We, as humans, pride ourselves on our superior communications skills. Next to walking upright and operating can openers, it’s the single most important attribute separating us from our pets and our food. Over the last 50,000 years (give or take a few) we have refined linguistics to the point of having only 7,000 recognized languages … Continue reading Use your words … and listen!
News
Trump and Hobbes visit NATO
Seventeenth century philosopher Thomas Hobbes warned of a state of nature when the ordering powers of mutual contracts are removed — a state of “continual fear, and danger of violent death: and the life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short.” For as long as humans have been human, we’ve been organizing into … Continue reading Trump and Hobbes visit NATO
Why we do this
This post is a copy of my comments on accepting the inaugural presentation of the Ray Lokey Memorial Award for Excellence in Reporting, presented Saturday evening. The comments were read by my editor in my absence. They speak, briefly, to why it's important we all continue to invest in journalism that follows facts, and not … Continue reading Why we do this
American youth: swimming against the stream of blood money
Nine days ago, 17 people died in a preventable whirlwind of blood, chaos and gunfire. That's nothing new. America is adept at cultivating and ignoring the slaughter of children. And, since Parkland, we've gone through a familiar dark-comedy routine that follows such shootings. The president has called for throwaway half measures — background checks and … Continue reading American youth: swimming against the stream of blood money
Un-teaching fake news
On Monday I had the honor and pleasure of getting to speak at an after-school program in my community that has a media club. I have written several articles about their program and all it does for kids in our city, and apparently I did a good enough job that they were willing to … Continue reading Un-teaching fake news
A story of growth
Most stories you'll read today about Christian church attendance highlight trends of decline -- fewer people showing up in the pews on Sunday. But, some denominations and local churches are bucking that trend, with Jehovah's Witnesses and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormons) leading the way in growth rates in the … Continue reading A story of growth