ny’s contributions to the commonwealnare putting “safe sex” leaflets in albumsnby Warner Bros, artists Madonna,nLou Reed, and the B-52’s, andnallowing Madonna to appear at “Don’tnBungle the Jungle,” a rain forest benefitnconcert.nNow, I’ve got more than incidentalninterest in what Time Warner is up to,nbecause five or six years ago Time, Inc.nbought Southern Progress Corporation,npublishers oi Southern Living, thenfabulously successful house-andgardennmagazine that I’ve mentionednbefore in these letters. Some of usnnever did like the idea that the largestcirculationnSouthern periodical nownreports to New York, and this pamphletnmakes me even more suspicious. “Thenbroad agenda for Time Warner’s communityninvestments is set at corporatenheadquarters,” it begins, and of coursenthat’s so: you can’t let individual fieldncommanders declare their own wars.nBut there goes Southern Living’s specialnrelationship to its hometown ofnREFLECTIONS ON THEnFRENCH REVOLUTIONnA HILLSDALE SYMPOSIUMn”Tie bicentennial of the French Revolutionnproduced hundreds of articles and books,nbut none more penetrating than this.”n—Forrest McDonaldnUniversity of AlabamanWas the French Revolution a victory fornhuman rights or an ominous extension ofnthe centralized state? Essays on thenreligious, economic and political legacynof 1789 by Kendall Brown, ThomasnConner, Richard Ebeling, Russell Kirk,nSam Knecht, Erik Ritter von Kuehnelt-nLeddin, Peter Stanlis, John Willson andneditor, Stephen Tonsor.nHILLSDALE COLLEGE PRESSnby arrangement with Regnery Gatewayn-yiV.’-”Y.’.trt;iiT».’:n46/CHRONICLESnVisa / Mastercard Ordersn1-800-837-4297nFor discount information,n(517) 439-1524,next. 319n(^B’nFREE SHIPPINGn$17.95 hardcovern$2.00 off cover price!nBirmingham, which has helped tonmake that city one of the few that getsnmore pleasant each time I visit. Thatnrelationship now survives only by permissionnof Time Warner headquarters.nSo far I don’t think the change ofnownership has been reflected in thenmagazine’s content, but the signsnaren’t promising. Consider the newn”editor-in-chief” Time Warner recentlynsent to Birmingham to oversee all ofnSouthern Progress Corporation’s publishingnventures.nFirst, let me say that it’s not her faultnthat she’s a naHve of New Jersey. Justnbecause someone was born in a stablenit doesn’t mean he’s a horse (as thenDuke of Wellington growled whennsomeone referred to his Irish birth).nFor all I know this lady may be asnSouthern as kudzu—which, after all,ncame from Japan not that long ago.nAnd we probably shouldn’t hold itnagainst her that her last job was presidentnof Gannett News Services, whichngives us (7SA Today — I mean, it’s anliving. When she was chosen alongnwith Patricia Schroeder and PhilnDonahue for something called a TrailblazernAward (for “significantly alteringnthe lives of all women”)—well, itnmight have hurt somebody’s feelings ifnshe’d turned it down. And she probablyncouldn’t help it that Washingtoniannmagazine named her as one of thenhundred most powerful women innD.C. Somebody’s got to do it.nBut she didn’t have to mention allnthis stuff in her official bio, damn itl Inmean, I would have understood ifnshe’d just left it out. We all have dirtynlittle secrets, and / didn ‘t want to knownthislnSorry. Completely uncalled for. Begnyour pardon. But I haven’t felt this waynsince I learned that a New York companynowns Rebel Yell whiskey. Yankeenbuy-outs of our tobacco and textilencompanies are one thing, but our identitynis a diflFerent matter. Excuse me fornsounding like a French Minister ofnCulture, but it’s scary to think that mynfriends at Southern Living now worknfor the same bosses as Madonna.nI hope I’m wrong, but keep an eyenon Southern Living. If all this meansna few public service ads for environmentalncauses — well, there’s nothingnwrong with that. But if it meansnpropaganda for safe sex, watch out.nSoutherners know there’s no suchnnnthing. Any country music fan can tellnyou that.nJohn Shelton Reed writes from ChapelnHill, North Carolina, as a rule, andnsupports domestic content legislationnfor the South.nLetter From thenHeartlandnby Jane GreernI’m From the Governmentnand I’m Here to HelpnLeo Widicker farms outside Bowdon,nNorth Dakota. Last winter, Widickernhad a quarter section—160 acres—nthat was badly wind-eroded from severalndry summers and snowless winters duringnwhich there was no ground cover.nMuch of the topsoil had blown into anhighway ditch. In May, a hopeful Widickernplanted that quarter section innwheat.nA crew came to clear Widicker’sntopsoil out of the ditch and haul it threenmiles away. After they’d hauled fortyntruckloads without making a dent in thenaccumulation, the crew chief, a friend,nasked Widicker if there weren’t somencloser place to dump the dirt. Widicker’snwheat crop was up about fourninches, so the crew chief didn’t want tonjust blade the dirt back up onto the field.nThen Widicker remembered a littlenslough, about two-tenths of an acre, innthe northwest corner of the quarter,nright up against the highway. Nothingnhad ever grown there. It seemed like thenperfect place to put the dirt, and heneven said he’d help. He brought hisntractor down that night and worked thendirt for a couple of hours, and thenncame back the next day to work with thencrew.nDave DeWald, with the Bismarcknoffice of the Soil Conservation Servicen(SCS), an arm of the USDA, had beennin the area and observed the filling ofnthe slough. The next day he talked withnWidicker, telling him that he had inneffect “converted” his wetland. Then1985 Food Security Act says that ancommodity crop may not be planted inna converted wetland, and “converted”nmeans “manipulated in any way.” Wi-n