Archive for June, 2013

Can Racism Be Outgrown?

Bigotry isn’t inborn; it’s taught. There are many factors that contribute to it, but, essentially, it’s an attitude that one grows into starting with your family, and then your peers, your employers, and your life experiences. We can start with the conversations that take place in your home. Long before you develop your own thinking styles and your own opinions, you are like a sponge, absorbing the words and attitudes of the family members around you. The first time I …

Drug companies spend so much money on research and development but, in many cases, they are still missing one of the most important aspects of their studies. Their purpose should be to find drugs that will treat the diseases that people have, to stop them from spreading, and/or to prevent the diseases from occurring. I can understand why drug companies only want to study patients who are at the early to middle stages of Alzheimer’s Disease, but I can’t understand …

There are so many things that are wrong with the way we approach education in this country that it would take volumes to enumerate them. But one thing stands out above all the rest and that is the way the thing we have always prided ourselves on, our educational system, is so far beyond the reach of the people who need it most. We keep drumming it into the heads of children that they must go to college or they …

I remember on the Tonight Show, Johnny Carson wished comedian, Buddy Hackett, happy birthday on his 56th birthday and commented on Hackett being middle-aged. Without missing a beat, Hackett asked, “And how many 102-year-olds do you know?” At the time, it was funny and everyone laughed. Today, it’s not so funny because there are many people who live a lot longer. I just wrote a blog a few weeks ago about a woman who celebrated her 102nd birthday by tandem …

Forgive my cynicism but I’m having a difficult time believing this spate of female inspirational books are having the same impact as they would lead us to believe. Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook, is a force of nature and her book, Lean In is a national bestseller. I’ve heard her speak and don’t deny that she makes a good case for women’s advancement in the business world but, when I hear that some people are saying that her book is …

The American Medical Association (AMA) has just reclassified obesity as a disease, in their attempt to get insurance companies to pay for treatment of the 1 in 3 Americans who are obese. The vote goes against the advice of the AMA’s Council on Science and Public Health, which last week advised against calling obesity a disease. This will probably always be a divided issue until there are conclusive studies to prove or disprove the theory. Until now, obesity has been …

Before long, it may be unnecessary to warn employees not to engage in office romances because men seem to be disappearing from the workforce. Over the last sixty years, men have consistently been dropping out of the workforce and this started to happen long before house-husbands came into vogue. In fact, during most of those years, men still thought that a woman’s place was in the home. Many men still do. There are several theories about why women are starting …

When I think about women joining quilting bees, I think about frontier days when women got together to gossip while they quilted comforters for their beds and clothing for their families. Those quilting bees never completely disappeared from the American scene. During Colonial days they were a staple of life; women were able to socialize while they worked during the long, harsh winters. From time to time, these quilting bees would take a backseat as women developed other interests, e.g., …

A male judge in Tennessee is tackling a delicate issue. He wrote a memo urging female attorneys to keep their clothing court-appropriate and there has been a backlash of criticism for taking this stand. Apparently this subject came up at the most recent Bench and Bar Committee meeting and has sparked quite a bit of controversy. The judge’s contention is that we aren’t holding women to the same standards as men, and judges should require all lawyers to dress professionally. …

I have often thought that people who read fiction have a deeper understanding of human nature. I’m not talking about the shoot ’em up stories that are one-dimensional, or even the cowboy and Indian stories that are stereotypical. I’m talking about the kind of stories that are written by authors who are the observers of life rather than being the participants of life. The ones who observe life have the edge, especially with regard to their ability to probe the …

Connie H. Deutsch

Archive for June, 2013

Can Racism Be Outgrown?

Government and Drug Company Studies – Are They Worth Anything?

The Travesty of Student Loans

What if Death Could Be Optional

You Read the Book . . . and Then What?

Is Obesity a Disease or a Choice?

Where Are the Men?

Betrayal: Whom Can You Trust?

Courtroom Dress Code for Female Attorneys

Does Reading Fiction Make You Nicer?