Welcome 2024! Among our resolutions for the new year, we can choose to become better listeners. Our feature Listen to This explores the idea that there is no greater gift we can give someone than the chance to be heard. Barbara McMichael writes about historic preservation in her article Preserving the Past | Protecting the Future. Thinking about historic preservation makes me remember my small book—The Death of a Library. With war raging in the Ukraine, and in Gaza, it’s a good time to ponder whether there is such a thing as a Good War. Many predict 2024 will be a tumultuous year. We offer the perfect antidotes to stress in Take Comfort in Small Things. This month we present the sixth and final chapter of Dr. Peter Corning’s groundbreaking new book Superorganism. My book review of Picasso by Gertrude Stein asserts that Stein’s craft and technique does not stand the test of time.
Listen to This by Patricia Vaccarino
When we listen to someone, we make them feel respected. There is no greater gift we can give someone than the chance to be heard. If we stop and think about it, listening might be the most important gift we can give because it is indeed a gift, for which we do not expect anything in return.
Preserving the Past | Protecting the Future by Barbara Lloyd McMichael
Nowadays thousands of historic preservation executives do their work at a federal, state and local level. Learn more about Sarah Steen, the landmarks coordinator for the King County Historic Preservation Program, located in Washington State.
My Small Book by Patricia Vaccarino
The Death of a Library: An American Tragedy is about the Yonkers Carnegie Library and the people who tried to stop it from being destroyed in 1982. My Small Book can be purchased from Barnes & Noble or from a variety of websites.
No one should ignore this message!
Dr. Corning's latest work is Superorganism: Toward a New Social Contract for Our Endangered Species. As the evidence of our global survival crisis continues to mount – with mega droughts, catastrophic floods, rampant wildfires, melting glaciers, devastating hurricanes and more, the expression “too-little-too-late” comes to mind.
Chapter Six: The Next Major Transition in Evolution by Dr. Peter Corning
The idea of “world government” is an enduring dream that has been espoused by many prominent people, from Immanuel Kant to Albert Einstein, Winston Churchill, and Martin Luther King. Both the League of Nations and the United Nations were incremental steps in this direction. Dr. Corning sets forth his argument that the world needs expanded global governance, and an enhanced role for world government. To purchase Superorganism in its entirety, go to the local bookstore nearest you or order online via Cambridge University Press or Amazon.
Robin Lindley interviews Elizabeth Samet on the Modern Memory of the Good War
World War II left behind the dangerous and seemingly indestructible fantasy that our military intervention will naturally produce (an often underappreciated) good. Each succeeding conflict has led to the reprise and reinvention of the Good War’s mythology to justify or otherwise explain uses of American power. - Elizabeth D. Samet, Looking for the Good War
Take Comfort in the Things That Sustain Us by PR for People Team
2024 promises to be a stressful year. Here is a list of things you can do to feel happy, whole, and centered when the world around you is going crazy.
Book Review: Picasso by Gertrude Stein
The iconic Gertrude Stein hosted a salon in Paris that was a prestigious hotbed of creativity for writers and artists. However, this poorly crafted puff piece might have served Picasso well, but it is a real yawner for the rest of us.