Tag: Arts & Culture

Popcorn and Inspiration: ‘The Keys of the Kingdom’: A Christian Miracle in Imperial China

G | 2 h 17 min | Drama | 1944 Young, handsome Francis Chisholm (Gregory Peck) hopes to marry his childhood sweetheart in his native Scotland. But fate and faith have him pick priesthood. Then the early 20th-century Catholic Church sends him on a mission to the tumultuous province of Pai-tan, China. He arrives to…


The Ingalls Family and Us

In March 1974, “Little House on the Prairie” premiered on network television. Based on the children’s books by Laura Ingalls Wilder, this dramatic series ran for nine years, garnered four Emmys and 16 nominations, and remains one of the most successful shows in the history of television. Despite its age, “Little House” remains popular with…


Soren Kierkegaard: Seeking Wisdom Through Parables

Depending on who you ask, the present age seems to be one in which we’re either struggling up a mountain toward utopia or running off a cliff. Many of those who hold the latter view feel they have little control over the state of things, despite their best efforts to steer hearts and minds toward…


Kids, Showers, Love, and Flowers: Verses for March and the Coming of Spring

Spring is the unlocking time, the greening of fields, forests, and lawns, the season of mud puddles, sunshine, and gentle rains when the last hard edges of winter melt away and the days are soft again. Spring figures in several Western religions. To the ancient Greeks, the season meant the release of Persephone, goddess of…


Insects to the Rescue! | Documentary

This film is only available in the United States because of territorial licensing. Are biopesticides—micro-organisms that fight pests naturally—the promise of chemical-free agriculture? Farmers all over the world are converting to biopesticides, stimulated by scientific research that is opening up new perspectives. But is the technique risk-free for the environment? …


Film Review: ‘Heart of a Champion’: Great for Kids, Parents, Much Less so

PG |  1h 26 m | Family, Drama, High School | February 21, 2023 “Heart of a Champion,” much like “National Velvet,” is a totally-made-for-kids, sweet little drama for young tween girls who like horses. Which covers quite a wide spectrum of young girls. In the lead is a 14-year-old girl named Charlie (YaYa Gosselin) who’s got a…


Mark Twain House: A Grand Home for an American Writer

Volumes have been written about the quintessentially American author who chose an experience as a Mississippi riverboat pilot as the name by which he would pen his works. The term “mark twain,” a steamboat depth measurement, became Samuel Langhorne Clemens’s pseudonym by which classic literary works such as “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” and “The Prince and…


History Off the Beaten Path: Abandoned but Not Forgotten

Before my husband and I headed for a few days to the backside of Grand Teton National Park, his supervisor advised enthusiastically, “You have to stop and see the old abandoned settlement!” He gave us the GPS coordinates, since it was, indeed, off the beaten path. After driving three hours through Yellowstone and then through…


‘There’s No Place Like Home’: L. Frank Baum’s Short Story, ‘The Man in the Moon’

Each year, hundreds of people travel to different countries, flocking to their “bucket list” locations to meet new people and try new things. But the most important journeys begin and end with home. In his short story, “The Man in the Moon,” L. Frank Baum shows how the Man’s journey from the moon to earth…


Theatre Review: ‘Asi Wind’s Inner Circle’: Prepare to be amazed!

NEW YORK—The old saying “pick a card, any card” may be a more than a little timeworn, but in the hands of a master magician, it’s completely spot-on.  The master Asi Wind proves this point in his show “Inner Circle,” now running off-Broadway at The Gym at Judson. Handling a deck of cards with the…