News

Jobs and work have always been our key topics for June. While everyone is hellbent on talking about A-I and technology, we need to keep in mind that traditional career opportunities abound and offer deep job satisfaction. Barbara Lloyd McMichael writes about a farmer who owns Johnson Pecan Farms in Beebe, Arkansas. Dr. William Johnson, Jr. is growing crops and cultivating farmers for the next generation. As a longtime farmer on a farm that has been associated with his family for generations, he knows the challenges firsthand.  My Friend Sue is an essay about a wonderful friend. I’m astonished that the things we did as little kids predicted who we would become as adults. I think we might have been acorns. A theory about acorns asserts who we are destined to become is imprinted on our souls from the first moment of our lives. Robin Lindley interviewed renowned Professor Doug Underwood, who has recently launched his debut novel, Always Tessie, a Tale of the Turbulent 1960s that is set in the Pacific Northwest. Robin Lindley also interviewed Australian Director Anthony Maras about his new film “Pressure” that captures the intense planning for D-Day immediately before the invasion during World War II. Please see the entire interview that was originally published in the Hollywood Progressive.  ––Patricia Vaccarino

Sociologist Gregory D. Squires argues that it’s a myth that taxes drive millionaires to flee cities and states that tax them. An abridgment of Squire’s Baltimore Sun commentary, from Monday, January 26, 2026, forms the second half of this piece, where he provides empirical evidence that this belief is false. I believe it is false because many of the wealthy recognize that they need to be taxed, fairly, of course, to sustain a livable economic and social environment for all.