Amid multiple crises, Independence Day is a good a time to refresh with words that inspire, motivate, and define who we are, not by political affiliation, sexual orientation, gender identity, race, or religion, but a country established by immigrants seeking liberty. “The Chinese use two brush strokes to write the word ‘crisis.’ One brush stroke stands for danger; the other...

“Returning violence for violence multiplies violence…” – Martin Luther King, Jr. Growing up in a Los Angeles suburb, I led a life safe from many of the troubles that took place only miles from where I lived. During the summer of ’65, those troubles exploded during a hot August night. Marquette Frye, a black, twenty-one-year old, was pulled over by...

During these extraordinary times, it’s easy to become overwhelmed with anxiety and fear. Will I be safe? Will my family be safe? How will I pay for food, rent, mortgage? When will it end? In his ground-breaking book, Man’s Search for Meaning, holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl describes his heartbreaking loss in a letter to friends after his liberation from Auschwitz....

With the 75th Anniversary of “the liberation of Auschwitz [on January 27, the occasion was] marked by events around the world, culminating in a solemn ceremony at the former death camp [that included] dozens of aging Holocaust survivors,” The New York Times reports (Jan. 25). “Piotr Cywinski, the director of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, is worried. “ ‘More and more...

In honor of President Trump’s pardons of celebrity convicted felons, I thought this updated commentary from 2018, particularly relevant. WASHINGTON — With Vice-President Mike Pence looking on, President Donald Trump signed two full pardons “for all Crimes and Misdemeanors” for Frankenstein and the Wolf Man. Both had previously pleaded guilty to murder. White House officials were scrambling Tuesday morning after...

Due to declining  student populations in public colleges and universities around the country, budget cutbacks have had a serious impact on education. Libraries and staff are particularly vulnerable, affecting the vital help students need from the valuable services libraries provide. How important? The nation’s second president, John Adams, believed education was so important that he included a clause in the...

“As long as the world shall last there will be wrongs, and if no man objected and no man rebelled, those wrongs would last forever.” – Clarence Darrow This is a case about truth and lies; right and wrong. At the conclusion of the White House defense team’s arguments on behalf of President Trump, the revelations by former National Security...

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”   — George Santayana, Spanish philosopher At the most critical juncture of the Cuban Missile Crisis, President Kennedy was facing the very real possibility of nuclear war with Russia. In a speech to the American people, Kennedy details the crisis and expresses his desire for full and complete denuclearization....

“These are the times that try men’s souls.” – Thomas Paine, English-born, American philosopher and activist. Taken from Paine’s essay, The Crisis, those words were meant to inspire American revolutionaries as they faced an extraordinary moment of character. Considering our current crisis, what Paine writes next is worth reflection. “The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will,  » Read more about:...

The first warning came on September 5, 2018 when The New York Times published an anonymous Op-Ed from “a senior official in the Trump administration.” “The dilemma,” anonymous writes, “which [Trump] does not fully grasp, is that many of the senior officials in his own administration are working diligently from within to frustrate parts of his agenda and his worst...