To listen to this reflection as a podcast, click here. The howl of the coyote is America’s “original national anthem.” That’s the conclusion of author and history professor Dan Flores in his book Coyote America, an examination of the life and times of the creature that almost certainly qualifies as our nation’s most hated animal. Coyotes have roamed North America for more than a… Read more »
Soma Sema. Those may not seem like fighting words, but they seriously riled up the first generation of Christians two millennia ago. Soma Sema was one of the slogans of a group of influential intellectuals who called themselves Gnostics. The name comes from the Greek word gnosis, which means “knowledge.” The Gnostics considered themselves the original Wise Guys, or “people… Read more »
Eugene Schieffelin meant well. All he wanted to do was honor his favorite playwright. The German-born immigrant – and Shakespeare obsessive – yearned to introduce to America all the birds mentioned in the Bard’s plays. At great personal expense, he imported hundreds of breeding pairs of non-native species and released them in New York City’s Central Park. No one was… Read more »
