In difficult times, some will retreat to apolitical, cultural matters. An apolitical approach is not one that I would take, but for others perhaps it seems the best that one can do. Indeed, in Whitewater, I’ve advocated that approach for those who would not take an overt stand on the principal political question of our…
City
City, Law, Liberty, New Whitewater, Trump
On Transgender Americans
by JOHN ADAMS •
One could write about the recent Twitter statement from Trump that “[a]fter consultation with my generals and military experts, please be advised that the United States government will not accept or allow transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. military,” but there’s a broader question than military service. To be sure, I believe…
City, Film
Film: Tuesday, July 25th, 12:30 PM @ Seniors in the Park: 20th Century Women
by JOHN ADAMS •
This Tuesday, July 25th at 12:30 PM, there will be a showing of 20th Century Women @ Seniors in the Park, in the Starin community building. 20th Century Women (2016) is a comedy-drama set in 1979 about a teenage boy, his mother, and two other women who help raise him in Southern California. Mike Mills directs the…
City, Film
Film: Wednesday, July 19th, 12:30 PM @ Seniors in the Park: Silence
by JOHN ADAMS •
This Wednesday, July 19th at 12:30 PM, there will be a showing of Martin Scorsese’s Silence @ Seniors in the Park, in the Starin community building. Silence (2017) is a historical drama about two 17th-century Portuguese Jesuits who travel to Japan in an attempt to find their mentor, who is reported to have abandoned the faith. Martin Scorsese directs…
City, Film
Film: Tuesday, July 11th, 12:30 PM @ Seniors in the Park: Beauty and the Beast
by JOHN ADAMS •
This Tuesday, July 11th at 12:30 PM, there will be a showing of Beauty and the Beast @ Seniors in the Park, in the Starin community building. Beauty and the Beast (2017) is a live-action fairy tale about a monstrous-looking prince and a young woman who fall in love. Bill Condon directs the two hour, nine-minute film, starring…
Alt-Right, America, City, Liberty, Putin, Russia, Trump
‘What Putin’s team is probably telling him about Trump’
by JOHN ADAMS •
Michael Morell, former deputy director of the CIA from 2010 to 2013 and twice acting director, and Samantha Vinograd of the National Security Council staff from 2009 to 2013, speculate from experience on What Putin’s team is probably telling him about Trump: This is a speculative account of a memo that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s national…
City, Film
Film: Tuesday, June 27st, 12:30 PM @ Seniors in the Park: Lion
by JOHN ADAMS •
This Tuesday, June 27th at 12:30 PM, there will be a showing of Lion @ Seniors in the Park, in the Starin community building. Lion (2016) is the story of Saroo, who “years after he got separated from his family, at a train station in India, and long since adopted by an Australian couple, decides to go…
City, Culture
Whitewater, Cultures & Communications, June 2017 (Part 13: That Which Paved the Way)
by JOHN ADAMS •
This is the thirteenth and final post in a series considering related local topics of cultures & communications within the city. Some months ago, I wrote a post that described my thinking about Whitewater’s current situation: her weak, superficial, conflict-riddled politics, and that of so many other places, was that which paved the way for…
City, Culture
Whitewater, Cultures & Communications, June 2017 (Part 12: Messaging)
by JOHN ADAMS •
This is the twelfth post in a series considering related local topics of cultures & communications within the city. There are several news (or news-release dependent) publications in Whitewater: the Daily Union, Gazette, and Banner. Add to that over a dozen Facebook pages, and a few local government websites (city, school district, university in particular),…
City, Film
Film: Wednesday, June 21st, 12:30 PM @ Seniors in the Park: A Man Called Ove
by JOHN ADAMS •
This Wednesday, June 21st at 12:30 PM, there will be a showing of A Man Called Ove @ Seniors in the Park, in the Starin community building. A Man Called Ove (2015) is a comedy-drama about “Ove, an ill-tempered, isolated retiree who spends his days enforcing block association rules and visiting his wife’s grave, [who] has finally given up…
City, Culture, Economy
Whitewater, Cultures & Communications, June 2017 (Part 11: ‘Fiestas and Apple Orchards’)
by JOHN ADAMS •
This is the eleventh post in a series considering related local topics of cultures & communications within the city. In the Wall Street Journal, Pennsylvanian Crispin Sartwell writes of Fiestas and Apple Orchards: Small-Town Life Before Trump (“My corner of Pennsylvania was thriving again—until immigration agents began carting people away”): I live in York Springs,…
City, Culture
Whitewater, Cultures & Communications, June 2017 (Part 10: Mailers)
by JOHN ADAMS •
This is the tenth post in a series considering related local topics of cultures & communications within the city. Worried over a large-scale party in 2016, Whitewater’s local government set about looking for a plan for 2017. College-aged adults are a plurality of the city’s population; they are a majority of the city’s adult population.…
City, Culture, Economy, University
Whitewater, Cultures & Communications, June 2017 (Part 9: Small-Town Harvards)
by JOHN ADAMS •
This is the ninth post in a series considering related local topics of cultures & communications within the city. Alana Semuels asks Could Small-Town Harvards Revive Rural Economies? Her contention, as she succinctly describes it: College campuses and educational institutions can bolster the economies of small towns that otherwise would be struggling like many…
City, Culture, Demographics, Local Government, Politics
Whitewater, Cultures & Communications, June 2017 (Part 8: Nearby)
by JOHN ADAMS •
This is the eighth post in a series considering related local topics of cultures & communications within the city. Just beyond the Whitewater proper lie several towns that form the rest of the Whitewater Unified School District. They play a key role in life within Whitewater, far beyond school policies. A few observations: The New…