Liberal Arts Blog — Saturday is the Joy of Sports, Dance, Fitness, and All Things Physical Day Today’s Topic: Is Eteri Tutberidze the Wicked Witch or Just a Phenomenal Ice Skating Coach? Child prodigies have often been victims of abuse from their coaches — whether family members or not. Michael…

Thinking Citizen Blog — Friday is Education and Education Policy Day Today’s Topic — The Paradox of Education and Polarization — Wow! One might hope that education would promote tolerance. Apparently not. Today. some excerpts from an article in last week’s Boston Globe Opinion section by Todd Washburn. Is this…

Liberal Arts Blog — Friday is the Joy of Art, Architecture, Design, Film, and All Things Visual Day Today’s Topic: Private vs Public Displays of Values — on Persons, on Homes How do you feel about the display of the American flags on a pole outside a house or on…

Liberal Arts Blog — Thursday is the Joy of Music Day Today’s Post: Guitar Land (Part I): Shapes, Sizes, Colors — Hit Me! So what’s your favorite guitar? Shape? Size? Color? Why? Is it because that’s what your favorite guitarist or singer used? Because it was your first? Because of…

Thinking Citizen Blog — Thursday is Health, Health Care, and Global Health Policy Day Today’s Topic: Vaccine Mandates and Racial Equity in Schools Are vaccine mandates in schools the right thing to do? In all schools or just some? who should decide? how? what is fair? why? Today excerpts from…

Thinking Citizen Blog — Wednesday is Climate Change, the Environment, and Sustainability Day Today’s Topic: “We Will All End Up Paying for Someone Else’s Beach House” (NYT) Sometimes a headline grabs me. This one did. At first the claim seemed outrageous. But the more I thought about it, the more…

Liberal Arts Blog — Wednesday is the Joy of Science, Engineering, and Technology Day Today’s Topic — Aposematic, Deimatic, Nyctinastic — Isn’t Evolution Awesome? I learned three new words this week. What do they mean? Nyctinastic is the characteristic of some plants (such as the “rose of sharon”) to “sleep”…

Thinking Citizen Blog — Tuesday is Economics, Finance, and Business Day Today’s Topic: The Story of Three Great Inflations — 1946–8, 1974–5, 1979–81 I am a firm believer that a little historical perspective is useful from time to time. With inflation accelerating, perhaps it is wise to remember what past…

Liberal Arts Blog — Tuesday is the Joy of Literature, Language, Religion, and Culture Day Today’s Topic: What Is the Most Important Thing Jesus Said? When Did He Say It? What Does It Mean? Opinions differ. The fundamentalist tends to give an exclusivist answer. The pluralist gives an inclusivist one…