In America, talk about dress codes usually revolves around miniskirts, half shirts, and what sayings and gestures cross the line of appropriate for printed t-shirts in public spaces. Yet this issue could soon evolve into discussions of when dress in the name of modesty and religious observance also goes too far. This thought came to
READ MOREThe other day my sister and I were reminiscing about the toys we used most as children. It quickly became clear that the common denominator in our play was a love for miniatures. We regularly used families of paper dolls, bears, and Fisher Price people (the old ones, not the gargantuan, unswallowable, and dumb-faced new
READ MOREMore than 70 years after her death, Beatrix Potter has a new book coming out in September to coincide with the 150th anniversary of her birth. The long-lost manuscript of The Tale of Kitty-In-Boots, which will be illustrated by Quentin Blake (the wonderful illustrator of Roald Dahl’s book), is already a bestseller. Potter, most famous
READ MOREAcross the political spectrum an overwhelming majority of adults believe that it’s important to teach children to be well-mannered. Yet in spite of this widespread agreement, the growing popularity of etiquette classes signal that few people actually know what good manners really entail. As it turns out, good manners may solve more than America’s rudeness
READ MORESince Pope Francis has seemingly jumped into the American presidential election with his comment about Donald Trump and building a wall on the southern border of the United States (see below), it’s worth clarifying what the Catholic Church actually teaches on papal infallibility. “‘A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be,
READ MOREMost students of philosophy will recognize the name of A.J. Ayer, who died in 1989. An atheist, he was one of the best-known representatives of a school of thought known as “logical positivism,” which holds (among other things) that religious claims are meaningless because they are not empirically verifiable. It’s therefore interesting to note that
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