By Mark Franke “[All men] are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights.” The Declaration of Independence The above snippet is from the most well-known and beloved paragraph of the Declaration of Independence. School children are taught it . . . well, used to be taught it at least. Even if most adults cannot quote any other phrases from the Declaration, this one should ring the metaphysical memory bell. I find it ironic if…

A Brief Monograph on Facial Hair  MEN’S FASHION in facial hair should be taken seriously. Throughout history, it has informed the observant of societal bent, usually downward, sometimes in a martial direction. Look, I don’t have anything against mustaches and beards intrinsically. I grew a mustache in the Navy because I imagined it would make me look grownup and formidable. Fifty-five years later I am considering growing another, this time to make my face more grandfatherly and less frightening…

by Leo Morris If you were a hall monitor back in your school days, I apologize for the insult, but I did not care for your kind. I was one of the crossing guards, and we considered ourselves a far superior breed. Crossing guards stood at busy intersections, brave young arms extended, to keep dimwitted classmates from rushing out in front of demon cars. We were true public servants, and courageous ones at that, since…

‘. . . jus from how dey talking’ I THINK I GET IT NOW — wokeness, I mean. My office is on Indiana’s sanity fringe, and up until now I’ve been living in the 1980s, some say in the 1960s. But an article landed on my desk this morning that may bring me up to date. The headline reads “Against Copyediting.” It is by someone named Helen Betya Rubinstein writing in something called the Literary Hub, the Jan.…

by Richard McGowan, Ph.D. I can thank my wife that I am vertical. Her father died of a heart attack before he reached age 50; she knew heart disease ran in her family. Her doctor asked that she undergo several tests to ensure her heart health. During one of those visits, her doctor said it would be a good thing were I to do some of the diagnostic scans that she had undertaken. Two months later, on Valentine’s…

“(Gov. Eric) Holcomb supports raising the average Hoosier teacher salary from $56,600 to $60,000 annually. While teaching is a calling and not a career defined simply by pay, our educators deserve a respectable wage. If school systems can’t attract and retain qualified teachers, students suffer.” — Terre Haute Tribune Star editorial, Jan. 25, 2023 By Maj. Ryan Cummins Interesting, but confusing. Is being a teacher a calling? Describing it as a “calling” clearly implies some sort of…

by Leo Morris They were known by various names – the book women, the book ladies, the packsaddle librarians. From 1935 to 1943, they rode through the hills of Depression-era Appalachia, hundreds of miles a week on difficult trails through sometimes awful weather, circulating a few books, magazines and greatly outdated newspapers to people living in isolated mountain cabins in areas where there were no libraries and few schools. About 30 packhorse libraries reached between…

By Tim TimmonsLast week we hit a financial landmark. We maxed out our credit card. Oh, the uppity ups in the government didn’t call it that. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen explained that the U.S. reached its debt limit, a plain and simple way of saying, well, we maxed out the credit card. Except we didn’t. Not really. But first, let’s take a look at the nuts and bolts. The debt limit – how much money…

‘We the People’ Pays Well “Show me a man who gets rich by being a politician, and I will show you a crook.” — Harry S Truman HAVE YOU EVER WONDERED why so many congressmen, Republican and Democrat, are rich? Of course you have, and your best guess, depending on your disposition, is that they are either hard-working or corrupt, or hard working at being corrupt. You will have your answer this session — maybe. Before we get…

by Richard J. McGowan and Tyler R. McGowan What’s to become of American universities, including Indiana University? If we look across the pond, i.e., the Atlantic, we can see a reaffirmation of traditional ideas on what a university should be. Those ideas are rooted in history. The University of Bologna, the oldest university in the Western world, celebrated its 900th anniversary in 1988. To mark its continuous operation for so many centuries, regents from many European universities gathered…