"When I do not want to say things in real life I often say them here." — Mimi Smartypants
Washington Post columnist Michelle Singletary recently wrote a column titled “Not All College Majors Are Created Equal.” You can click the link and read the whole thing, but if you’re in a hurry, the first few lines say it all: I have this game I play when I meet college students. “What’s your major?” I […]
Two days ago I wrote about the cancellation of Mexican American and Native American Studies classes in Tucson high schools, and the large-scale book banning that followed. Tucson Unified School District (TUSD) officials confiscated books and other materials used in the cancelled classes, boxed them, and shipped them to a storage facility. Local, national, and […]
Three years ago I visited the Barrett-Jackson auto auction in Scottsdale, Arizona. I figured it’s been long enough, so yesterday I drove up again, this time with my friend Ed. It was a long day: two-and-a-half-hours on the freeway going and coming; another four or five hours tramping around the tent city at Barrett-Jackson, ogling […]
In May 2010 Arizona banned the teaching of ethnic studies in the state’s public school classrooms, specifically targeting Mexican-American and Native American studies. The new law forbid elementary and secondary schools to conduct classes “designed primarily for pupils of a particular ethnic group” or that advocated “the overthrow of the United States government” and “resentment […]
I love the jet fighters of the 1950s. Built for speed, sleek and swept-back, they were the embodiment of the fantasy planes of comic book superheroes. The North American F-107, an orphan fighter-bomber abandoned by the USAF, embodies the go-fast exuberance of the period. The F-107 began life in 1953 at North American Aviation as a drawing-board […]
In December, after the death of hereditary dictator Kim Jong-Il, network and cable TV news programs replayed videos of North Korean citizens publicly weeping and wailing in mourning for the Dear Leader. Many Americans, starting with but not confined to news reporters, made fun of the North Koreans. I wrote a blog entry at the […]
A friend posted this to Facebook yesterday: My drinking friends are always forwarding stories like this. Sure, booze is good for you. What the hell, if it makes you feel better about your drinking, you have my permission to believe whatever bogus “study” the liquor industry wants you to believe. Bottoms up! But it isn’t […]
“If you speak of this, you and your parents will be killed.” — Glynn Turman as Dr. Woodward in Super 8 Bridesmaids (2011, USA) One of my buds watched Bridesmaids with his wife and hated it. I thought, apart from a few flat spots, it was pretty funny. It’s basically a guy flick turned into […]