At the Point of Guns – My Limited Experience Projected On the American Landscape in 2022 I have bad memories of the YMCA in Clinton, Iowa, so that means I was younger than 10. One was swimming classes. The pool room was so big and noisy and smelly and I hated the feeling of chlorinated …
At the Point of Guns – Upcoming Podcast Episode Read More »
Above: The LeSeuer River southeast of Mankato in more recent times. A Strange Scoutmaster Leads a Strange Troop on a Long Strange Canoe Trip – Upcoming Podcast Episode We moved to Mankato, a medium-small college town in Southern Minnesota, when I was in the fall of my 5th grade, so I was “the new kid”. …
Corporal punishment is still legal in 19 states out of 51 (adding DC)! The 19 states are basically the Confederacy (minus Virginia) plus Indiana, Missouri, Kentucky, Colorado, Kansas, Idaho, Oklahoma, Wyoming, and Arizona. Texas law defines permissible corporal punishment as, “…the deliberate infliction of physical pain by hitting, paddling, spanking, slapping, or any other physical …
Corporal Punishment is Still Legal in 19 State Public School Systems Read More »
Bullies often enjoy the attention that pushing someone around gives them from bystanders, who may be willing aggressors-by-proxy, or just scared they’ll draw the next short straw, and the attention of the bully. It may not take a seven-nation army to stop the cycle and convince the bully to find another form of entertainment, or …
Academic education and bullying have been working hand in hand for centuries to educate young people in the western world. Lord of the Flies is a famous book about society and civilization that has been required reading for English or Social Studies for generations. Mankato was the “Big Town” that the Wilders in the Little …
Podcast Episode 001 – Lord of the Flies Invades Little House on the Prairie Read More »
Well, first it’s an EXTREMELY clever turn of a phrase made famous by someone else. My sisters lobbied hard for using my Middle name “Gregory” instead of my first name while I was still in the hospital. Six decades later, I finally know why. I go by both, depending. After reserving the domain URL, I …
Scroll down to the player and click the white triangle, or read this intro first. Freedom of Choice! My Minnesota hometown made the national news in 1995 for losing one teen to meningitis, in an outbreak that put at least 6 more in the hospital. Maybe you saw Michael Osterholm on TV in the 2020-21 …
Podcast Episode 002 – Fall Football Foments Nearly Flunking Fatal Final Read More »
The Scientific method developed over the centuries as curious men and women basically played with the objects and substances they found around them and discovered what happens when you throw this thing at that thing, combine one powder with another liquid, noticed that the same curve shows up in seashells and flowers, and found that …
Why do so many people believe so many stupid things? Read More »
When I grew up in medium-small towns in the midwest half a century ago, we said the pledge, we learned about U. S. and state history, and U. S. Government structure in grade school. There were ad campaigns on TV against littering and carelessness with cigarettes. Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts and other kids’ groups …
