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Graduation embrace

I recently witnessed a moment that perfectly captures the heart of the Davis & Elkins College experience. I saw it more than 150 times last Friday, and it has stayed with me ever since. Harper-McNeeley Auditorium was filled for the baccalaureate service on the eve of commencement. The highlight of this worship service is the hooding ceremony, where each graduate selects a faculty or staff member to place their academic hood on their shoulders. This individual represents someone who has had a profound impact on the student’s journey—a mentor, guide, and source of support. Among our ...

California on my mind

As you are reading this, I am vacationing with my wife and mother-in-law in Southern California, staying at a resort just south of Orange County. For my mother-in-law, this is a bucket list trip to dip her toes in the Pacific Ocean for the first time. For my wife, this is an opportunity to visit Disney Land and see Hollywood. For me, it is about reconnecting spiritually with my biological mother’s side of the family. My mother, Ethel Mae Glee Adams, died in 2019 due to complications from lung cancer, being a lifelong smoker. My grandparents on my mother’s side have been dead ...

PBS: The Pelosi Broadcasting Service

Everywhere she goes, PBS CEO Paula Kerger makes the preposterous claim that there’s “nothing more American than PBS.” That’s not an answer to anyone asking about the network’s inevitable left-wing tilt. It’s a way of changing the subject. Last week, PBS and San Francisco PBS station KQED hosted a “Reframe Festival,” and “PBS News Hour” anchor Geoff Bennett conducted a scandalously sappy interview with Nancy Pelosi, Democrat “speaker emerita.” He began by gushing to the crowd that Pelosi, who did the interview remotely from Boston, is “known for her political ...

Destroying Democracy

If you are a graduate of Yale University, you can vote every spring for a member of the Yale Corporation, which selects the school’s president. However, you can only participate if you vote for one of the two candidates nominated by the Alumni Fellow Nominating Committee, a group of university officials and graduates. There’s no way to write in a name or, if you don’t favor either candidate, to cast a blank ballot. You must vote for one of the insiders’ choices or not vote at all. Now Yale is a private institution, and no one is obliged to have anything to do with it (except ...

Keys in the past

Perhaps it is helpful to examine their views on American history to understand what Donald Trump and MAGA are all about. For Democrats, Trump and his supporters represent a regression to a bygone era. For MAGA, it is an effort to return to a period of what they perceive as traditional moral standards and a reinstating of small-town values. Both groups have reason to complain that the other sought dominance over their way of life. Consider Trump’s fondness for tariffs and his attempt to protect American jobs from outside competition. To people in the old industrial Midwest and ...

Community Calendar

EDITOR’S NOTE: The Community Calendar is reserved for nonprofit, civic organizations. Unless otherwise noted, events listed should be considered free and open to the public. Entries appear in chronological order and as space allows. ART CENTER’S PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARD VOTING: Stop in the Arts Center to cast your vote for your favorite piece in the Gala Juried Arts Exhibition from today to May 16. The Art Center’s hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Thursday. Fridays by appointment. Be sure to spend time browsing the gallery on the hunt for your favorite piece. How to vote: ...