Posts by Jerome Parent

Teachers Get No Respect

I remember the moment I learned that teachers get no respect anymore. “So what are you going to do to help him, Mr. Parent?” asked the mother of a student failing my eighth grade physical science class. My principal then repeated the question, leading to my stunned silence. The child failed my class because he didn’t do his homework, especially the study guides for my tests. He also avoided lunch time

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Worshipping at the Church of Roswell

Every human has an innate need to believe in something larger than themselves. Belief in religion and belief in UFO’s are both rooted in this need.

My Nineteenth Nervous Breakdown

The sharper-eyed readers of USR may have noticed that my column, Exhibit A hasn’t run a new entry in… I don’t know how long. I could easily look up the exact amount of time, but I haven’t the heart or energy. A nervous breakdown will do that to you. I do know that my three regular readers have given up on me. One because he died, another because she got

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Fillmore Hill as Metaphor

“Trust me,” I said as I looked at my wife. She was skeptical, I could tell. “It’s a four-wheel drive car.” I brushed the snowflakes off of my arm as we started up the hill. They had come in when I had rolled down the window to listen to a man who was frantically trying to keep us from continuing up Fillmore Hill. Of course, Kim was worried. She had

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The Persistence of Doors Redux

I was driving down the west end of Fillmore when I heard a loud pop. I watched in horror as the door, which had been securely fastened to the luggage rack on top of my Taurus station wagon, slid off and into the street. I quickly pulled into a parking lot on my right. “Stay in the car,” I told my sons. Then, dodging traffic, I ran into the street

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#namethesciencedeniers

I am alive today, and you probably are as well, because of antibiotics, vaccines, and an infrastructure that is unparalleled in history. As a percentage, fewer people die from communicable disease and starvation than at any time in history. And many of those contemporary deaths are due to lack of proper water and sewage treatment. In other words, they are preventable. This gift of life is due to the work

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