Zebulon Pike was an idiot. At least that’s what I was taught in school. More than one of my teachers portrayed Pike as an example of how getting lost while blundering through the wilderness can land a person in the history books. For example, Pikes Peak wasn’t named for Pike because he climbed it. It […]
Zebulon Pike: Icon or Idiot? Read More »
The phrase 52 Blue sounds like a card game or the name of a jazz tune by Miles Davis. In fact, the story of 52 Blue is a sad, fascinating phenomenon from the natural world. The popular press resurrects the story every couple of years because of its emotional appeal. For those unfamiliar with 52
52 Blue: A Whale Song Read More »
The inexplicable loneliness we sometimes feel might be due to the fact that self-expression fails to capture the complexity of our actual neurological states. Paul Churchland, for example, suggests that the two hemispheres of our brains communicate with a much more intricate and intimate “language” than we do with each other. On the other hand,
Confronting the Limits of Self-Expression Read More »
Hours after Battleship Row’s ruins smoldered in Pearl Harbor, Japanese forces attacked the Philippines and Guam. Historians have written extensively about Hawaii’s “day of infamy” and General MacArthur’s 1942 retreat from Corregidor. However, the story of Guam’s heroic resistance to Japanese occupation from 1941-1944 remains unknown in U.S. history. The Chamorros, Guam’s indigenous people, governed
World War II Stories: The Heroic Resistance of Guam Read More »
Traffic rushes past you and pedestrians scramble on foot in the loud and incredibly dense Tokyo city streets. Japan has a culture and language you know little about, but after all, you came here to learn. First things first, though. You’re so hungry, you could eat a zebra. You walk into the nearest building that
Ikizukuri: As Fresh As Seafood Can Get Read More »
Mr. Leonard Mead would pause, cock his head, listen, look, and march on, his feet making no noise on the lumpy walk. For long ago he had wisely changed to sneakers when strolling at night, because the dogs in intermittent squads would parallel his journey with barkings if he wore hard heels, and lights might