Once upon a time, an understanding of the ancient past was the hallmark of any educated person in the West. A study of classical authors, including Plutarch and Cicero, was a staple of education that has fallen out of vogue. This course of study is by no means an outdated source without value to us…

“If you were anyone else, I would punch you in the face.” I stood there, holding my little girl, rather shocked by what I had just heard. I was a young teacher, and I had not had many dealings with parents and certainly never had one tell me he would punch me. Yet here stood…

How do we know for sure that our children feel our love? We may wonder about this key aspect of our relationship with them, or we may just take it for granted that it’s all working out. Does one child think that I love her sibling more? Is my son feeling upset because he doesn’t…

Fifth grade was the first time students were introduced to band in the school where I taught, and I could usually count on about 85 percent of the class signing up to play an instrument. On Fridays, right before recess and lunch, all of these excited band members went to band while the rest of…

On a day when the peak is shrouded by mist, passengers on the Mount Washington cog railway feel like they really could be on a railway to the heavens. Ascending to above the tree line and into the clouds, with each trip the railway invokes the imagination of its creator. Sylvester Marsh, a 49-year-old entrepreneur,…

He was born into poverty. He died penniless. Throughout Nikola Tesla’s life, he endured a number of severe illnesses. Yet he developed numerous technologies that brought people closer together and made the world a better place to live in. An inventor’s endeavor is essentially lifesaving. Whether he harnesses forces, improves devices, or provides new comforts…

Not far off the coast of Southern California, Santa Catalina Island rises out of the Pacific, providing valuable ground for ecotourism and recreation in coastal desert scenery. Creatively cultivated by brilliant minds and wealthy captains of industry, such as William Wrigley Jr., Catalina’s main port of entry, Avalon, is a European-style riviera within the confines…

In the middle of the 19th century, the Southern plains sprouted prized cotton on vast and elegant plantations. Slaves worked the cotton fields under a relentless sun hot enough to burn their skin and pierce into their resilience. The soil was tired, and cotton crops were losing their vigor, their superiority. George Washington Carver was…

On a railroad car named “Mayflower,” headed to California in September 1919 for a presidential speaking tour, first lady Edith Bolling Galt Wilson felt trapped. She was loyal to President Woodrow Wilson’s mission to rally the American people for his League of Nations proposal after World War I. On the other hand, her husband’s health…

Among the Founding Fathers of the United States were inventors and scientists. More importantly, however, the Founders were truly inventive leaders. They were tremendous problem-solvers and great innovators across a wide spectrum of academic and practical pursuits. There seems to be no end to their involvement in research and development on behalf of the new…