By Tamara Enz When I was in third grade, the elementary school principal came into our class to speak with the students. I don’t now remember what the primary reason was for […]
woMAN; Woe, man; Whoa! Man.
What cute baby picture posts may lead to …
You know them — the social media parents. They learn she’s pregnant with her first child. Joy consumes them. The announcement hits Twitter with abdominal photo or sonogram: “I’m preggers! #thefirst #babybump […]
Nota Bene #120: Crazy Ivan
“If you can make a woman laugh, you’re seeing the most beautiful thing on God’s earth.” Who said it?
NASA, American exceptionalism, and me: older, and less viable
Fourth in a series As a child turning teen in the late 1950s, the black-and-white RCA in the living room received only three channels … well, four, but we didn’t watch PBS. […]
Reverse graffiti? Emerging art medium raises all kinds of interesting questions…
Okay, this is brilliant. I never heard of it until this morning and now I learn that there’s apparently a whole movement afoot, with a project and everything.
Who owns the story of the future?
Back to the British Library this evening for another interesting panel discussion as part of their Science Fiction series, this one on “Who owns the story of the future?” Given the extent […]
“How to build your own industrial civilization”
So, what sort of machines do you need to create an industrial civilization—kind of like the ones we have now, but more sensibly sourced. I remember taking a sociology course years ago […]
It hurts to be Left Behind–just ask the "base"
The comedian Colin Farrell has astutely observed that people always are quick to claim personal characteristics that are the exact opposite of who they actually are. Gregarious party-types often say, “But really, […]
American mobility: all the places I've lived – 2011 update
If you’ve been around awhile, then yes, you have seen this item before, a couple of times. It originally posted on Jan. 25, 2008 and was updated on April 19, 2010. Unfortunately, […]
For a fine thing gone: goodbye to Jamal Place
I am heartbroken. We just got a letter from a small charity we support in Chicago, Jamal Place. Jamal Place provided social and vocational services for underprivileged young men, many of whom […]
