What follows is a circuitous reflection on the thin line between significance and meaninglessness, between fateful conjunctions and complete coincidences, between public history and political “truths,” between personal histories and the burden of expectations A Montana couple recently celebrated the birth of their child, born on November 12 at 2:15 in the afternoon. The birth…
In the recent off-off-year elections, the national media was understandably focused on the gubernatorial contests in Virginia and New Jersey and the mayoral contest in New York City. But, although it has received almost no national attention, a school board election in a suburban community in Ohio may have as many implications as those more…
Over the last fifty years, this question has become a cultural cliché—and a much longer lived cliché than most. But, as we have now celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of the assassination, it seems poignantly obvious that that cliché will continue to have currency only for a few more decades, until the last of those who…
■ Gordon Gee, Ohio State 2011: Total Compensation, $1,992,221: Base Salary, $814,157; Bonus Pay, $296,786; Deferred Compensation, Set Aside, $881,278. Rank among Public University Presidents in the U.S.: 1. 2012: Total Compensation: $1,899,420; Base Salary, $830,439. Rank among Public University Presidents in the U.S.: 3. His compensation declined marginally, but he dropped three places in…
Lindel Toups is a member of the Parish Council of LaFourche Parish, Louisiana. Under normal circumstances, his chances of coming to national media attention would seem extremely minimal. But Lindel Toups seems to have been very determined to beat those long odds. Toups has achieved his fifteen minutes of notoriety by pushing a ballot measure…
Between the typhoon that has devastated the Philippines and the outbreak of tornadoes that have devastated the Midwest, the media has presented us with pictures of terrible devastation on a scale that we have not seen since Hurricane Sandy. These first two photos are of the ruined landscape that Typhoon Haiyan left in its wake…
With all of the attention being paid to “Leftist” professors using class time, university e-mail, or even social media to “force their ideology” on their students, it is hard (for me, at least) to pass up the opportunity to cite Far-Right abuses of political expression on campus. The Young Conservatives of Texas, a student group…
The following piece was written by my former student and friend Mike Lamm. Mike is a reporter for the Decatur Daily Democrat. _________________________ A new study of gun violence in the United States, recently published in the American Journal of Public Health and conducted by researchers at Boston University, has established a convincing statistical connection…
Yesterday, the news channels were focused on very little beyond President Obama’s press conference, during which he repeatedly apologized for his administration’s “fumbling” of the rollout of the ACA website. Later in the day, he gave a speech in Ohio that, in all of its admittedly very partisan highlighting of his administration’s accomplishments, does serve…