If like me you have annual reading goals, you probably struggle to decide which books are worth your precious time. It’s not my custom to elect books at random, but after my 18-month old daughter Sophia grabbed a thin, 1955 used copy of Benjamin Franklin’s Autobiography off the shelf, I took her to the task. The Autobiography is not your typical first-person…
Make no mistake, Halloween is here to stay. It’s popularity as a holiday in the U.S. is second only to Christmas. Polls show a majority of Millennials actually put Halloween in the number one spot. In 2018 American expenditures on Halloween apparel surpassed $9 billion. A recent article noted that 48% of millennials bought costumes worn just for posting on social media.…
Every now and then, in an unguarded moment, a politician makes the blunder of revealing the truth about a position they hold. In a presidential townhall forum on September 5th, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders was asked by Martha Readyhoff, a teacher from New Milford, CT, if he would advocate “empowering women, and educating everyone on the need to curb population growth,” by…
As the violence descended Charlottesville, Virginia on Saturday August 12th led by 1,000 demonstrators who marched in protest of the removal of a Confederate memorial, and one counter-protestor was killed, the question millions were asking: Who is the Alt-right and from where did they come? The movement is young, and not monolithic, but it does claim to be “conservative” in some loose…
As we celebrate the 243rd anniversary of America’s Independence, the holiday presents an opportunity to reflect on the nature of patriotism. At a fundamental level, patriotism is an expression of gratitude for citizenship in one’s nation. In this sense, it is a virtue. Affection for a place and people to whom you belong is imminently natural. Patriotism is also a profoundly complex…
“For a brief moment, I feel perfect.” Alex Honnold’s revelatory statement is crucial to understanding the internal drive that led the climber to successfully scale Yosemite’s El Capitan alone, and without equipment—”free solo”—in June 2017. This pursuit is what drives the plot in Free Solo, the 2018 documentary directed by Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Vasarhelyi. When applied to Honnold’s staggering feat, “perfection”…