Smartphones supposedly made possible an age of unprecedented communication. Everyone, especially young people, uses these devices to contact anyone, anytime and anywhere. With the touch of a screen, a whole world of instant information and contacts is at one’s fingertips. Excellent relationships should be flourishing. However, many young people need help to talk directly with … Read more
Many aging and retired people express deep unhappiness in their relationships with children and grandchildren. Cries of Anguish The depth of that unhappiness was recently expressed in a pair of articles by the conservative pundit Dennis Prager. In the first, Mr. Prager describes a nightmare situation. Order Today: Return to Order: From a Frenzied Economy … Read more
It didn’t take long for Stanford University to make national news from a list of words that it issued in late December. Using the overblown rhetoric that universities love, the list was produced by the “Elimination of Harmful Language Initiative.” The coverage seems to dismay the masters of Stanford, who thought they were doing something … Read more
The Cold War earned its name because the superpowers, apart from a few proxy wars around the world, never began a direct conflict with each other. But at the time, the ideological confrontation between communism and anti-communism seemed certain to lead to war in Europe, as it did in Korea, Vietnam, and elsewhere. After the … Read more
Modernists like to manipulate words, often “spinning” them into meanings that appear simple but are relatively obscure. For example, consider the modern misuse of the terms like “accompaniment,” “social justice,” or even “woke.” Such is not the case with the architectural style known as “brutalism.” The Architecture of Despair Merriam-Webster defines brutal using the words … Read more
The smartphone’s relatively recent advent and swift domination have been as unprecedented as it is all-pervasive. How society has become so widely reliant upon smartphones in a few years should give considerable pause for thought. Of particular concern is how children have become attached, devoted and even addicted to their phones, with devastating consequences. Children … Read more
My twelfth-grade English teacher terrified me, as she did most of my classmates. She was a pleasant person outside of class and very approachable if you asked for help. On the other hand, not to have prepared for class was an infraction that would be punished severely. She had a knack for asking the precise … Read more
Addressing high school students like me, the group, Young Writers started a nationwide writing contest titled “Twisted Tales: The Words of the Wicked. ” The name gives people a good idea about the subject matter. The contest asks young writers aged ten to eighteen to write short stories from the perspective of a villain or … Read more
During the fifties, television barged its way into American homes. It was a revolution—and, like most revolutions, it was expensive. In 1955, the median income was $3,400, or $65.30 a week. A Zenith table-top television cost $149.99. Advertisers had to convince people to pay almost three weeks’ income for a toy. They pulled out all … Read more
When most Americans were hanging garlands and singing Christmas carols, “wokism” reared its ugly head in the form of a Drag Queen “Christmas” event in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. On December 17, the Open Stage Theater celebrated what it called “the true meaning of Christmas” with a blasphemous Drag Queen show open to all ages. As an … Read more
