Blogroll

Cultural convergence

There seems to be a cultural convergence happening here. Or maybe I’m just noticing because four of my favorite things are involved — music, books, film and hockey.

It started last night with a George Winston concert. Perhaps because he records on the Windham Hill label, Winston gets placed in the “New Age” category. (Question: […]

R.I.P. Howard Zinn, 1922-2010

Activist and historian Howard Zinn, best known for his A People’s History of the United States, has died at age 87.

As leftist activists go, Zinn may have generated as much hatred as Noam Chomsky. Yet his People’s History is an essential and important work. Zinn looks at the history of the U.S. from the […]

Throwing the dictionary out of school

Too often supposed moral outrage deprives both individuals and government bodies of common sense. The latest case in point? First, a California school district removed a dictionary from all all school shelves after a parent complained about a student finding a definition of “oral sex” in it. Now, the Menifee Union School District is forming […]

Shotgun incident shows life has changed

Although I grew up hunting, I don’t own a gun. In fact, unless you count the .22 rifle and 20-gauge shotgun I used as a teenager that were still in my dad’s gun cabinet when he died, I haven’t owned a gun for at least 30 years. That said, the news that a Washington High […]

Buy nothing, give something

I’ve never understood Black Friday or our seemingly insatiable urge to be the United States of Buy. This year I’m formally joining a movement I’ve unknowingly participated in for years. It’s making sure to buy nothing on Black Friday.

There’s a couple different campaigns. As Cory noted out in an excellent post, Reverend Billy and […]