Although I thought this post was going to be about some notable songs that Woody Guthrie wrote 80 years ago in the Pacific Northwest, it turns out it's actually about some powerful words spoken today in Atlanta by Vice President Kamala Harris. So bear with this train of thought. Or put another way, sit down and …
Topic: Contemporary Issues
Discussing the pandemic, 2020 politics, and other recent happenings
The happiest place on earth is.... Not Disneyland or Disney World but... ...Finland? Apparently that's the case. In fact, in 2020, for the fourth year in a row, Finland was ranked as the happiest country in the world, according to the 2021 World Happiness Report, a publication of the Sustainable Development Solutions Network that was released on March …
I have been looking forward to writing about Booker T. Washington, who was born on April 5, 1856. But it seems especially timely to be writing about him today. In some ways, Washington, who founded the Tuskegee Institute and was the dominant Black political leader in the late 1800s and early 1900s, has been on my …
The World Health Organization (WHO) is far from perfect. Nevertheless, it's still worth paying attention to what its head said today. "While we have all undoubtedly been impacted by the pandemic, the poorest and most marginalized have been hit hardest - both in terms of lives and livelihoods lost," said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, a biologist, public …
"Moral force can be a bulwark against aggression and that it is possible to make aggressive forces yield without resorting to power," said Gunnar Jahn, chairman of the Nobel Committee, at the December 1957 ceremony honoring Lester Pearson, who is still the only Canadian to win the Nobel Peace Prize. Pearson, then Canada's secretary of state …
Over the course of this almost year-long #stampoftheday odyssey, I've learned some delightful trivia, unearthed some amazing stories, and become more educated about stamps and the wonderfully odd world of stamp collecting. But what's made it especially interesting, entertaining (to me), and worth continuing are the many ways that these daily stamps have given me …
What, if anything, should be done with the Jefferson Memorial? Or, for that matter what should be done with any one of the hundreds, probably thousands, of schools and other buildings named after Jefferson, including the elementary school in Summit, New Jersey where my mother taught for over two decades. That's the #stampoftheday question brought on by …
Look closely at the image on today's #stampoftheday. When you do, try not to read the words but just focus on the image, which portrays three women dancing with their hands clasped together. And then, using just the image as your guide, try to figure out what the stamp is supposed to honor. You may recognize …