Author Archives: Bob Welbaum

How Important is Art Education?

When schools have budget shortfalls, one of the first programs to be cut is art.  Granted, art is not as critical as reading at grade level, but it still is important. How important?  A struggling school in a tough neighborhood of Bridgeport, Connecticut credits music, dance and painting for a significant academic improvement.  Not that

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The Ins and Outs of Donation Bins

You’ve seen them in parking lots — donation bins.  It’s a great way to dispose of old clothes.  Especially with the holidays coming up, it’s also a good way to donate to charity. Or is it?  The BBB Wise Giving Alliance, an organization that rates charities (http://www.give.org/), has some useful information in the cover story

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Football and Justice

I know crazy things can happen during football season, but this  study really surprised me — Two economists at Louisiana State University (LSU) have analyzed juvenile court decisions made between 1996 and 2012.  They found that for judges who attended LSU as undergraduates, a football loss led to disproportionately stiffer sentences.  If the loss was

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Happy Birthday, Tarzan

A belated birthday greeting to Tarzan, who debuted on August 27, 1912 in the pages of All-Story Magazine.  The title was Tarzan, King of the Apes, and the story was written by Edgar Rice Burroughs, who had failed at a whole list of occupations before he tried writing.  His inspiration came from the pulp magazines

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Half-Peace in Our Time?

Just before World War II, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain talked about “peace in our time.”  He was wrong, of course.  But maybe now we’re halfway there. August 29, 2016 was the official start of a ceasefire in Colombia between the government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, better known as the FARC.  Thus

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A Good-News Story About Refugees

I’ve been reading  a book entitled The Greatest War Stories Never Told by Rick Beyer and I came across something worth sharing. In September, 1943, Adolf Hitler ordered Denmark’s Jewish population to be deported to the death camps.  The logistics were put in place and more than a thousand German police and Gestapo moved into

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