Voting & Your Rights to Vote by Tracy E. Hill, Ph.D. Did you know that Saudi women got the right to vote just a few years ago (2015)? And in Turkey and Belgium, voting is mandatory with more than 85% of citizens showing up to the polls. In the 2010 Rwanda elections, more than 97% of Read more
The Psychology of Protests by Tracy E. Hill, Ph.D. A recent paper, “The Activist’s Dilemma,” in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology looks at the effect of extreme behavior on popular support for social movements. Considering this year has been fraught with angst and anguish and scattered with protests around the world, I found Read more
Back to Coaching by Peter Kravitz After a 22-year hiatus I have returned to coaching wrestling—like a real-life T. S. Garp. Wrestling has been important in my life. It instantly transformed me from a pudgy teen into a lean one. My suburban 1970s youth was too comfortable. Not eating or drinking anything for 36 hours Read more
Helen of Troy’s Tears in My Garden by Angie Littlefield I saw a tall weed with a bright-yellow flower in a sumpy ditch when I was driving around a few years back. I stopped to see if I could pull it out, considering its roots might yield from the squidgy soil. Yes! The plant gave Read more
Troubled Times – Part 2 by Stu O’Connor Excerpts from the Diaries of Samuel Pepys “Boys do now cry ‘Kiss my Parliament!’ instead of ‘Kiss my arse!’ so great and general a contempt is the Rump come to among all men, good and bad.” – Samuel Pepys 7 February 1660 Diary entry. (The Rump Parliament 1648–53, Read more
Tony Taylor: One of the Finest Human Beings on the Planet by Peter Kravitz Philadelphia sports fans are renowned for booing. But they never booed Tony Taylor. The fans always cheered him, especially on each of the three Tony Taylor Days—in 1963, 1970, and in 1975. Has anyone else been honored by his team so Read more
The Reuben’s Colorful History This Jewish deli staple should be on everyone’s home menu by Chris Kaiser I have a friend who always orders a Reuben sandwich whenever we go out for lunch, but he will never cook one at home. He says it’s too difficult. I disagree with him, and I encourage everyone to Read more
The Wine “Experts” Are Wrong About This by Michael J. Orr I admit to being a bit of a wine snob. I’m a sommelier for crying out loud, and nobody gets certified as a sommelier without having a bit of alcoholic narcissism in them. But I am also a bit of a contrarian within those Read more
Hymns and Myths, Homeric and Modern By Stu O’Connor Rough and Rowdy Ways by Bob Dylan Columbia Records. Release date: 19 June 2020 * * * * * (out of five) One can never count Bob Dylan out—ever. I went to see him at The Tower Theater in Upper Darby in the fall of 2017, Read more
Up from the Ashes Book review by Jude Joseph Lovell “Armageddon ain’t supposed to be fun,” an elderly man reminds a small-town politician (and the reader) in Burn Scar, a new novel from T. J. Tao. I have to wonder, What about extremely tragic natural disasters? Because there were times as I read this fiction Read more
