Are you ready for intelligent, benevolent comedy? Let me introduce you to Freaked Out with Tom Papa. So much comedy is cynical or mean spirited or just not funny. This one-hour routine from 2013 is a beautiful exception. Tom Papa: Freaked Out appeals to the...
Once I knew only darkness and stillness. Now I know hope and joy. —Helen Keller. In 1882, when Helen Keller was nineteen months old, an illness left her blind, deaf, and consequently dumb. For the next five years, she lived essentially as a wild animal in the...
Several years ago, while procrastinating in graduate school, I discovered a short video clip that helped me at the time—and has now helped me again. The clip, posted below, is of Ira Glass, the award-winning producer of the radio show, This American Life,...
“Remember always that you have not only the right to be an individual; you have an obligation to be one.” – Eleanor Roosevelt. What is an individual? The Cambridge Dictionary gives us a few definitions, the first two being: “a single person or thing,...
The sight of an achievement [is] the greatest gift that a human being could offer to others. —Ayn Rand. This week for Soul-Fuel Friday, I’d like to share three powerful performances by Angelina Jordan. This thirteen-year-old Norwegian singer recently...
Craig and I have just begun our first two (sold out!) sessions of the OSI course “How to Write Powerfully in Defense of Liberty,” and there’s a point that’s come up that I’d like to emphasize and to share with Level Up readers and contributors....
Author’s note: The “five Ds” is an idea that’s been around for some time; here’s my take on it. I run two businesses, one of which sometimes has employees I need to oversee. I write at least ten thousand words every week, I do all the cooking in my house, and I...
With COVID lockdowns lifting throughout the country, I encourage those who are safely able to do so to seek solace in the great outdoors. Whether hiking in the mountains or lounging on the beach, the peaceful surroundings of nature can be powerful places for...
A collection of poetry that has helped me positively develop as a person is The Best Loved Poems of the American People, selected by Hazel Felleman. I found my copy on the free books’ counter at my local library more than a decade ago. Since then, it’s provided...