To listen to this reflection as a podcast, click here. The first-ever presidential inauguration took place on April 30, 1789, in New York City. On that date, Washington D.C. – the nation’s capital that would ultimately be named for the first president – was still swampland by the Potomac. Every detail of this special event was meticulously planned. Except for one. Nobody had remembered… Read more »
The origins of state nicknames are a bit of a mystery. As social historian Bill Bryson points out in Made in America: “No one can say for sure why Iowans are called Hawkeyes, why North Carolinians are Tarheels, why Kansans are Jayhawkers (there is no such bird), or why Indianans are Hoosiers.” From time to time Arkansas has been called… Read more »
Bertrand Russell, the celebrated 20th century British philosopher, wasn’t shy about his atheism. As he looked across the cosmos, he doubted the existence of a transcendent Being. In his book Why I Am Not a Christian, Russell didn’t pretend that such a conviction provided humanity with any grounds for a feel-good assurance that life has ultimate meaning: That Man is… Read more »