There have always been Americans who have prepared themselves for apocalypses, revolutions or major disasters. Some have taken reasonable measures to stockpile essentials. Others have indulged in elaborate concrete bunkers with every material comfort. Hardcore “doomsday prepping” or the significant stockpiling of food, weapons, medicine and other supplies used to be reserved for people on … Read more
On August 15–17, 1969, the Woodstock Music and Art Fair was held on a 600-acre dairy farm near Bethel, New York. Today marks the fiftieth anniversary of this monumental cultural event that marked an epoch. Woodstock changed America. It helped usher in a period of moral devastation. The event enshrined free love as acceptable in … Read more
Recent shootings serve to highlight how we live in times that are violent and lonely. Young shooters are breaking the precarious rhythms of our daily lives with tragedy. We know little about them. However, one thing they all have in common is loneliness. The Loner as Ideal Revolutionary In times past, subversives would seek strength … Read more
Tempus Fugit. Memento Mori. Four Latin words describe the traditional attitude toward death, especially our own. Our less economical English language translates the adage as “Time passes quickly. Remember, one day, you will die.” The phrase recalls a comment I once read about a pious woman. “She died every day that she lived.” She weighed … Read more
The Thomas B. Fordham Institute is an education-oriented think tank that is usually on the conservative side of the spectrum. They favor the charter school movement and oppose the more radical aspects of the Common Core. Their recent report “Discipline Reform Through the Eyes of Teachers” is unusual because it asks actual teachers, not administrators … Read more
Of the rock festivals of the sixties, the Woodstock Music and Art Fair was by far the most famous. Held on a 600-acre dairy farm near Bethel, N.Y. on August 15–17, 1969, the festival is the iconic representation of the drug-addled culture and sexual revolution that upended American life. This August marks the fiftieth anniversary … Read more
Eighty-eight percent of Americans are zombie eaters, according to a survey commissioned by Snyder Lance, the manufacturers of “Pretzel Crisps.” Zombie eating means eating while staring at a screen. We find zombie eaters everywhere. Few restaurants are without groups or families, in which each person is staring at a smartphone screen. There is something pitiful … Read more
This is a challenging time to be a student. All generations had it rough. They all face the stress of preparing to leave the nest and being responsible for themselves. Graduates in the thirties had to face the Great Depression. Those in the forties had to contend with World War II. The fifties had the … Read more
The present manifestations of feminism are mere phases of a process that seeks the annihilation of women. It seems a contradiction. Feminism claims to glorify women and their accomplishments. Women’s Studies departments worldwide are supposedly dedicated to the study of women’s achievements and the denouncing of the “oppression” they have suffered over the ages. However, … Read more
The “Jesus People” of the late sixties tried to combine the hippie lifestyle with Christianity. They found traditional worship stifling and unstructured fellowship appealing. Their motto could be “I want God in my life, but not a church.” The movement quickly died; God without religion didn’t work. Today’s disenchanted have turned the formula around. They … Read more
