Opinion

Everyone over a certain age can remember where they were when they first heard about the 9-11 terrorist attacks. But if you’re a student in 2014, the events of 13 years ago may not be so clear. Where were you on September 11, 2001? Most Forest Park students were in kindergarten or elementary school. I was working on the railroad. My employer was the consulting firm Transystems Corporation, which inspected the installation of fiber-optic cable along CSX railroad right-of-way in Pennsylvania. […]

You’ve heard the saying, “The best way to get a smile is to give one.” It makes sense, doesn’t it? But these days, it’s easier said than done. As a matter of fact, it’s almost impossible. Why? Because no one is looking up! Everyone is looking down — at the electronic devices in their hands. And what wonderful inventions they are. A smartphone is, in no particular order, a GPS navigator, a calculator, a day planner, a calendar, a clock, a stereo, a storage unit, a tablet, a dictionary, a book, a video camera, a still camera, a library, an Internet connection, a thermometer, a device for emailing, texting, banking and playing games. And, oh yeah, it’s a phone! […]

“She’s stupid!” That’s what a student yelled after I gave an incorrect answer in my middle-school math class. It was embarrassing. Later that day, I was walking down the hall with an armload of books, and another student shoved me into a locker. It hurt. My school counselor told me I was a victim of bullying. I didn’t realize that’s what was happening at the time, but kids picked on me throughout middle school. Some days I felt hopeless, and other days I was sad. […]

I’ve been around for a while. Better than half a century. And I’ve done a lot of interesting things in my life. In no particular order, my “titles” have included photographer, lifeguard, soldier, medic, living organ donor, published poet, illustrator, surveyor, inspector, cardboard factory worker, sewer plant employee and pipefitter. I’m a son, a father, a husband, a divorcee, an athlete, a carpenter and a gas-station attendant. […]

Wouldn’t it be cool to use more than 10 percent of your brain? Imagine what you could accomplish if you tapped into that other 90 percent. Actually, it’s pointless to think about it. The popular notion that we use only 10 percent of our brains is completely bogus. Different parts of the human brain are constantly working, whether we are doing mindless things like breathing and walking — or writing a column past deadline. […]

Like many students, I had a hardtime choosing a college major. I enrolled at Forest Park after high school without a clue about what I wanted to do, but no one seemed to think it was a problem. “You’ll eventually figure it out,” my parents said. Then after three semesters, that became “Have you figured it out, yet?” I considered several majors, including sociology, philosophy and English literature. It would have been hard to accuse me of being a pragmatist. When I started writing for The Scene a few semesters back, I became convinced that journalism was for me. […]

I have a confession to make: I love reality TV. Each week, I carve time out of my hectic schedule of school, work and family to glue myself to the couch and absorb all the garbage being thrown at me from the television. And yes, I realize the shows are scripted. Do the producers really expect us to believe the Kardashians work out all their family problems by the end of each hour-long episode? Or what about the raunchy show “Love and Hip Hop Atlanta”? No way would Kirk have the audacity to play his wife like that on national television. […]

Are you aware that hate is a learned behavior? Oh yes, my friends, learned. By everyone it seems – family, friends, peers, acquaintances. No one is safe. Hate can breed like a gaggle of KKK rabbits. It knows no boundaries in terms of race, ethnicity, sex, age, economics, social status or common sense. Let me tell you about one of my early lessons in racial understanding. On a Saturday evening in 1972, my father, a Shriner, took us to the Cincinnati convention center to see the Shrine circus. Lions, tigers, bears, oh my! On the way home, my father casually told my brother and I, “No work, no ball.” […]

To grab attention from a fleeing audience, makers of the iconic board game Monopoly conducted a poll to find out which of its game pieces were most popular. Normally, there’s nothing I’m up for more than a little procrastination via the Internet, but in this case, I didn’t have to click any further to know the answer to Parker Brothers’ question. […]

Smoking’s bad for you. That’s been pretty much universally agreed upon since the ‘60s or ‘70s. To paraphrase the comedian Denis Leary, nobody reads the surgeon general’s warning and says, “I thought cigarettes were good for you! I thought they had vitamin C in them!” In recent years, officials have enacted increasingly tighter controls on smoking in private and public places. It’s an effort to protect those who don’t smoke from the harmful effects of second-hand smoke coming from those who do. […]