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As we "celebrated" the 80th "anniversary" of this sad and sacred day I did some research and interviews to try to humbly honor this day. Tova Friedman hid among corpses at Auschwitz amid the chaos of the extermination camp's final days. Just 6 years old at the time, the Poland-born Friedman was instructed by her mother to lie absolutely still in a bed at a camp hospital, next to the body of a young woman who had just died. As German forces preparing to flee the scene of their genocide went from bed to bed shooting anyone still alive, Friedman barely breathed under a blanket and went unnoticed. Days later, on Jan. 27, 1945, she was among the thousands of prisoners who survived to greet the Soviet troops who liberated the camp in Nazi-occupied Poland. Now 84, Friedman had hoped to mark Wednesday's anniversary by taking her eight grandchildren to the Auschwitz-Birkenau memorial site, which is under the custodianship of the Polish state. The coronavirus pandemic...

In reflecting on yesterday's Martin Luther King (MLK) Day I got to thinking about what was going on in our country. Now this all happened before I was born so my narrative and this blog are based on reading history. If people read this and want to educate me please do.  As best I see there were huge revolts going on with the racism and segregation issue in America. At this time there was a man named Martin Luther King Jr. who delivered a speech that has impacted history forever called “I have a dream”. Martin Luther King Jr. was a very powerful speaker and knew the art of persuasion very well. He used all kinds of rhetorical skills. The one that was most common was how he used anaphora. To get his point across of how that African Americans needed civil rights and the right to be free he would often use anaphora to get across his point. For example, “ I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a Nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, b...

It’s quite common to feel isolated during the winter months. As the daylight hours reduce and the weather gets colder, the season often brings with it a sense of loneliness and detachment from our social circle.  If we’re cold, we’re much more likely to feel lonely, according to a study on social exclusion. Our temperature also impacts our need to reach out to others for social interaction. This is down to our body’s natural instinct for self-preservation, making us more inward-focused.  How can we leverage this connection to our advantage?  We’ve looked even further into this and provided practical steps on how to stay warm and socially connected this winter.  Could the reverse also be true?  It’s intriguing how much our feelings can affect our physical health. As it turns out, it’s not just being cold that makes us feel lonely. The reverse could also be true.   A recent psychological study found there to be an average 3-degree Celsius drop in those w...

In the classic film "All About Eve," the famous line "Fasten your seatbelts, it's going to be a bumpy night" is spoken by Bette Davis's character, Margo Channing in 1950.  So, I am warning you right away this post is going to be a long one. It is worth it. Take your time. Grab a cup of coffee. You cannot right off the back you weren't warned.  Sit down, relax and read ... We’ve watched with horror, but not with surprise, as a frenzy of anti-trans, queer, and nonbinary actions have taken hold around the world. In 2023 alone, more than 500 related bills have been proposed or adopted in nearly every U.S. state, with the U.S. Congress following suit. They concern everything from sports participation, school inclusion policies, education departments, and drag performance to access to public spaces, legal identification, and family separation. There are many motivations behind these cruel, discriminatory moves, but there is a consistent pattern in the way they...