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An Ode to the Humble Lac Bug
This bug has transformed the world.
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Mid-Month Marvels: PeaceTrees Vietnam
This organization was born out of grief, as many profound things often are.
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The Fantasy of White America
Que sera sera. For some.
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It Is NOT a Small World
Isn’t that exciting?
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Fire Drill Fridays
Convictions put into action. Admirable.
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Walking Between Cultures
One of the things I love most about the virtual world of Second Life is that you get to meet people from all over the world. One friend, C.N., is a young man who is an amazingly talented artist from Vietnam. I met him just as he was finishing his secondary education and applying to…
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Jeannette Rankin: A Woman Who Stood Alone
Recently I watched a program about the presidency of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and in it they mentioned in passing that after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Roosevelt went to congress to ask them to declare war on Japan and there was only one vote against it. Think about that for a minute. That had…
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Countries are Artificial Constructs
One of my friends applied for a high level federal job many years ago and put me down as a personal reference. Some guy in a suit showed up at my door to interview me about her, and one of his questions was, “Is she a good American?” That made me blink. Uh, what does…
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Environmental Meddling
Anyone who lives in the Southeastern United States is familiar with kudzu. This amazingly insidious vine was introduced to this country by the Japanese at the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, and since then, according to Wikipedia, it’s been spreading at the rate of 150,000 acres annually, which seems really intimidating until you realize that…
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Solving the Rhino Horn Problem
Well, it’s official. Mozambique has no more Rhinos. The last one was poached this month. I wonder if the poachers in question knew that they were making this type of history before carrying out their evil deed. I wonder if their greed felt satisfied, if they were able to check this accomplishment off their bucket…