Author Archives: jharrin4

 There’s so much digital information to sift through our senses these days: bits and bytes of self-indulgent bombast, frivolity, foolishness, not to mention banality. iPhones, iPads, androids, tablets, kindles. We have the whole world in our hands. Movies, TV, streaming video, podcasts, … Continue reading →

Cinco de Mayo. May 5th. No, it’s not Mexican independence day. The 5th of May marks the Mexican defeat of French troops at the Battle of Puebla in 1862. Let’s celebrate, amigos.  What were the French doing in Mexico then? Well, they were there to … Continue reading →

May 1, 2012. May Day. A celebration of labor, workers, unions, brotherhood. If the old Soviet Union were still chugging along on its creaky ideological tracks, there’d be a  May Day parade in Moscow, and then on May 9th, a “victory … Continue reading →

Good riddance, 2011. Sack the coach! Throw the bums out! If I never see another…  Just once I’d like to see…  You fill in the rest. I, for one, have little faith that the world-at-large or the local village quite small, … Continue reading →

As a college instructor who teaches  speech and media classes, I hear a lot of arguments formally advanced during persuasive speaking rounds. Recently, there’s been a repetition of one “hot button” issue, the controversial “conceal & carry” laws that are … Continue reading →

June 6, 1944. The Allied invasion of the northern coast of France. The push-back of the German army, and their ultimate defeat, along with Italy and Japan in the last real war. I say real, because WWII had distinct consequences … Continue reading →

Recently, two news stories struck me as evidence of how our emotions tend to rule us, mostly at the expense of rational thinking. The first event regards those 33 miners finally freed from their subterranean confinement following a mining mishap. … Continue reading →

As of this posting, the battle to retain collective bargaining rights in Wisconsin is about a month along. Governor Walker defies the swarms of protestors–teachers, firefighters, police, various public workers and private sector workers alike–by maintaining his assertion that the … Continue reading →

I just saw the movie “The Social Network”. It dramatizes the Facebook story. Chances are, anyone reading this blog has a Facebook page. There are 500 million people using Facebook these days, and the company is valued at 25 billion … Continue reading →

Here in the Chicagoland area, the leaves are turning and, along with the temperatures,  soon will be falling. But before Old Man Winter completes his insidious takeover of temperatures, the mythical Injuns will provide a last burst of mild-to-warm days … Continue reading →