I'm On It

(Editor's note: This article was originally published in the Obama era. That name was changed to "Trump". Everything else is exactly the same as it was when it was published, like four years ago. That, in itself, is just sad). Here's the deal. This is just my opinion, so take it all, or some, or none of it, as you see fit. With every passing month, we hear of another shooting, another mass killing or another way for people to hurt each other. Although these things happen around the world, (albeit with an alarming frequency here in the U.S.), I'll direct my thoughts to us here in the United States. People wring their hands over every mass shooting, and with good reason. A tragedy is never easy to suffer. But, if it's a white guy as the shooter, (and it's usually a white guy), our media trots out the "mental health" discussion, so we don't have to take responsibility for anything. The problem becomes one so much larger than oursel

A theater in which I have volunteered over the past few years is having an anniversary. The Theatre of the Republic, the official theater of Horry County, South Carolina, is celebrating their 50th anniversary with a weekend of musical revue shows. They are bringing back actors from many of their most popular shows and highlighting some of the truly great talents of the area. A past actor, someone who, when informed of this, lamented the fact that they were too far away at the time to attend, waxed nostalgic. In glowing terms they wished all the performers only the very best for their upcoming festivities. This made me wonder. I wondered what made the theater arts so beloved, so well-respected and so vehemently defended by its participants - both actors and patrons alike. I admit that I feel it, as well. I just haven't put it to words. So, I resolved to do so. After much reflection, I have determined what it is, for me at least, that makes theater so special.

A few years ago, my daughter came home from a school trip to a major airline manufacturing facility. She declared that she wanted to be an aerospace engineer. Understandably, my wife and I were thrilled. What kid knows what they want to do in life? Most adults haven't even figured it out yet. I started to dig in, trying to find out what kind of opportunities this field would present to her. I found lots of Engineering Groups. I also found Women's Engineering groups. I began to wonder why women needed their own groups. After all, in this day and age, it couldn't be that women were really still held down in STEM fields. Could it? Stop laughing. Of course they can. There are a variety of reasons... some even make sense, but it still adds up to a very unlevel playing field, with women on the low end by a wide margin. So, I started digging a bit deeper.  I spoke to some engineers of many different disciplines, both males and females. What I found was that wh

Being from New York, I've known for years that Donald Trump is little more than a carnival barker in an expensive suit. Most New Yorkers know this. Even though most of New York consistently votes Republican, (more people who vote democratic live in NYC than in the rest of the state combined, so as goes "the City", so goes the state), we all know that Trump is little more than a self-aggrandizing hump that lives to trumpet his own worth. Make no mistake, New York has its share of rednecks, tea party knuckleheads and people simply fed up with the status quo, just like the rest of the country. I lived for more than fifteen years in a town completely run by one party, rife with false patriotism, flags everywhere and an earnest population that thinks they are part of the "real America". And, we still thought Donald Trump was a joke. A joke, however, that says what some people think. Politicians have to say what we want to hear. If they actually say wha

When my daughter came home from a school trip exclaiming, "I want to be an aerospace engineer!" I was thrilled. How many people can say that they have a teenager who actually knows what they want to be when they grow up? I don't even know what I want to be when I grow up! For my daughter, who busts her butt to get straight A's, to say that she wants to go into a field that will require her to bust it even harder made me very proud. Of course, in my own mind, I took all of the credit for instilling in her the work ethic, creativity and problem-solving skills one would need to make it in the field of aerospace engineering.  It was a very proud moment for me. She didn't feel restrained by what many would see as traditional gender roles when it came to careers. Having moved to the South, the very birthplace of Redneck, from New York, the bastion of liberalism, (or so people think...it's really not), I was worried. I worried that the culture would wear h

Here's the deal. This is just my opinion, so take it all, or some, or none of it, as you see fit. With every passing month, we hear of another shooting, another mass killing or another way for people to hurt each other. Although these things happen around the world, (albeit with an alarming frequency here in the U.S.), I'll direct my thoughts to us here in the United States. People wring their hands over every mass shooting, and with good reason. A tragedy is never easy to suffer. But, if it's a white guy as the shooter, (and it's usually a white guy), our media trots out the "mental health" discussion, so we don't have to take responsibility for anything. The problem becomes one so much larger than ourselves, there's just no way we can tackle it on a personal level. So, we cluck our tongues and shake our heads and bemoan "those people" who haven't fixed the problem yet. Liberals call for more gun legislation, conservatives wrap thems