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[@shagbark_hick](/creator/twitter/shagbark_hick)
"Yesterday on the telephone my grandmother told me: "It feels like life in America has lost its color." I said: America is a very big place not all of the country is like it is here in Upstate New York. She asked: "where do things still feel lively" "The US-Mexico border" was my answer. Of everywhere I've been in the USA which to be frank is most of it there's usually a kind of pallor hanging over things. Places are either bereft of life and energy and are actively dying -- or they are hypertrophied giga-commercialized "nowheres" that seem very rich and very inhuman. The only portion of"  
[X Link](https://x.com/shagbark_hick/status/1978502917515534615) [@shagbark_hick](/creator/x/shagbark_hick) 2025-10-15T16:47Z 48.1K followers, 35.1K engagements


"Absolutely vile news. For Catholics I guess it truly doesn't matter who you vote for -- there are often enough no genuinely pro-life options on the ballot"  
[X Link](https://x.com/shagbark_hick/status/1979215040520520040) [@shagbark_hick](/creator/x/shagbark_hick) 2025-10-17T15:56Z 48.1K followers, 33.3K engagements


"There is a kind of "forgetfulness" to true luxury. The actual top of the food-chain man has no need to "log in and read the news." If you have actually won at life you seem a little out of it; you become almost elegantly provincial checked-out from all worldly things -- you are a bit like a monastic who by some holy twist of fate is not forbidden from having sex. Your life is a liturgy of luxury and absentmindedness; if you are "needed" it is only in the vaguest way -- someone you've hired will handle all the trifling details. There is no landscape more congruent to this kind of thing in"  
[X Link](https://x.com/shagbark_hick/status/1979382193924321328) [@shagbark_hick](/creator/x/shagbark_hick) 2025-10-18T03:01Z 48.1K followers, 9502 engagements


"This describes a lot of daily beer drinkers including me. 100-proof and I have a long dark history. When I switched to beer it was a big deal. Like "woah Hickman's cooled down isn't nuts anymore" etc. To then get chided by anti-alcohol absolutists on here for having a few beers most nights seems retarded. I'm a free man in a free country doing something that is completely normal everywhere but in neo-prohibitionist Zoomerland. I've known many men in their 80's and 90's who always drank as much as I drink. I get the sense a lot of the hardcore anti-alcohol Zoomers have no sense of how much"  
[X Link](https://x.com/shagbark_hick/status/1953236880163541160) [@shagbark_hick](/creator/x/shagbark_hick) 2025-08-06T23:28Z 48.1K followers, 33.3K engagements


"Housing market blackpillers take note: This 1440 sq ft 3bd house is for sale for **$40k** in Clairton PA. It's a 30min drive to Pittsburgh and in short commuting distance of an Aldi urgently hiring at $23/hr no experience required. STOP saying the American dream is dead. Yes Clairton is kind of a sad town. Yes there are problems there as with anywhere. But the crime rate is below national average and being 30min from Pittsburgh means you could easily make "real money" within a short drive. Could save oodles of cash in this house because of your low mortgage (or no mortgage) fix it up flip it"  
[X Link](https://x.com/shagbark_hick/status/1977034927255203843) [@shagbark_hick](/creator/x/shagbark_hick) 2025-10-11T15:33Z 48.1K followers, 95.5K engagements


"@jackmarlui1918 And what are your opinions"  
[X Link](https://x.com/shagbark_hick/status/1977043628297273662) [@shagbark_hick](/creator/x/shagbark_hick) 2025-10-11T16:08Z 48.1K followers, 15.8K engagements


"@GB3333333333 The real question is: Can you beat them anyway even with the deck stacked against you If you're really better than them -- you can"  
[X Link](https://x.com/shagbark_hick/status/1977059137671270780) [@shagbark_hick](/creator/x/shagbark_hick) 2025-10-11T17:10Z 48.1K followers, 53.4K engagements


"Across all of history at least XX% of all Christians who have ever lived worshipped Jesus Christ in the Roman Catholic Latin Mass. Likely more. This makes the Latin Mass the most common form of Christian worship in all of human history. Quite an incredible thing to ponder"  
[X Link](https://x.com/shagbark_hick/status/1977141882888372434) [@shagbark_hick](/creator/x/shagbark_hick) 2025-10-11T22:38Z 48.1K followers, 53.6K engagements


"Same. It might take a century to smooth out the way it is implemented but I thank God for Vatican II -- and I believe that once its worst excesses are curtailed the Church will flourish because of it. Actually reading the documents changed my mind about this"  
[X Link](https://x.com/shagbark_hick/status/1978830701148459186) [@shagbark_hick](/creator/x/shagbark_hick) 2025-10-16T14:29Z 48.1K followers, 32.5K engagements


"In spite of having been on here for years I am only just now really figuring out that a majority X users cannot comprehend nuance and think more in terms of "signaling and counter-signaling" than anything else. I will give an example. If I say "though I enjoy bananas I find that the types of people who eat bananas are now and again taken with leaving their banana peels on the street which I find to be very unfortunate" -- all hell will break loose on here amongst the banana-eaters. I am NOT saying that ALL banana-eating people are bad nor that there is anything intrinsically wrong with"  
[X Link](https://x.com/shagbark_hick/status/1978944429550432569) [@shagbark_hick](/creator/x/shagbark_hick) 2025-10-16T22:01Z 48.1K followers, 57.6K engagements


"It is strange that Puerto Rico is at almost XX% for welfare recipients -- and yet has the lowest total fertility rate in the USA (at just XXXX children per woman). Don't you get more welfare if you have more kids Why would the folks in PR not be babymaxxing for more bennies"  
[X Link](https://x.com/shagbark_hick/status/1979181935206248794) [@shagbark_hick](/creator/x/shagbark_hick) 2025-10-17T13:45Z 48.1K followers, 14.4K engagements


"Realistically any vision of "reviving a small rural town" requires several things: X. A "core" of perhaps six men working in concert X. A town with very-very-cheap real estate and *ample* cheap housing X. The six men making a pact to all buy property at the same time -- and vowing to stay for X years at least X. The six men also working to obtain influence in local institutions (town council police force utilities downtown businesses) X. The six men agreeing to keep things absolutely quiet until they've acquired real estate -- and then boosting the town by name in their respective online"  
[X Link](https://x.com/shagbark_hick/status/1979187449277358392) [@shagbark_hick](/creator/x/shagbark_hick) 2025-10-17T14:07Z 48.1K followers, 49.8K engagements


"America needs more than anything a low-rent haven for thinking people. A town in some far-flung place; walkable with a good Church a little downtown and ample dirt-cheap housing. I'm talking the kind of town where a fellow can land rent a studio for $450/mo lounge at the library on weekdays halfway-unemployed constantly reading and discoursing and taking long walks. A place for a man to write his novel paint his masterpiece work out his ideas slough off his past. Somewhere gritty frigid isolated -- but with a few cozy spots where others like him are continually present where excellent"  
[X Link](https://x.com/shagbark_hick/status/1979197422036529643) [@shagbark_hick](/creator/x/shagbark_hick) 2025-10-17T14:46Z 48.1K followers, 35.5K engagements


"Wow this guy ain't kidding -- XX apartments for rent in Wichita KS for under $600/mo. Plenty of places there actively hiring for no-experience jobs at $15/hr+. Seems like a great place for a working-class kid looking for an adventure away from home"  
[X Link](https://x.com/shagbark_hick/status/1979305086070206601) [@shagbark_hick](/creator/x/shagbark_hick) 2025-10-17T21:54Z 48.1K followers, 36K engagements


"I do not agree with Sartre that "hell is other people" but I think I could at least concede that there's something about interpersonal relations that feels distinctly purgatorial. Essentially every difficulty I have had in my life has revolved around other human beings and their various institutions laws and customs. Regardless of whether I have made adjustments or adopted an ever-more conciliatory disposition towards others (which I assure you I have tried) I feel I can make no real headway with them. Unless of course I could tolerate a fairly extensive regimen of effrontery -- which I"  
[X Link](https://x.com/shagbark_hick/status/1979566938125729975) [@shagbark_hick](/creator/x/shagbark_hick) 2025-10-18T15:15Z 48.1K followers, 8814 engagements


"I think it's kind of crazy that there's a ferry from Highlands NJ to Lower Manhattan that takes just XX minutes. Sure it's $XX round-trip -- but man what an awesome way to commute. Live by the beach take the boat every day. Seems like it'd be a great life"  
[X Link](https://x.com/shagbark_hick/status/1979572182406549861) [@shagbark_hick](/creator/x/shagbark_hick) 2025-10-18T15:36Z 48.1K followers, 13.3K engagements


"The Royal Princess of the Shagbarkian Estate reclines on her wicker throne after an evening constitutional along the wharves of the Saint Lawrence posing for a moment of reflection before her evening meal"  
[X Link](https://x.com/shagbark_hick/status/1980051079174783387) [@shagbark_hick](/creator/x/shagbark_hick) 2025-10-19T23:18Z 48.1K followers, 15.8K engagements


"If New York is good enough for a large percentage of the most wealthy and powerful people in human history I'd say it's good enough for me. Honestly the anti-New-York sentiment is just a kind of aimless populist virtue signaling. Anti-NY people seem very anxious to tell you that they hate NY and think NY is evil. It's important to loudly proclaim how New York State is a "shit hole" so as to signal to everyone around them that they identify with the Red Tribe. When you're actually standing in front of the scenery in the Thousand Islands or the Adirondacks or are strolling along through Central"  
[X Link](https://x.com/shagbark_hick/status/1980074969808666750) [@shagbark_hick](/creator/x/shagbark_hick) 2025-10-20T00:53Z 48.1K followers, 15K engagements


"Whatever happened to the "wino" Is this a species of bum that is on the verge of extinction I mean a man unemployed often homeless whose sole vice in life appears to be wine. Not beer not heroin not liquor -- wine. I used to see a few of them but now I see none"  
[X Link](https://x.com/shagbark_hick/status/1779587283831685485) [@shagbark_hick](/creator/x/shagbark_hick) 2024-04-14T19:07Z 48.1K followers, 2.1M engagements


"Many young Americans are getting interested in Eastern Orthodoxy. The Roman Catholic Church should respond by opening up as many Eastern Catholic mission Churches as possible around the USA -- and they should do so immediately. If the youth want the East give it to them I say But give it to them in full Communion with the Bishop of Rome. Pictures related: Catholic Churches in the USA with the identical Liturgy of the Eastern Orthodox"  
[X Link](https://x.com/shagbark_hick/status/1975342923056365960) [@shagbark_hick](/creator/x/shagbark_hick) 2025-10-06T23:30Z 48.1K followers, 180.9K engagements


"Was thinking this same thing just last night. Went to a local Mennonite Church where they put on a gigantic harvest supper for the community. There were probably over XXX people there; tons of children Amish Mennonites Catholics Baptists all mixed. Most everyone was dressed modestly -- we all said an Our Father together ate turkey and pie and ice cream. The place was clean nice beautiful and everyone was respectfully discussing local concerns family news the drought and so on. No drama no fighting nothing crazy. The choir sang a series of rousing renditions of old hymns and they sang"  
[X Link](https://x.com/shagbark_hick/status/1977015946645483964) [@shagbark_hick](/creator/x/shagbark_hick) 2025-10-11T14:18Z 48.1K followers, 187.6K engagements


"I spread optimism because deep down I am depressed and have dealt with a strong relentless sense of hopelessness for many years"  
[X Link](https://x.com/shagbark_hick/status/1977809277340561426) [@shagbark_hick](/creator/x/shagbark_hick) 2025-10-13T18:50Z 48.1K followers, 85.8K engagements


"Why have I felt hopelessness Because I find it extremely difficult to make friends and see no path toward finding myself in anything resembling a stable lasting sort of community. As a boy I was a loner; as a teen I watched my family fall apart. Later I watched my town die and traveled the country only to find that a large proportion of America seemed to have become some sort of a high-tech digitized surveilled commercialized hellscape. The idea of America I had grown up with was by and large a fantasy from the distant past. When I joined the military I thought I'd find brotherhood and"  
[X Link](https://x.com/shagbark_hick/status/1977814172948701582) [@shagbark_hick](/creator/x/shagbark_hick) 2025-10-13T19:10Z 48.1K followers, 52K engagements


"Up here the people look like muskrats and live like 'em too. The land looks like it forgot to shave. Everyone is so late for work they forgot to get a job to begin with. But they're OLD. The young bucks didn't ever pick up the mantle as true backwoods layabouts. Dunno why -- the pickins are good here. If you want to fart around in the woods tinkering mumbling to yourself wiping your ass with newspaper tippling a little Genny Lite on the ATV this is heaven. In an era where "no one wants to work" this shouldn't be a hard sell. Because here yeah there might be a lot of disability unemployment"  
[X Link](https://x.com/shagbark_hick/status/1977872951773933665) [@shagbark_hick](/creator/x/shagbark_hick) 2025-10-13T23:03Z 48.1K followers, 15.6K engagements


"I'm not sure that any part of the United States produces more "wanderers" than Upstate New York. It's a kind of modern-day analogue to what Oklahoma was in the Grapes of Wrath. If you sit at the gas stations a while on the major routes you'll periodically see minivans packed with belongings barefoot kids unshaven men driving U-Hauls women talking on the telephone asking "what's the weather like there right now" and so on. I have heard of at least one entire neighborhood enclave in Syracuse just pulling up the stakes and moving to one subdivision in Florida all at once. I know of Upstaters now"  
[X Link](https://x.com/shagbark_hick/status/1978489863600038284) [@shagbark_hick](/creator/x/shagbark_hick) 2025-10-15T15:55Z 48.1K followers, 8647 engagements


"I think there is a very big question on the horizon for rural Catholics and Pope Benedict XVI's quote here points to it. So often to be rural is to live in a shrinking decaying world even in secular affairs. To be Catholic is also quite often to inhabit a shrinking world. So the contraction and diminishment are double for the rural Catholic. He sees the worst of the Priest shortage the cancellation of Masses fewer opportunities for Confession and devotions Parish mergers and Church closures -- all as a matter of course. I see this here: Naively I moved to one of the smallest villages in NYS"  
[X Link](https://x.com/shagbark_hick/status/1978813364865253431) [@shagbark_hick](/creator/x/shagbark_hick) 2025-10-16T13:20Z 48.1K followers, 8664 engagements


"This actually isn't a bad idea. I'd gladly consider something like this. Dorothy Day was a big part of my return to the Church; Catholic Worker movement really planted a seed in me"  
[X Link](https://x.com/shagbark_hick/status/1979247407968772539) [@shagbark_hick](/creator/x/shagbark_hick) 2025-10-17T18:05Z 48.1K followers, 6271 engagements


"It would be genuinely incredible if even a single European country went back to being a *real* monarchy again. Certainly would be a moment of world-historical significance. No modern democratic-nation state has ever done it but once one did others might follow"  
[X Link](https://x.com/shagbark_hick/status/1977887200659345830) [@shagbark_hick](/creator/x/shagbark_hick) 2025-10-14T00:00Z 48.1K followers, 68.4K engagements


"Perhaps my greatest gripe with the Latin Mass world is that in about half of TLM Churches I've attended this woman would be viewed with extreme suspicion -- because much of the TLM world has a basically petit-bourgeois culture of "keeping up appearances." I have noticed that even if I wear a nice suit jacket comb my beard wear a decent pair of boots and so on many of the Parishioners at the various TLM's I've been to are leery of me. They ask what I do for work and my answer makes them fret. Or in the event they're familiar with my writings (or my past) a sizable portion of TLM-goers have"  
[X Link](https://x.com/shagbark_hick/status/1978810050283008235) [@shagbark_hick](/creator/x/shagbark_hick) 2025-10-16T13:07Z 48.1K followers, 515.8K engagements


"Seems like a pretty clear message for him to do this mere weeks after the Anglican Church elects some nutty old lesbian to be their "Bishop." Maybe England is a lot closer to coming back to the Church than anyone suspected. Saint Thomas More pray for us"  
[X Link](https://x.com/shagbark_hick/status/1979215927989117257) [@shagbark_hick](/creator/x/shagbark_hick) 2025-10-17T16:00Z 48.1K followers, 17.3K engagements


"Well -- I have convinced myself of it. We are leaving today for a brief sabbatical in the Thousand Islands. Starting in Ogdensburg and wending our way upstream to Cape Vincent and Chaumont we'll stare vacantly at the water contemplating the languid mysteries of life along the wide clear luxurious Saint Lawrence River. Perhaps we'll take a look at a few properties go to Mass at the Cathedral each day stroll the region's downtowns (freshly emptied of all tourists) and I'll write something about this fascinating region of the Empire State. Thus far it it not a region of NYS that I have thought"  
[X Link](https://x.com/shagbark_hick/status/1979557605673447857) [@shagbark_hick](/creator/x/shagbark_hick) 2025-10-18T14:38Z 48.1K followers, 20.4K engagements


"Why so some Churches do this at every Mass and some do not I am always startled when it is omitted and walk away asking: "why would anyone ever want to omit this from the Mass""  
[X Link](https://x.com/shagbark_hick/status/1980084231016444078) [@shagbark_hick](/creator/x/shagbark_hick) 2025-10-20T01:30Z 48.1K followers, 79.3K engagements


"Whatever happened to these things You really never see a hip flask anymore. I used to see them all the time. Mom's funeral is tomorrow and as I fill mine (it's a family tradition) I realize I haven't seen one in 10+ years"  
[X Link](https://x.com/shagbark_hick/status/1956169269093208523) [@shagbark_hick](/creator/x/shagbark_hick) 2025-08-15T01:41Z 48.1K followers, 69.5K engagements


"It may seem strange but with a few exceptions I find the scenery of the Mountain West to be fairly monotonous as compared with the East. This is because there appears to be a lower density of flora out there. If I walk the woods in NY for example there seems to be an infinity of niches -- spruce bogs red maple swamps larch stands beeches maples mixed poplar and pine etc etc. And the forest floor varies *wildly* as well ranging from the edges of beaver meadows to rock moss to bramble and leaf litter and so on. You can't walk a mile in almost any woods here and see the same thing over and over"  
[X Link](https://x.com/shagbark_hick/status/1959970580238581903) [@shagbark_hick](/creator/x/shagbark_hick) 2025-08-25T13:26Z 48.1K followers, 18.9K engagements


"Living out in open fields is vastly underrated. I've spent a lot of my life living in the woods and while it has its charms the giant ocean-like view one obtains by living in a world of pastures and fields is sublime. It's quite like standing by the ocean; there's a wistful kind of "infinity" about it. You watch the weather change from miles away and see the full spectrum from raging storms to delicate snowy mornings -- with a very humbling full 360-degree view all around you. What's not to like"  
[X Link](https://x.com/shagbark_hick/status/1975210499777196323) [@shagbark_hick](/creator/x/shagbark_hick) 2025-10-06T14:44Z 48.1K followers, 12.2K engagements


"I know of a cabin for sale on a half-acre lease bordering state forest for $20000. And I know of a bank that would give a loan for it with XX% down at X% interest with a credit score of 650+ no appraisal or inspection required. That's $4k down mortgage of $120/mo plus $500/yr for the land lease. The Dollar General six miles away is hiring at $16/hr. Even at part-time that's $1280/mo post-tax -- enough to live on easily. The cabin has electric a well and a wood stove and is on a plowed road. It borders tens of thousands of acres of state forest on which hunting fishing and trapping is legal."  
[X Link](https://x.com/shagbark_hick/status/1975554642378408206) [@shagbark_hick](/creator/x/shagbark_hick) 2025-10-07T13:31Z 48.1K followers, 310.9K engagements


"Possibly the wildest option on this map is Bill WY pop X. It's a town that only exists because railroads must give breaks for crew members every X hours and I guess Bill is the place for that. I really do like the idea of living in some isolated place full of transients just passing through. Bill has got a hotel-diner and that's about it. It's XX minutes north of Douglas -- and that's a 34-minute drive through absolutely desolate prairie and nothing else. If I were there I'd rent one of the storefronts turn it into some kind of a tavern with no regular hours make it a bizarro destination for"  
[X Link](https://x.com/shagbark_hick/status/1975598454534771129) [@shagbark_hick](/creator/x/shagbark_hick) 2025-10-07T16:25Z 48.1K followers, 92.1K engagements


"Here's a question: As a Catholic who travels often and visits dozens and dozens of Catholic Churches -- WHY do the sung portions of the Mass seem to be sung in a different melody at practically every Church in the country Even at the same Church the melodies might change in an apparently random way week to week often without any clear reason in the Liturgical calendar. The result is tons of people mumbling along or even just being silent even during the most important "participatory" portions of the Mass. Everyone except for a couple of people who are "in the know" regarding these melodies"  
[X Link](https://x.com/shagbark_hick/status/1975919219674943604) [@shagbark_hick](/creator/x/shagbark_hick) 2025-10-08T13:40Z 48.1K followers, 22.4K engagements


"I'll say if Upstate NY ever really goes to hell (God forbid) and we have to flee for some reason Aroostook County Maine is our fallback. Quite similar in basically every respect. My wife and I love everything about it up there"  
[X Link](https://x.com/shagbark_hick/status/1976426468491264326) [@shagbark_hick](/creator/x/shagbark_hick) 2025-10-09T23:16Z 48.1K followers, 8353 engagements


"@waysyoucanstay What do you wax it with Just regular candle wax or what"  
[X Link](https://x.com/shagbark_hick/status/1976435519690362908) [@shagbark_hick](/creator/x/shagbark_hick) 2025-10-09T23:52Z 48.1K followers, XXX engagements


"Man you just don't see root beer barrel candies anymore. Truly an elite-tier candy. I think it's time they made a much-needed comeback"  
[X Link](https://x.com/shagbark_hick/status/1976436284651721145) [@shagbark_hick](/creator/x/shagbark_hick) 2025-10-09T23:55Z 48.1K followers, 13.9K engagements


"@SolBigdadd64070 True I know a lot of people on the East Coast used to say similar things about the Western Frontier. - Native American alone XXXX% - Scalping rate per 1000 residents: 20%+ - Chances of being a victim of violent crime: insanely high Then again those who went anyway WON"  
[X Link](https://x.com/shagbark_hick/status/1977041799949787359) [@shagbark_hick](/creator/x/shagbark_hick) 2025-10-11T16:01Z 48.1K followers, 10.7K engagements


"I think it would not be theologically wrong to think of God as "pure optimism" at least from a certain angle. It may even be true to say that "blackpilling" is anti-Christian. I say this because the Book of John says that God is love; and love as shown to us through the sorrowful sacrifice of Christ is a self-emptying act of unlimited totalizing charity for even the most hopeless sinners and evil-doers. God could not have been ultimately pessimistic in the most final sense of the word if He in His infinite mercy sent His only-begotten Son to be Crucified for our sake. God's optimism was so"  
[X Link](https://x.com/shagbark_hick/status/1977047285268693071) [@shagbark_hick](/creator/x/shagbark_hick) 2025-10-11T16:22Z 48.1K followers, 9144 engagements


"@dpheneghan1 True I should start handing out coloring books so we can do a cry-in about how hard life is"  
[X Link](https://x.com/shagbark_hick/status/1977071632289304886) [@shagbark_hick](/creator/x/shagbark_hick) 2025-10-11T17:59Z 48.1K followers, 23.7K engagements


"Real Upstate New Yorkers know exactly what these lake temperatures mean. Folks living in the Lake Effect snowbelt may be in for a repeat of last winter. get ready for 12' high snowbanks in Copenhagen and Camden"  
[X Link](https://x.com/shagbark_hick/status/1978559267335487883) [@shagbark_hick](/creator/x/shagbark_hick) 2025-10-15T20:31Z 48.1K followers, 8244 engagements


"In NY ten years of "open and notorious" occupation of a property you do not own can win you title via adverse possession. I have no idea why it isn't more common especially here in the land of abandoned properties. Could be the final solution to the "housing crisis" in many areas of the US though squatting is presently much-maligned because of numerous abuses of adverse possession law. Yes -- when tenants overstay their lease do not pay rent and claim "squatter's rights" it's abominable and wrong. When squatters occupy property that is very obviously not abandoned as with camps and new"  
[X Link](https://x.com/shagbark_hick/status/1978618946967502931) [@shagbark_hick](/creator/x/shagbark_hick) 2025-10-16T00:28Z 48.1K followers, 27.7K engagements


"If this is true the art and literature of the mid-2000's may very well suck even more than you already guessed it would. Dubai seems very nice for a lot of things but it seems patently unlikely that the production of great art music and literature would be one of them"  
[X Link](https://x.com/shagbark_hick/status/1978643529413877859) [@shagbark_hick](/creator/x/shagbark_hick) 2025-10-16T02:05Z 48.1K followers, 10.8K engagements


"Right. When I first returned to the Church about X years ago I was so wounded by the wider world that I clung to aesthetics as a kind of security blanket. But after having my heart ploughed over and renewed by life in the blessed Sacrament I feel less of a need for this kind of thing. I honestly prefer the gritty rough-around-the-edges imperfect Novus Ordo world now (especially when that NO Mass is extremely reverent and not worldly)"  
[X Link](https://x.com/shagbark_hick/status/1978828190106710071) [@shagbark_hick](/creator/x/shagbark_hick) 2025-10-16T14:19Z 48.1K followers, 7503 engagements


"@johnddavidson Congrats -- you are probably a normal fellow. As someone who is extremely "weird" it could be true that I notice things that you might never notice"  
[X Link](https://x.com/shagbark_hick/status/1978831431594901565) [@shagbark_hick](/creator/x/shagbark_hick) 2025-10-16T14:32Z 48.1K followers, 7861 engagements


"@cb_huckabee The problem with this schema is that it does not allow for curious passers-by to just wander into the Church as-is"  
[X Link](https://x.com/shagbark_hick/status/1978834566421819624) [@shagbark_hick](/creator/x/shagbark_hick) 2025-10-16T14:45Z 48.1K followers, 5470 engagements


"@RokoMijic Similar things were said about many of the people Jesus Himself associated with"  
[X Link](https://x.com/shagbark_hick/status/1978857966280352183) [@shagbark_hick](/creator/x/shagbark_hick) 2025-10-16T16:17Z 48.1K followers, 3310 engagements


"@TracyPribbenow It often literally is -- if I had to guess most EO converts in the USA are former Evangelicals some Baptists etc. So they bring that culture to the Liturgy both for better and for worse"  
[X Link](https://x.com/shagbark_hick/status/1978862825696063634) [@shagbark_hick](/creator/x/shagbark_hick) 2025-10-16T16:37Z 48.1K followers, XXX engagements


"The "wild and crazy freedom" of Latin America seems very often to be rather overstated. I thought the same thing when I read a few months ago that Mendoza Argentina banned drinking yerba mate while driving. Seems there is no escape from the "fun ruiner bureaucrats" on earth"  
[X Link](https://x.com/shagbark_hick/status/1978964443850539386) [@shagbark_hick](/creator/x/shagbark_hick) 2025-10-16T23:21Z 48.1K followers, 14.1K engagements


"@ZyMazza True Though who has more national influence -- me or the Mayor of Niagara Falls"  
[X Link](https://x.com/shagbark_hick/status/1979182959681839577) [@shagbark_hick](/creator/x/shagbark_hick) 2025-10-17T13:49Z 48.1K followers, XXX engagements


"@MauiPace I don't want to raise kids who are a part of the human monoculture so no. Not interested in taking kids to Panera after soccer practice and SAT prep in a community of phony strivers"  
[X Link](https://x.com/shagbark_hick/status/1979200997265199258) [@shagbark_hick](/creator/x/shagbark_hick) 2025-10-17T15:01Z 48.1K followers, 1007 engagements


"@whiteg0y Come visit seriously. We take guests from Twitter all the time"  
[X Link](https://x.com/shagbark_hick/status/1979215226852479264) [@shagbark_hick](/creator/x/shagbark_hick) 2025-10-17T15:57Z 48.1K followers, XX engagements


"@TheRealNumber6 Destroying viable human embryos just for the hell of it is an obscenity. Life matters -- it's why we have laws against murder both of those who've been born and those who haven't yet. This is merely an extension of the same logic"  
[X Link](https://x.com/shagbark_hick/status/1979305440321376678) [@shagbark_hick](/creator/x/shagbark_hick) 2025-10-17T21:56Z 48.1K followers, XXX engagements


"@dj5law yeah I'm wondering if you could just use Azure Standard"  
[X Link](https://x.com/shagbark_hick/status/1979333535862526149) [@shagbark_hick](/creator/x/shagbark_hick) 2025-10-17T23:47Z 48.1K followers, XXX engagements


"Sometimes I wake up and I still can't believe my profoundly good fortune. Wasn't that long ago that I was a bachelor with no prospects broke miserable quite certain I'd die a recluse. Twitter changed that. You people changed that. So please accept my heartfelt gratitude: Without the support and encouragement you've all given me God knows where I'd be today. This site led me to my wife it led me to make great friends and it allowed us to be hosted here and there in our travels with wonderful folks all across this country. It's also unexpectedly led me to a writing career. Those of you who've"  
[X Link](https://x.com/shagbark_hick/status/1945504133060116961) [@shagbark_hick](/creator/x/shagbark_hick) 2025-07-16T15:21Z 48.1K followers, 251.4K engagements


"This is why I will never support Upstate NY seccessionism. Love it or hate it without NYC the Adirondack Park goes away. Gets logged mined turned into some kind of Pigeon-Forge-tier condo zone"  
[X Link](https://x.com/shagbark_hick/status/1960470869882626397) [@shagbark_hick](/creator/x/shagbark_hick) 2025-08-26T22:34Z 48.1K followers, 9281 engagements


"I've purchased an L.L. Bean barn coat from the thrift store -- now I am looking like a North Country real estate mogul. Getting a lot of nods of respect at the local gas station. I suspect I'll be getting land deal offers randomly from now on"  
[X Link](https://x.com/shagbark_hick/status/1976418305150996699) [@shagbark_hick](/creator/x/shagbark_hick) 2025-10-09T22:43Z 48.1K followers, 25.2K engagements


"@RStSebastian I prefer X months of 6' snowbanks thank you very much. Hell if anything the major drawback of OGD to me is that there isn't enough snow. as compared with Watertown or Lowville"  
[X Link](https://x.com/shagbark_hick/status/1979563168906301480) [@shagbark_hick](/creator/x/shagbark_hick) 2025-10-18T15:00Z 48.1K followers, XXX engagements


"Americans if you HAD to leave the USA what would your first-choice country be to move to Mine would very likely be Argentina hands down"  
[X Link](https://x.com/shagbark_hick/status/1976338416024584518) [@shagbark_hick](/creator/x/shagbark_hick) 2025-10-09T17:26Z 48.1K followers, 35K engagements


"If you see someone espousing anti-immigration sentiments while also being vehemently opposed to actually doing any of the things that immigrants are doing -- they're either a psyop account or someone who got "got" by a psyop. Oppose immigration sure But also take the job in Western Kansas buy the house in rural PA open the convenience store in Tuscaloosa Alabama. If the Pakistanis and Venezuelans are doing it -- show up wherever they might and beat them at their own game. Get there while the getting's good; show them how a native-born American kicks ass works hard buys up property and WINS."  
[X Link](https://x.com/shagbark_hick/status/1977038288352354669) [@shagbark_hick](/creator/x/shagbark_hick) 2025-10-11T15:47Z 48.1K followers, 1.2M engagements


"There's nothing else like "la frontera" -- once you've lived down there nothing compares. After spending a couple years' worth of time down there I honestly don't think I have enjoyed living anywhere else as much. Perhaps the biggest reason for this is that the people are the friendliest in America at least in my experience. The culture is not "judgy;" no one really cares what you are doing but they are happy to talk to you especially if you have any Spanish. I found limitless opportunities for same-day no-obligations cash-paid labor -- really just about as much as I could ever want. I lived"  
[X Link](https://x.com/shagbark_hick/status/1978520814803943680) [@shagbark_hick](/creator/x/shagbark_hick) 2025-10-15T17:58Z 48.1K followers, 39.3K engagements


"There are really only three "actually Catholic" parts of the USA: X. South Louisiana X. "La Frontera" X. New Mexico I find that other regions with XX% Catholics are generally moribund bastions of a once-great Catholic culture. The Eastern Seaboard counties Northern NY chunks of the Midwest hotspots of French-speaking culture in northern NH and ME -- the old bones of a Catholic culture do exist there but they're basically in their death throes. While isolated hotspots do exist the true bastions of living active thriving Catholic culture are mostly in one of the three regions I highlight here."  
[X Link](https://x.com/shagbark_hick/status/1978523117170348064) [@shagbark_hick](/creator/x/shagbark_hick) 2025-10-15T18:07Z 48.1K followers, 23.4K engagements


"I don't know but I believe I am not alone when I say that if forced to choose I'd choose a low trust low conformity society over a high trust high conformity society. I have no tolerance for social conformity whatsoever which I believe is a very American trait"  
[X Link](https://x.com/shagbark_hick/status/1978856914688577890) [@shagbark_hick](/creator/x/shagbark_hick) 2025-10-16T16:13Z 48.1K followers, 14.8K engagements


"Perhaps the most demoralizing thing about American life is that there's just an absolute dearth of suitable outlets in which a thinking man can have a high-minded conversation with thinking people. Much has been said about the death of the public square not to speak of the pub -- the cafes the universities most of the Churches all the metro-area hubs for literate intellectually-minded types it's all a big nothing now. Been paved over shut down watered down turned into some kind of empty spectacle or a cartoon. All gone. So a thinking man turns to the internet. In the days of BBS's it wasn't"  
[X Link](https://x.com/shagbark_hick/status/1979014464985850048) [@shagbark_hick](/creator/x/shagbark_hick) 2025-10-17T02:39Z 48.1K followers, 71.3K engagements


"I now have more followers on here than there are residents of Niagara Falls NY. It is as if I am the mayor of a digital version of a town that size. Thanks for 48000 folks"  
[X Link](https://x.com/shagbark_hick/status/1979179825462903197) [@shagbark_hick](/creator/x/shagbark_hick) 2025-10-17T13:36Z 48.1K followers, 10.8K engagements


"Ah to buy an old grocery store in the distressed downtown of a dying small town in the rust belt. The stuff of dreams truly. I like to imagine myself there operating at a total loss; the hours are irregular the stock is completely inconsistent. Corrupt local officials are hounding me for paperwork that doesn't exist; I chain-smoke by the loading dock under a perpetually gray sky. The ice cream delivery isn't coming -- the driver had a heart attack last night. The bill's due for the iceberg lettuce (all of it wilted). Discount cherries all bruised; some stupid kid has dropped the"  
[X Link](https://x.com/shagbark_hick/status/1979330141789560955) [@shagbark_hick](/creator/x/shagbark_hick) 2025-10-17T23:34Z 48.1K followers, 20.1K engagements


"If a fellow spends enough years in total idleness sans job constantly reading walking ambling about doing exactly as he wishes -- I am coming to realize that he is "alchemized" into being "upper class" in all of the ways that matter. True -- he may lack for money. He may retain some of his gruff unrefined ways if indeed his pedigree is 'low'. But something fundamental will set him apart from his working class compatriots as with the lumpen naerdowells of his boyhood. He has developed an appetite for ideas; he has learned to gracefully contend with great chasms of free time (and now and"  
[X Link](https://x.com/shagbark_hick/status/1980062461341356419) [@shagbark_hick](/creator/x/shagbark_hick) 2025-10-20T00:04Z 48.1K followers, 10.1K engagements


"I had never heard the term "Punitive Coma" until today. Apparently some social theorists have gotten the rather unsettling idea of using medically-induced comas as a cheaper alternative to prison. I genuinely can't tell which is more grim: regular prison or a "punitive coma.""  
[X Link](https://x.com/shagbark_hick/status/1980072043862233476) [@shagbark_hick](/creator/x/shagbark_hick) 2025-10-20T00:42Z 48.1K followers, 8418 engagements


"I suspect that I could open up a kind of "finishing school for aristocrats of the spirit" and would do quite well at it. You know -- trust fund kids lottery winners the idle rich: I could teach them how to manage endless periods of free time gracefully and without going nuts. This is a harder-to-learn skill than many realize. and my clientele could afford to pay me quite well to teach it to them"  
[X Link](https://x.com/shagbark_hick/status/1980072783053832553) [@shagbark_hick](/creator/x/shagbark_hick) 2025-10-20T00:45Z 48.1K followers, 6019 engagements


"It's true -- NY might be one of the only states with an openly "anti-Middle-Class" government. Basically every policy in NY is designed to punish those in the $100k - $500k income range. NY really is only for the very rich and the very poor. Middle class Move to Florida"  
[X Link](https://x.com/shagbark_hick/status/1980264665142661471) [@shagbark_hick](/creator/x/shagbark_hick) 2025-10-20T13:27Z 48.1K followers, 25.1K engagements