Category: Indiana Writers Group

by Leo Morris Indiana Republican lawmakers are considering several issues related to public schools for debate during their next legislative session, begins the story in Newsweek, “including potentially adding the choice to be identified on the ballot with a particular political party when running for a school board seat.” The reaction has been entirely predictable. Adding politics…

by Mark Franke Last year I was a casualty of hubris, the ancient Greek term for incredible egotism leading to stupidity. Maybe that’s not the technical definition as a classical scholar would tell you but it describes my year perfectly. At least it is an accurate description for that aspect of 2021 relating to my…

Paring to Basics in 2022 by Leo Morris My sister Judy made our mother’s famous – within our circle – yeast rolls for Christmas dinner this year. They were a little heavier than the ones we remembered, but tasty nonetheless. She vowed to keep trying until she got it right. That was exactly the reaction…

Hard Times and Cracked Pots “We rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope.” — Romans 5:3-4 IS IT POSSIBLE to experience life’s problems and crises without expecting the help of government? I am not being flip; human-interest stories are rare that do not involve some sort of centralized, institutional or statist assistance,…

Our friend and adjunct has written this year’s Christmas Letter as if by Adam Smith. He notes that Smith was an ethicist first and an economists only second, writing “Theory of Moral Sentiments” in 1759 (without a revision) and “Wealth of Nations” sevens years later (with five revisions before his death in 1796). by Richard McGowan,…

HERE’S A QUESTION for our racial-redemption era: Why would Indiana media, however diminished, ignore the single most accurate predictor of crime and mortality in black youth? That is, the absence of a father in the home, something described in detail almost 60 years ago in Sen. Daniel Moynihan’s famous report to Congress. Before you yell, “racism,” know that…

by Leo Morris I’m not an economist, so I can’t delve too deeply into the intricacies of inflation. But I think I’m as qualified as most people who write about economics in that I can talk about Adam Smith’s “Wealth of Nations” all day long without having actually read it. And I do know a…

by Mark Franke The human race is at once an intellectual one and a sensory one. Both capabilities serve to enhance our appreciation of the world and the people around us. Our better natures take substance when these act in concert. There is no better time to experience this than Christmas. Christmas sights, smells and…

El Duce Would Be Pleased THE FORT WAYNE councilman was questioning his city’s quasi-official economic development director on how a state regional grant might be used. The first question was from whence the money ($50 million or so) had come.  The answer led down a rabbit hole of agency acronyms to nowhere in particular but did not exclude the possibility that it…

By Richard Moss, M.D. Chanukah, the festival of lights, is a Jewish holiday that commemorates the victory of the Maccabees (or Hasmoneans) over the powerful armies of the Seleucid (Greek) Empire under King Antiochus IV. King Antiochus, in 167 BC, in a show of force, forbade important Jewish observances such as keeping the Sabbath and…