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Guests should never leave hosts guessing

For some reason just before Christmas I was reading the electronic version of The Buffalo News I subscribe to when I came across an advice column. I generally avoid advice columns whether they be of the Ann Landers type or medical ones. Anyway what probably caught my eye was a section entitled “Do’s and don’ts for visiting elderly friends.” Because I wanted to ensure that visitors who visit my wife and I are observing proper protocols and because we can both be considered elderly although we don’t feel that way, I took notice. The advice was submitted by someone who ...

A presidency with no limits

Whether you like our current President or not, one thing that seems to characterize his actions is that there seems to be no limits in what he can do. In a recent two-hour interview with members of the press, he was asked if there were any limits to his global power. President Trump said: “Yeah, there is one thing. My own morality. My own mind. It is the only thing that can stop me.” His answer did not mention any Constitutional limitations to his power. The public now is beginning to understand this as reflected in the recent “No Kings” demonstrations that sprung up around ...

Video adds to fear in ICE shooting

On Jan. 7, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers approached a maroon Honda Pilot idling at an angle on a two-lane street where traffic could still pass. The driver, Renee Nicole Good, waved an ICE vehicle around it and it pulled through. A second vehicle stopped. Officers exited and began shouting commands. At least one officer recorded the encounter on his phone as he walked around the front of the vehicle. Video shows the passenger, Good’s wife, standing outside the car filming ICE activity from the side of the road—citizen action protected by the First ...

‘Troubling’ consequences in racism, ageism

Intersectionality is the concept that multiple different social characteristics, such as race, age, gender, class, sexuality, and more, all work together to create systems of privilege and discrimination in our society.  Many of these oppressive systems are often intertwined, compounding discrimination.  Specifically, ageism and racism work hand in hand to target older adults of color, resulting in health and economic disparities.  Taking Foundations of Social Justice at the State University of New York at Fredonia has allowed me to gain much-needed knowledge on inequalities ...

Math and the great divide

When I was in grad school at St. Bonaventure studying to become a school district leader, one of my professors told the class that math teachers make the best school administrators because of their problem solving abilities and their analytical skills. Of course this professor, who was also working as a public school administrator, was also a former math teacher. Being a math teacher myself at the time, his statement made me feel pretty good about my decision to go into public school administration. My mathematics background served me well during my more than two decades as a school ...

Living ‘For God and Country’ in U.S.

Although our nation will celebrate its birth in July of this year, its story of independence begins several years prior. Throughout the times beginning in about 1773 the flames for freedom were being felt in the American colonies. True patriots to the cause for such feeling had already reached intolerance for the crown of England. Dissatisfaction for the interruption of life here was growing at an increased rate and that fire was fueled by the antics of the Sons of Liberty who took to rebellious actions like the Boston Tea Party. Prior catalysts such as the tabloids of Thomas Payne and ...