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  • How to Connect Teens With Good Books

    How to Connect Teens With Good Books8

    Lately, I’ve been reading from M. F. K. Fisher’s The Art of Eating. I say “from” because this thick volume contains five books Fisher wrote on cooking and dining. And her prose is as exquisite as the dishes she recommends. While reading this book, the thought suddenly hit me: Why aren’t our students reading this

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  • A Canadian retailer exploits a young artist’s euthanasia to market its fashions

    A Canadian retailer exploits a young artist’s euthanasia to market its fashions2

    Sometime after Canada’s Thanksgiving Day on October 10, a 37-year-old woman named Jennyfer was euthanised. A few days later, on October 24, one of Canada’s best-known fashion retailers, Quebec-based La Maison Simons, launched an advertising campaign based on her wish to die. As part of its “All is Beauty” marketing strategy, the company released a stunning

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  • Parents are 100 Percent Qualified to Homeschool Their Children

    Parents are 100 Percent Qualified to Homeschool Their Children6

    For seven years, I slogged through the public school system before my parents made the decision to homeschool. At the time, I couldn’t understand why they were so concerned about making the switch. Frankly, I wasn’t learning anything in public school, so from my perspective, it couldn’t get any worse. Only later, when I asked

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  • Some Thoughts on Halloween and Ray Bradbury

    Some Thoughts on Halloween and Ray Bradbury2

    In 2015, blogger Amanda Russo posted a humorous piece “Why Halloween Is Actually A Pretty Weird Holiday.” As Russo says, on Halloween we encourage our kids to take candy from strangers. We threaten our neighbors with “Trick or Treat.” We spend a chunk of change buying and giving away sugary treats, often to people we

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  • Forget the hysteria about ‘forced pregnancies.’ What about forced abortions?

    Forget the hysteria about ‘forced pregnancies.’ What about forced abortions?2

    Blonde is a controversial recent film about Marilyn Monroe. It’s a dark and queasy film about sexual exploitation – the story of how a stunningly beautiful woman was chewed up and spat out by Hollywood. Even the positive reviews – and there aren’t many of them – say that the graphic sex in Blonde makes it hard to

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  • Cut the Calories and the Screens to Cut Some Weight

    Cut the Calories and the Screens to Cut Some Weight1

    Stand a random American on a scale, and odds are we’ll find someone overweight or obese. Increasingly, America is a nation of men, women, and children where the word husky is a compliment. Many statistics confirm this expansion of our waistlines: More than 42 percent of adults over the age of 20 are now officially

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  • The Quest for the Best: Is it in the Eye of the Beholder?

    The Quest for the Best: Is it in the Eye of the Beholder?2

    The claim that beauty is in the eye of the beholder is an expression of philosophical relativism. It confuses and conflates goodness, truth and beauty with preference, prejudice and opinion. Preference has a kinship with prejudice and is often kindled by it. It can distort our ability to see beauty. Many young people prefer rock

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  • Judge Blocks New York’s Ban on Guns in Church—for Now

    Judge Blocks New York’s Ban on Guns in Church—for Now0

    A federal judge last week stopped New York state officials from enforcing the part of a new gun law that bans firearms from places of worship, at least temporarily. The Oct. 20 ruling is a small but important Second Amendment victory for New Yorkers and advocates of self-defense in a state that largely has been hostile to

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  • Beware Mama Bears

    Beware Mama Bears5

    The Presbyterian church where I once taught homeschoolers was located in a suburban neighborhood of Asheville filled with medium-sized houses and well-tended yards. And with its broad lawn and surrounding woods, the church was a place of tranquility. Except when the bears decided to pay a visit. Black bears roam much of western North Carolina,

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