Ada Deer: A Woman of Firsts
Ada Deer, a highly respected Native American leader from northern Wisconsin, died on August 15, 2023, at the age of 88. Deer was a woman of firsts. She was the first woman from her Menominee (Muh·naa·muh·nee) Tribe to graduate from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Deer was the first Native American to obtain a master’s degree […]
John Lewis: Remembering an American Hero
On July 30 the nation gathered to mourn the passing of John Lewis, a seventeen-term Congressional representative and hero of the civil rights movement. His funeral was held in Atlanta at the Ebenezer Baptist Church, where Dr. Martin Luther King was pastor from 1960 until his assassination in 1968. Lewis drew tributes from a wide […]
What So Proudly We Hail: A Look at Independence Day
In a normal year, you might celebrate July 4th by attending a community fireworks show or participating in your town’s local parade. Since many of us will be avoiding crowds due to coronavirus quarantine this year, you may have to celebrate at home by wearing red, white and/or blue; consuming vast amounts of cookout food […]
Electoral College Secures Trump Victory
This week, over on the Election Central Web site we take a look at what happened when the Electoral College actually cast their official votes on Monday. On Monday, the 538 members of the Electoral College met in capital cities across the nation to vote in favor of electing Donald Trump as the next president. A […]
Bidding Farewell to John Glenn
John Glenn, the American astronaut and former senator, died December 8 at age 95. Last weekend, roughly 2,500 mourners–among them, Vice President Joe Biden–gathered at Ohio State University to pay tribute to the hero. A funeral procession through the center of Columbus carried Glenn’s casket past thousands more mourners, including Ohio Governor John Kasich, who […]
Examining the “October Surprise”
This week, over on the Election Central Web site we take a look at the role of last-minute breaking news in presidential campaigns. With Election Day traditionally held during the first few days of November, October becomes a crucial campaigning month in the United States. The term “October Surprise” refers to new events or scandals that […]
Hamilton: American Then by America Now
Not since the folks at School House Rock set American History (among other subjects) to song, has popular culture been as excited about our Founding Fathers as they are today. This is due to the current Broadway smash, Hamilton: An American Musical, about our nation’s first Secretary of the Treasury. Because btw is all about […]
YOU DECIDE: A Woman on the $10?
On June 17, U.S. Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew announced that a woman would be featured on a reissue of the ten-dollar bill. The response to the news has created a triggered a passionate national debate. We want to know what you think. To clarify, the question is not whether a woman belongs on currency in […]
Just a Movie: How Accurate Do Films Need to Be?
Four of the eight nominees for the Academy Award for Best Picture this year are considered “biopics” (short for biographic pictures): American Sniper, The Imitation Game, Selma, and The Theory of Everything. All four have been subjected to some level of scrutiny for how the films have portrayed their subject matter and its level of […]
Civil Unrest: Yesterday and Today
It has been more than two weeks since the shooting of an unarmed African American teenager sparked protests and riots throughout a suburb of St. Louis, Missouri. But the debate that has begun after this this event is not likely to come to a resolution any time soon. As the United States Justice Department and […]