
Pastime Webseries: Official Trailer
9/11, as seen from a dramatic 11-year-old’s perspective
Read more“Proposal for the Confederate statues lately removed from public display in New Orleans: Restore them to their places, but with modifications. At the statue to Robert E. Lee, erect a confronting statue of Ulysses Grant, memorializing his victories at Vicksburg (upriver from New Orleans) and at Appomattox. At the statue to Jefferson Davis, erect a statue of Abraham Lincoln cutting the chains off a slave. At the statue of P. G. T. Beauregard, erect a statue to Thurgood Marshall, who argued Brown v. Board of Education before the Supreme Court and later became a justice at that court. Also prominently by one of these statues erect a memorial to the four young black girls who integrated the N. O. schools in 1960. Putting the statues into a museum is inappropriate. Old Southern cities like New Orleans and Vicksburg and Savannah are in large part outdoor museums. Keeping the old statues and adding the new ones says, ‘Yes, this is our past. These men were not monsters, but they made monstrous mistakes, and we acknowledge their place in making us what we are. They are part of our history, and our history has turned a corner as indicated by the new statues. We repent of the old mistakes and hope to learn better.'”
John A. Yates, Ph.D., on a scholarly solution to Confederate statuary
"Proposal for the Confederate statues lately removed from public display in New Orleans: Restore them to their places, but with modifications. At the statue to Robert E. Lee, erect a confronting statue of Ulysses Grant, memorializing his victories at Vicksburg...
Journaling Jeffersonian Style
Perhaps one reason why it is easy to fall out of the habit of personal journaling is that we ascribe more emotional energy to it than it requires. If we assume every entry needs to be an eloquent and thorough reflection on the day's events, we will likely encounter...
Graduate School vs. Undergraduate School
I remember being quite frustrated to find that undergraduate school is not like what I knew about graduate school. It left me rather disillusioned with the structure of academia for awhile, and at Acton Institute 2013 my friend and roommate Amanda Achtman and I...
George Washington’s view of the Potomac
The Citizens of America, placed in the most enviable condition, as the sole Lords and Proprietors of a vast Tract of Continent, comprehending all the various soils and climates of the World, and abounding with all the necessaries and conveniencies of life, are now by...
Visiting with James and Dolley Madison
Thomas Jefferson’s eye view at the Monticello dome
Whereas Almighty God hath created the mind free; that all attempts to influence it by temporal punishment or burthens, or by civil incapacitations, tend only to beget habits of hypocrisy and meanness, and are a departure from the plan of the Holy author of our...
Embrace the future, respect the past
The other day a dress caught my eye for its particular style and cut that I like to wear, but it wasn't in my size or color palette. I recognized its thoughtful tag that was on a dress my grandmother bought not long ago. I think America has a First Daughter who would...
Too Easy to Forget: A Post for Memorial Day
Below is from a tribute I wrote in December 2010 upon my uncle's return from Afghanistan: As children in an American military family, my siblings and I were aware of the sacrifice that soldiers and their families make during active duty – especially during war. But...
#ICFF2017 #Latergram #RedCarpet My man won #BestDirector!
Read more“We both thought that the inversion would confirm our liberal assumption—that no one would have accepted Trump’s behavior from a woman, and that the male Clinton would seem like the much stronger candidate [when an actress played Trump’s part in a debate and an actor played Clinton’s part]. But we kept checking in with each other and realized that this disruption—a major change in perception—was happening. I had an unsettled feeling the whole way through. We heard a lot of ‘now I understand how this happened’—meaning how Trump won the election.”
Joe Salvatore, reflecting on results of the production “Her Opponent,” on which he collaborated with Maria Guadalupe
"We both thought that the inversion would confirm our liberal assumption—that no one would have accepted Trump’s behavior from a woman, and that the male Clinton would seem like the much stronger candidate [when an actress played Trump's part in a debate and an actor...