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Children’s books offer life lessons

James Holzhauer recently took “Jeopardy” by storm, setting a single-game record of more than $131,000 won and taking home more than $2.4 million in total. Holzhauer shared his strategy to prep for the show: He read children’s books he got from the public library. His 32-game winning streak ended June 3. Perhaps fittingly, he lost to librarian Emma Boettcher, of Chicago. As a children’s book author and children’s literature professor, I know that kids’ books engagingly cover a variety of topics (though, perhaps not the former mayor’s “Healthy Holly” series), ...

Many Democrats glad to see Sanders on down slope

History will best remember Bernie Sanders for his role in helping elect Donald Trump. Happily for many (if not most) Democrats, Sanders is now fading big time. The earlier assumption was that the 2020 Democratic race would boil down to a brawl between Sanders and Joe Biden. Now we see Elizabeth Warren edging Sanders out for second place in a few polls. Biden, meanwhile, remains comfortably ahead of both of them. What did Sanders do wrong in 2016? It wasn’t challenging Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination. That was fair. Rather, it was his savaging her long after she had ...

Zero-waste artist uses found canvases, leftover paint to create original pieces

OK, by now you probably know some of my likes and dislikes. But if this is the first time you’re reading my column, I’ll fill you in really fast. Likes: Local art, local food, zero waste, gardening, community. Dislikes: Waste, thoughtlessness, pollution (physical and chemical), box stores. Recently I had the pleasure of chatting with a West Virginia artist whose work particularly interested me. Quincy Gray McMichael’s Instagram page (artyqueue), and her description of her zero-waste art excited me because I loved her style, and previously had not considered the waste ...

Expect mass shootings to only get worse

As bad as the pace and scope of the nation’s mass shootings have become, with death tallies sometimes counted in the dozens, chances are good that they are only going to get worse. And you can blame gun manufacturers and firearms enthusiasts who are driving a market for ever-larger high-capacity gun magazines. The Trace reports that firearms accessory manufacturers are “have developed a new generation of high-capacity magazines,” some holding 100 or more cartridges, meaning a gunman can more easily fire that many bullets before having to switch magazines. With an average ...

Hatch Act to never be the same again?

On Thursday, the U.S. Office of Special Counsel — a watchdog agency with no connection to Robert S. Mueller III — recommended that Counselor to the President Kellyanne Conway be fired for multiple violations of the Hatch Act. That’s the federal law that limits political activities by government employees. The White House rejected the report’s “overbroad” interpretation of the law, so it doesn’t look as if Conway will be spending more time with her family (including her husband, George Conway, a caustic critic of the president). In his letter to President Donald ...

Big business has gone too far

In early 2017, Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick opened the legislative session by prioritizing a measure that would have required people in Texas to use the bathroom of their biological sex in public schools and state and local government facilities. The bill was controversial. It enjoyed a surprising amount of public support. And it failed, as I believe it should have. I wrote at the time that it was unnecessary and antagonistic. The Obama administration, which had made pushing controversial progressive social policies a mission during its waning years, was on its way out, and ...