When Barbara VornDick lifted a yellowed letter from a gray archival box at William & Mary, she didn’t expect to feel a voice grab her by the collar. The handwriting was frantic, the words desperate. “I am now in distress, in ill health, & in a foreign country,” the writer…
Category: Culture
AI
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Your Digital Shadow Has a Rap Sheet and Advertisers Know It
The headline almost sounds like a Black Mirror episode that didn’t make it to air: AI companies are training their systems on crime data to sell ads more effectively. Yes, you read that right. The same information that used to live in dusty police databases—arrests, mugshots, court records, neighborhood stats—is…
Apocalypse
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Phase Zero – The War That’s Already Started (And We’re Pretending It Hasn’t)
I’ve read a lot of headlines designed to shock. Most don’t stick. But this one from The U.S. Sun stopped me cold: Russia is in “Phase Zero” of World War III. Not “preparing for.” Not “considering.” Already in it. The term comes from the Institute for the Study of War…
Apocalypse
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Apocalypse Now—Funded by Venture Capital
A century ago, you needed a pulpit and a microphone to warn about the Antichrist. Now you can do it with a slide deck and venture funding. The Guardian reported this week that Peter Thiel, one of Silicon Valley’s most theatrical billionaires, has been delivering sold-out “Antichrist lectures” in San…
Culture
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Whatever Happened to Trusting Parents to Parent?
When I was ten, I had two paper routes. Not one — two. Up before sunrise, folding papers in the garage, rubber bands snapping against my fingers. Then out the door on my bike, hoping the wind wouldn’t tear the Observer in half before it hit the porch. By thirteen,…
Culture
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USAA Missed the Easiest Win in Marketing — Standing by Their Own Members
I’ve been a USAA customer for years — checking, auto, insurance, the works. And like most of their members, I joined because USAA wasn’t just a bank. It was our bank thanks to my father’s service in the United States Air Force. This is built for people who serve, for…
Culture
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Loyola’s Soul – How Sister Jean Became the Heart of March Madness
The news hit like the final buzzer of a long, glorious game: Sister Jean Dolores Schmidt, Loyola Chicago’s beloved team chaplain, passed away at 106. For anyone who watched the Ramblers’ Cinderella run to the 2018 Final Four, Sister Jean wasn’t just a mascot or a lucky charm. She was…
Bears
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Wildlife 1, Elderly Forager 0 – Bear Dismembers Man in Japan
I was scrolling today when I almost spilled my coffee. A 70-year-old mushroom forager in Japan was reportedly found dead — with his head and torso separated. No, this is not some fevered nightmare or horror-movie pitch. It’s real life. The Scene According to Japanese authorities, the man went missing…
Culture
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The Meals We Grew Up On (and a Few I’d Still Refuse to Eat)
We didn’t grow up with oat milk, quinoa, or delivery apps that bring your dinner before your patience runs out. We grew up with cans, boxes, and whatever Mom could stretch to feed five people. Nobody called it “budget-friendly cuisine” back then—it was just dinner. Some of it was good….
Culture
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Charleston SC – The City That Refuses to Let Its Dead Rest
You don’t have to believe in ghosts to feel Charleston’s pulse after dark. Walk its cobblestone streets on a humid night, when the live oaks lean low and the gas lamps hum, and you’ll understand what I mean. This city doesn’t just remember its past—it lives with it. I’ve been…