A Tale of Two Artworks HOW’S THE CULTURE WAR GOING? Well, I have the perfect seat for it — on a favorite bench in the middle of Freimann Square in downtown Fort Wayne. There, on the southwest corner of the square, is Gen. Anthony Wayne, hero of Fallen Timbers, his horse with one front leg raised signifying that the rider had been wounded in battle. The statue, the work of George Gainer in 1917, had to be…

by Richard McGowan, Ph.D. The January-February issue of the AARP Bulletin had an article on heart disease stating that “for decades, women were underrepresented in clinical trials” and “women’s health is still understudied.” The article directed the reader’s attention to the alleged plight of women regarding research and knowledge of heart disease. Readers of the article were likely to infer that men constituted the majority of research subjects during investigations into heart disease. That is an inference…

by Dennis Ganahl, Ph.D. For me, 1979 was a big year. I bought my first newspaper, the purchase of which included a farmhouse that needed lots of work. It had an old console TV, so I was able to watch Bob Vila’s first season of This Old House. I also had contracted with my state’s GOP to start and publish a newspaper. There was harmony in my universe. I didn’t have any handyman skills to complete home projects but it…

by Eric Schansberg, Ph.D. With the 100th anniversary of Calvin Coolidge’s inauguration as our 30th president on Aug. 2, I want to write about his noteworthy presidency. Why has Coolidge continued under the radar of history? In terms of public policy, he was opposed to the growth of government. He thought it was more important to kill bad bills than to pass good ones. Acts of omission are typically harder to value compared with acts of commission,…

Criminology for the Clueless WE LOST INTEREST in the gun-control debate a couple of decades ago when one side began piling up incontrovertible data that crime was not the fault of inanimate objects but rather of a society that left fatherless young men aimlessly roaming the streets at night. The pile is about to my waist now. At the same time, the argument of the other side required only that you unquestioningly accept the blood libel…

by Mark Frank Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge? Where is the knowledge we have lost in information? “The Rock” by T. S. Elliot We live in an age of sensory overload. We are tied to gadgets that bombard us with snippets of information which are simply endless data points that never seem to tie together. Whether 30 second sound bites on TV, single sentence news headlines crossing the chyron or, worst…

by Richard McGowan, Ph.D. My friend, a professor of architecture and design, was a member of his small, Ohio town’s planning council. The council tackled the problem of energy loss by the town’s drafty domiciles, especially trailers. The committee wondered what to do about it. “We should tear them down and replace them with more energy efficient structures,” one person said. “We are losing too much energy in those places.” My friend said, “Look at…

by Tanner Bouchie The United States Supreme Court has a history of deciding questions of Equal Protection based on social and psychological studies. Studies, however, are often poorly designed and misrepresented by litigants. Appellate judges are especially poorly situated to evaluate those studies to determine the facts of a case at hand. The Court has allowed legal uncertainty, decades of unnecessary litigation, and embarrassing gaffes among its members by deciding cases by studies at the…

by Mark Franke I spent my professional career in higher education administration, specifically in the enrollment and finance areas. What that meant was summer was my busiest time with students to enroll, orient and bill, and then there was the fiscal year closing accounting work. Other than a few days over the course of the summer when I got by without wearing a tie, summer was a salt mine. My wife was an elementary school…

by Richard McGowan, Ph.D. June was not a kind month for Indiana. Shortly before Father’s Day, two very young children were fatal victims of child abuse. Then, to end the month, Trooper Aaron N. Smith died after being hit by a stolen car in which two people were fleeing police. Smith was setting up stop sticks when the car diverted its path,  crossed lane lines, and struck Trooper Smith. The driver of the car has…