Culture and Arts

By now, the demise of the American small town is a common tale. But even as most of them continue to lose residents, a few are adding them at a rapid clip. In several Western and Southern states, small towns are growing quickly as fast-growing metro areas swallow up more outlying towns, according to a Stateline analysis of census estimates. Between 2015 and 2016, the growth was particularly strong in small towns in Utah, Colorado, Washington, Oregon, Florida, Idaho, Delaware, Texas, Arizona, North Carolina and South Carolina, where small towns grew around 1 percent or more. more »

An art exhibition focusing on the train that carries up to half a million Central American migrants across Mexico toward the United States every year opens at University of California's C Berkeley’s Center for Latin American Studies (CLAS). The exhibit, by the Artist Collective Against Discrimination, is titled Riding the Beast, named for the notorious train that carries desperate Central American and Mexican migrants as it rumbles across Mexico. more »

Joan L. Cannon writes: Take for instance, the preoccupation with the names of things, that was so essential to my father, and that I've retained, yet can't recall whether I ever consciously tried to pass on. Even my dearest companion was somewhat afflicted with this (I hope minor) obsession. And why does it loom now so large as a matter of consequence to my bumbling consciousness? Even wrote about it for SWW (Renewing Respect for Language: The Subjunctive Is a Governor of the Consciousness That Uses It). Did I fail in a relatively simple matter of pointing out things to our children? Do any of them care half as much as we did?   more »

"The Declaration of Independence was not a creation of the Gods, but of living men. And let us never forget extremely brave men. They were staking their lives on what they believed. Pledging as Jefferson wrote in the memorable final passage of the Declaration, our lives, our fortunes, our sacred honor." "From history we learn that sooner is not necessarily better. That what we don't know can indeed hurt us very often and badly. And there, and that there is no such thing as a self-made man or woman. We all got where we are as did everyone before us with the help of others." "President Dwight D Eisenhower, who so admirably served his country his entire career, said there were four key qualities by which we should measure a leader. Character, ability, responsibility, and experience." more »