, had advice for his party: The public wants someone who gets things done. ](https://www.merionwest.com/interview-vice-president-mondale-on-2019s-democratic-party/) [ 2025 Senator Lankford’s Timely Reminder of the American EthosErich J. Prince’s interview with Senator James Lankford on individual agency, lessons from the Capitol, and President Trump's first hundred days. ](https://www.merionwest.com/coming-soon-a-conversation-with-senator-james-lankford/) II ## Abroad > “Dear doves and hawks and other feathered brethren: It is already over.” Vahaken Mouradian, on Afghanistan, 2021 [ 2024 The French Election and Europe’s Post-Historical Collapse An essay by the philosopher Benedict Beckeld, whose first year living in France awoke his politics, on the 2024 French election as a symptom of a continent turning against its own inheritance. ](https://www.merionwest.com/the-french-election-and-europes-post-historical-collapse/) [ 2017 Scandinavia’s War on Babies with Down Syndrome An essay by Tyler Olson on what prenatal screening has come to mean in the Nordic countries, where, in Iceland, close to one hundred percent of babies diagnosed with Down syndrome are aborted. ](https://www.merionwest.com/scandinavias-war-on-babies-with-down-syndrome/) [ 2021 Withdrawal Symptoms Vahaken Mouradian’s commentary on the American withdrawal from Afghanistan, addressed to hawks and doves alike. ](https://www.merionwest.com/withdrawal-symptoms/) [ 2022 Long Live the Queen: 1926–2022 An elegy by the Englishman Henry George, written in the days after Elizabeth II’s death, on how a crown can unify a nation and anchor it morally. ](https://www.merionwest.com/long-live-the-queen-1926-2022/) [ 2018 *Interview* The Man Who Photographed Tiananmen Square Erich J. Prince’s interview with Jeff Widener, the photojournalist behind the “Tank Man” image, on why he keeps walking toward danger. ](https://www.merionwest.com/interview-the-man-who-photographed-tiananmen-square/) [ *The Best of Merion West* The Best of Merion West ![](https://www.merionwest.com/assets/images/fiction_break.png) 2016–2026 Coming next spring *The Best of Merion West: 2016–2026* The ten-year book, and an evening in the Philadelphia suburbs. Join the list ](#book) III ## Faith, Art & Letters > “The destruction of Notre Dame has shaken our complacent belief in the permanence of things and the ability for our culture to last without care and cultivation.” Henry George, 2019 [ ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/2c/bf/2cbf55d5-edac-4019-bf5c-bf6b4bf7d745/content/images/2026/10/blake-newton-brush-ink.png) 2025 Why We Should Reacquaint Ourselves with William Blake Mark Vernon, the author of a recent book on Blake, makes the case for returning to the poet, painter and visionary, and to the wisdom in his words and his pictures alike. ](https://www.merionwest.com/why-we-shoulreacquaint-ourselves-with-william-blake/) [ 2025 Agnosticism Is Not ReasonableAn essay by Stuart Doyle arguing that agnosticism, so often presented as the humble middle path between belief and atheism, is neither coherent nor practical: Refusing to choose is a choice of its own. ](https://www.merionwest.com/agnosticism-is-not-reasonable/) [ 2025 *Interview* Why Charles Murray Is Taking Religion SeriouslyErich J. Prince’s interview with Charles Murray on his new book, and the slow, unexpected road from reluctant Quaker meetings to defending the truth of many religious claims. ](https://www.merionwest.com/charles-murray-is-taki/) [ 2019 What Notre Dame Says about CivilizationHenry George, writing two days after the fire, on what the burning cathedral revealed about the permanence we seem to take for granted. ](https://www.merionwest.com/what-notre-dame-says-about-civilization/) [ 2022 Salman Rushdie: The Antithesis to Moral CowardiceGerfried Ambrosch, days after the attack on the novelist, reflects on refusing to be frightened into silence. ](https://www.merionwest.com/salman-rushdie-the-antithesis-to-moral-cowardice/) [ 2023 Beyond Profit: The Value of the HumanitiesAn essay by James M. Magrini on the civic purpose of the humanities, and on the nation of employees, not citizens, that schools produce without them. ](https://www.merionwest.com/beyond-profit-the-value-of-the-humanities/) [ 2024 Irregular Beats: The Surprising Politics of Kerouac, Burroughs, and GinsbergRobert Dean Lurie on the unlikely politics of the Beat writers, and a Kerouac who might have founded a counterculture to the counterculture. ](https://www.merionwest.com/irregular-beats-the-surprising-politics-of-kerouac-burroughs-and-ginsberg/) [ 2024 On the Music of John PrineErich J. Prince reflects on the songwriter John Prine, and on the one song, “Fish and Whistle,” that he finds the most philosophical of all. ](https://www.merionwest.com/on-the-music-of-john-prine/) IV ## The Human Person > “…she would also have looked around her and seen the stern and damaged but also joyous legacy she would leave behind.” Bruce Overby, on his mother, 2024 [ 2026 Farewell, Beanie An essay by the poet W. D. Ehrhart, long a familiar name in our poetry pages, on grief after the death of Beanie, his family’s cat of nearly twenty-two years. ](https://www.merionwest.com/farewell-beanie/) [ 2025 A Prison Love StoryA first-person essay by Antoine E. Davis, written from prison, where he proposed to Britteni over the prison video system: an unconventional love story, but a love story just the same. ](https://www.merionwest.com/a-prison-love-story/) [ 2024 Winds of the Great ShameA memoir by Bruce Overby of his mother’s last days, in the small house where she raised nine children. ](https://www.merionwest.com/winds-of-the-great-shame/) [ 2026 Please Stop the ProfanityA plea by the education professor Karen M. Prince for holding our tongues, especially in front of children. ](https://www.merionwest.com/please-stop-the-profanity/) [ 2023 *Interview* Dr. Cheryl Green: What’s Ailing Young WomenEmeline Torrens’s interview with the psychiatrist Cheryl L. Green, author of *Heal Your Daughter*, on what she is seeing in the adolescent girls she treats. ](https://www.merionwest.com/dr-cheryl-green-whats-ailing-young-women/) [ 2020 *Interview* Leaving Washington, D.C. Behind—and a More Wholesome LifeKevin Turner’s interview with Britt Fisk, a former Bush White House staffer who left Washington to raise cattle and seven children in northern New Mexico. ](https://www.merionwest.com/leaving-washington-d-c-behind-and-a-more-wholesome-life/) [ 2018 *Interview* Pulitzer Prize-Winning Photographer of the Seton Hall Dorm FireErich J. Prince’s interview with Matt Rainey, whose prize-winning photographs followed two students’ recovery, on recording suffering without exploiting it. ](https://www.merionwest.com/interview-pulitzer-prize-winning-photographer-of-seton-hall-dorm-fire/) ## In Hindsight Certain *Merion West* contributors have taken stances that, in retrospect, proved prophetic. Here are a few such examples. ### 2018 [October 16Feminists of the West, Women Are Hurting in the Middle EastYasmine Mohammed](https://www.merionwest.com/feminists-in-the-west-need-to-see-where-real-battle-is/) ### 2019 [September 16Standing Up for Dave ChappelleMatthew Pinna](https://www.merionwest.com/standing-up-for-dave-chappelle/) [October 16Robin DiAngelo’s White Fragility Theory Falls Prey to Logical FallaciesJonathan Church](https://www.merionwest.com/robin-diangelos-white-fragility-theory-falls-prey-to-a-logical-fallacy/) ### 2020 [March 24Balance Is Needed in the Fight Against the CoronavirusJoshua Leichtberg, M.D.](https://www.merionwest.com/balance-is-needed-in-the-fight-against-the-coronavirus/) [June 2As the Word “Racism” Loses Its MeaningJonathan Church](https://www.merionwest.com/as-the-word-racism-loses-its-meaning/) [July 2When Censorship Is Outsourced to the Private SectorEddie Ferrara](https://www.merionwest.com/when-censorship-is-outsourced-to-the-private-sector/) [August 3Why Cancel Culture Won’t LastMatt Johnson](https://www.merionwest.com/why-cancel-culture-wont-last/) ### 2022 [January 5Against David BrooksismDaniel Addison](https://www.merionwest.com/against-david-brooksism/) [August 7British Conservatism Is DoomedHenry George](https://www.merionwest.com/british-conservatism-is-doomed/) ### 2023 [December 20Woke Kids Are Speaking; Weak Adults Are ListeningAlexander Zubatov](https://www.merionwest.com/woke-kids-are-speaking-weak-adults-are-listening/) ### 2024 [January 20Young Voters Do Not Belong Inevitably to the LeftErich J. Prince](https://www.merionwest.com/young-voters-do-not-inevitably-belong-to-the-left/) ### 2026 [March 12Why We Have Banned Social Media for Our ChildJonathan Church](https://www.merionwest.com/why-we-have-banned-social-media-for-our-child/) ## Poetry [Old Men CoughingTim Nichols · 2024](https://www.merionwest.com/old-men-coughing/) [At the Cardiologist’sJames Kangas · 2025](https://www.merionwest.com/at-the-cardiologists/) [With Every Classmate I’ve Lost, I Feel like I’ve Failed a TestJonathan Fletcher · 2026](https://www.merionwest.com/with-every-classmate-ive-lost-i-feel-like-ive-failed-a-test/) [RespiteDan Wiencek · 2026](https://www.merionwest.com/respite/) [A Photograph of Fading MemoriesW. D. Ehrhart · 2026](https://www.merionwest.com/a-photograph-of-fading-memories/) [To the Girl After MeAmy DeBellis · 2026](https://www.merionwest.com/to-the-girl-after-me/) *The Best of Merion West* The Best of Merion West ![](https://www.merionwest.com/assets/images/fiction_break.png) 2016–2026 The ten-year book ## *The Best of Merion West: 2016–2026* A small, finely made collection of selected articles, fiction and poetry from the first ten years of *Merion West*. All proceeds go toward publishing more original writing. Join the waitlist One list for the book and the celebration. No payment now. Check your inbox to confirm your place on the list. That didn’t go through. Please try again. Signed in as . Add me to the waitlist You’re on the list. We’ll write about the book and the celebration. That didn’t go through. Please try again. Save the date ### Ten years, in person An evening in the Philadelphia suburbs Spring 2027 Details to come. Everyone on the list hears first. [Every article since 2016](https://www.merionwest.com/archive/) [All interviews](https://www.merionwest.com/tag/interviews/) [All poetry](https://www.merionwest.com/tag/poetry/) [Collection VI](https://www.merionwest.com/latest-collection/)