The African American experience in Los Angeles County, California: a brief and selected timeline of sorts.* From 1940-1960, thousands of African Americans migrated from Louisiana, Georgia, Texas, and other southern…
Peter Marshall’s Heretics and believers: a history of the English Reformation from Yale University Press (2017) arrived as a belated birthday present on Friday past. It’s proven to be well…
I remember some about this story a few years ago. I don’t think the formula for the Roman mix was well understood at that time. Portland Cement doesn’t cut it.…
This mural was destroyed by a fire.
Today is a terrible day in Saskatchewan history. The Brad Wall government has ended public transportation to most Saskatchewan communities. There is tomorrow no bus service between Saskatoon and Regina,…
The year is 1917. A teenage girl from a wealthy family is pregnant, the result of rape — by a man who her mother pushed her to pursue for marriage.…
Here’s the thing. We live in a society that values youth over experience, wisdom, ability and knowledge. I’m not sure why we do that, but children are more valuable to…
I read this on Facebook and absolutely love it. The author, Arun Gupta, understands and acknowledges cultural appropriation as a fact and a legitimate concern (as do I). But he…
May the fourth be with you and May you enjoy this post and share it throughout the galaxy! To say that cinema has become a favorite past time of people…
May the fourth be with you and May you enjoy this post and share it throughout the galaxy! To say that cinema has become a favorite past time of people…
James Baldwin’s Giovanni’s Room, a landmark in LGBT literature, is one of our library’s current “Raves & Faves”. The 1956 novel takes place in Paris, narrated by a young American…
This is a wee bit outrageous. On March 21, 1977, Robert McLagan held 11 employees at Toronto’s Banque Canadienne Nationale hostage for nearly 12 hours. Frum and her producers were…
It can be fun to tune out and just play some games, and that’s a good thing. There are games that are obviously educational like Math Blaster and there are…
I’m convinced many Americans – Donald Trump among them – think Frank Capra’s famous film, It’s a Wonderful Life, was a documentary, not entertainment. It has all the elements of…
Brexit supporter and insurance magnate Arron Banks got into a tussle on Twitter late last year with Cambridge classicist Mary Beard. Banks tweeted that Rome had been done in by…
The tea bag is an example of remarkable serendipity; an unexpected, simple invention that changed the world. But it was entirely unintended. Tea, from the camelia sinenis tree, is the…
Canada is finally putting a woman on the front of a bank note (other than the Queen, of course). The first will be Viola Desmond, who will replace Sir John…
More than any ruler I can think of, Fidel Castro defies our insistence on seeing leaders as solely either good or evil. As this excellent assessment in Social Worker (UK)…
I’m thinking about the difference between optimism and hope. One can be optimistic because one believes things will go well. In some cases optimism is good and natural. However optimism…
Anthem for Doomed Youthby Wilfred OwenWhat passing-bells for these who die as cattle? — Only the monstrous anger of the guns. Only the stuttering rifles’ rapid rattle Can patter out…
