Service and Freedom

In light of last week’s events and a lifetime of watching kids grow up in America, on Monday I suggested the time is right for mandatory national service when each American turns 18.

9-11: The New ‘Normal’

Change is the only constant. Last Tuesday’s terrorist attacks on the Pentagon and World Trade Center are changing everything for the United States and the world. Things are getting back to normal – but only because normal has moved. This Monday is very different from last Monday.

A Student Bill of Rights

“Since Littleton, the cost of being different has gone up. Thousands of powerful e-mail messages have chronicled an educational system that glorifies the traditional and the normal, and brutalizes and alienates people who are or who are perceived as different under various names – geeks, freaks, nerds, Goths and oddballs. One of the powerful messages […]

Outcast

The Columbine massacre in Colorado has been on my mind – and probably yours as well. It’s very troubling on any number of levels.

Racism or Something Else?

IF YOU’RE NOT DUTCH, YOU’RE NOT MUCH That’s been a common bumper sticker here in Grand Rapids, Michigan, for as long as I can remember. Our most prominent ethnic group, if not our largest, is Dutch-Americans.