In the summer of 1978, I visited the state where I was born, the state where I would later live for more than 20 years, for the first time since I was a year old. One of the great regrets of my life was that I never had the chance to experience Southern California in …
“My favorite poet was Aeschylus. He once wrote, ‘And even in our sleep, pain which cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart, until in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom through the awful grace of God.’ “What we need in the United States is not division. what we need in the United …
Why should we love God? Not because of any particular religion, but because accepting that there is a God, one who is worthy of our love, teaches us that we are not the pinnacle of existence, and all the other good things we are and can be stem from that. Regardless of the 1968 song …
Originally from 2009: I am so tired of hearing about reverse racism. That’s the big new thing on the right, since they realized that all their cries of “socialism” weren’t resonating with the American people, who apparently decided they had enough of eight years of unbridled capitalism under George W. Bush. Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., …
Originally published in 2009. “Those who fail to remember the lessons of history yadda yadda yadda …” — GEORGE COSTANZA on SANTAYANA To be fair, I’m not sure this particular quote ever appeared on “Seinfeld.” It’s just that I figure you all know it, so rather than talk down to you by making a big …
“Those who can’t do, teach. Those who can’t teach, teach gym.” — WOODY ALLEN Whenever I write anything to suggest that the way we educate our children is less than perfect, there is always at least one teacher who comes out of the woodwork and suggests that my feet stink, my parents weren’t married and …
If you’re serious about fixing our educational system, you should read John Taylor Gatto. Gatto actually taught in the New York City public schools for more than 30 years, and was named both NYC Teacher of the Year and New York State Teacher of the Year for his efforts. It’s precisely because he was such …
“Florida, where woke goes to die.” Actually, Gov. DeSantis, your particular Florida is where America goes to die. For all the different ideas about what makes America special, the freedom to think, speak, read and learn has always been what matters the most. And if there’s one thing true about that, it’s that we grow …
A hundred years or so ago, most Americans did not live in cities. A majority of Americans spent their entire lives living in one place, many of them never traveling more than 50 miles from where they were born. Even if they did move somewhere else when they came of age, they were usually able …
Editor’s note: This was originally published 15 years ago and has appeared several times in various forms. It will be included later this year in “Humor and Heart,” an anthology of my 40-plus years as a columnist in various venues. I thought this was particularly appropriate for Memorial Day. Georgeanne Fletcher says Jon Rumble was …
