Printed text is like the wheel in some ways. It’s one of the first basic inventions, one that millions of others benefit from. Before printed text, reading was reserved for the few who, through luck or wealth, could get their hands on the labor-intensive, hand-printed texts. After Gutenberg, books became accessible to larger and larger pockets of people and more and more information became available b...
Society always finds some lethal “Big Bad” to fear. It might be a meteorite, or a pandemic, or even industrial pollution but every culture identifies some civilization-killing threat and then worries about how to survive it. When I was little, adults were obsessed about “the bomb”. Everything was about A-bombs, and the H-bombs: who had them, who would get them, and how would we survive if ...
Every kid needs to have role models. They show us what to do. Our parents are great but they’re grown-ups with lives we kids can’t fathom. The same thing goes for teachers. Kids our own age are too close and smaller kids look up to us. So, we look for role models among the kids a bit older and cooler than we are. We follow them around and copy their ways hoping some of their aura will rub ...
Everyone’s hometown plays a special role. It’s a part of each person’s identity, and wherever they go, some fragment of home travels with them, tucked around a corner of their soul. Strangers may see the same place as a paradise or living hell but to to a native son or daughter, this spot is where they started to become the person they are today. That tie never completely loses its grip and while a lo...
Anyone unaware of The Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood must have spent the last twenty years under a rock. The book came out with it’s trademark blue cover and sweet story of survival, family and redemption and hit the ball out of the publishing park. Then came the film adaptation and even though it cut some of my favorite bits from the book, it hit another home run, chick movie, older actresses and all. Al...