Category: history
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Reflections on Postmodern Cultural Conflict
I’m genuinely confused and troubled by the political polarization we see and experience in different ways in our culture, and I’m trying to better understand these dynamics. There are multiple reasons for the fear, anger, and frustration which individuals and different groups feel today. Some of these factors include the emergence of “identity politics,” changing…
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Inspired by National Geographic Explorer Andres Ruzo
This past Wednesday, I had the remarkable good fortune to hear National Geographic Explorer Andres Ruzo (@georuzo) share a fantastic and inspiring presentation at school for all our 6th graders. Andres is the brother of one of our French teachers, and is a geothermal scientist conducting research in the Peruvian Amazon Basin in an area…
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Understanding Russian Disinformation in U.S. Politics
I’m attending the “Summer Institute in Digital Literacy” (#digiURI) this week in Providence, Rhode Island. Although my flight landed too late for me to make the official opening session, thanks to Troy Hicks (@hickstro) I connected for supper with a great group of attendees and had wonderful conversations. Among many other things, we talked a…
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Understanding the Puerto Rican Blackout: Bank Regulation, Bureaucratic Inefficiency and Leadership
This afternoon I watched the outstanding PBS Frontline documentary, “Blackout in Puerto Rico.” The program unwraps the story of why it took 7 months to restore electrical power to most of the island of Puerto Rico, following the devastation wrought by hurricane Maria in September 2017, and the complicated reasons why the infrastructure of the island had…
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Reflections on Comancheria, Identity and Frontier Terrorism
I never thought much about my own family bloodlines and ancestry until we moved to Oklahoma in 2006. As I got to know teachers and school staff members in my role (at the time) working as an “education advocate” for AT&T, I learned that all public schools in Oklahoma have “Indian Education” programs and students…
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Learning About Early Pottawatomie County, Kansas History
Today I had an opportunity to share several presentations at the Kaw Valley Academy of Technology and Education (KVATE) in St. Marys, Kansas, 30 minutes from Manhattan where I grew up and my parents live. On the way back, I saw a sign just west of Belview for an Oregon Trail historical marker. Often when I’m…
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Pictograph Memories at Camp Cimarron
This weekend Sarah and I went on a survival campout Friday evening and Saturday with her Venture Crew. We camped about an hour north and east of Oklahoma City, at an old Campfire Girls Camp called “Camp Cimarron” near Coyle. For over 50 years, Camp Cimarron was a much-loved summer camp destination for many Oklahomans, operated by…
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Lessons Gleaned from the Life of Joseph Priestley
Tremendous benefits await those who generously share their ideas with others. Leaders should not shy away from the challenges of developing professional expertise in multiple domains. Regular collaboration and networking over excellent food and drink can prepare the mind as a fertile field for the cultivation of life-changing thoughts. New technologies can present novel opportunities…
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Inspired by Bernie Sanders and Democratic Socialism
Like many U.S. voters today, I’ve been largely unimpressed and uninspired by most of the news I’ve read and heard about our 2016 Presidential candidates. One exception to this was the short-lived candidacy of Larry Lessig. This evening, however, I took an hour to watch the November 19, 2015, address by Bernie Sanders at Georgetown…
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Cautiously Optimistic About Iran and United States Relations
I’m cautiously optimistic about Iranian and United States relations in the wake of the July 14th announcement by President Obama of the Iranian Nuclear deal and his hour long press conference yesterday focusing primarily on that accord. We live in the day of 140 character information bites, but I encourage you to fully watch both these…