Festivals and Culture

There are stunning pieces of gold jewelry, gold applique to adorn clothes, wooden drinking bowls that are over 2,000 years old. Many objects show evidence of cultural interaction, from Scythian wine-drinking learnt from the ancient Greeks and Persians, through ancient Greek craftsmen who depicted archers in Scythian dress, and the gold objects in the Achaemenid Oxus Treasure in the British Museum’s collection influenced by Scythian art. more »

Joan L. Cannon writes: Think about reunion. Nowadays when the fashion is to press children into adult molds earlier and earlier in their lives, I've heard of kindergarten reunions. My own children were invited to eighth grade ones, and it goes on from there. I went to my own 40th high school reunion and my 50th college one. It was that one that made me swear off that kind of gathering. Every attendee has to face unstated competition as intense as that for college acceptance; it's just based on different criteria. How have I aged in appearance compared with my classmates? Can I match the average for marriage, number of children, implied income, social status, renown?   more »

"The Declaration of Independence was not a creation of the Gods, but of living men. And let us never forget extremely brave men. They were staking their lives on what they believed. Pledging as Jefferson wrote in the memorable final passage of the Declaration, our lives, our fortunes, our sacred honor." "From history we learn that sooner is not necessarily better. That what we don't know can indeed hurt us very often and badly. And there, and that there is no such thing as a self-made man or woman. We all got where we are as did everyone before us with the help of others." "President Dwight D Eisenhower, who so admirably served his country his entire career, said there were four key qualities by which we should measure a leader. Character, ability, responsibility, and experience." more »

Jo Freeman writes: Mother Earth was celebrated over the Mother's Day weekend at the DC Green Festival, one of five held around the country during the year. This year health and body products dominated among a wide variety of commercial and educational booths. Quorn foods were passing out a non-chicken salad made from mycoprotein that looked, felt and tasted like the real thing. You could sample half a dozen different Mycoprotein bars or Lundberg Family Farms rice and quinoa crackers. Kia Motors let attendees test-drive three electric models. I tried out the Soul EV. Nice car, but it felt really weird to be driving a car and hear no noise. more »