Hot dogs didn’t come to America until the 1860’s when a German immigrant began selling them off a cart in New York’s Bowery.
Apple pie came to America courtesy of England – via Geoffrey Chaucer’s recipe. But apples originated from Asia – which is also where fireworks were created.
Baseball, our national pastime, may actually trace its roots back to Egypt – where the first use of a bat and ball were discovered.…
Growing up I absolutely idolized Elvis Presley. His rock and roll greeted me after Friday Little League games as I walked into the bar where my mom worked. His movies kept me company on Saturday afternoons. His gospel music was my church on Sunday.
Why I was so drawn to him is a bit of a mystery. Perhaps it was his devotion to his mother – which I shared to my own. Or…
I recently heard the writer and sociologist, Arlie Russell Hochschild describe the discontent many feel in the country today. It was from her acclaimed book,Strangers in Their Own Land, and was captured in the following metaphor:
“You’re waiting in line for the American dream that you feel you very much deserve. It’s like waiting in a pilgrimage, and the line isn’t moving. Your feet are tired.…
A few weeks ago, someone suggested that I watch the video, This Is America, from Childish Gambino (aka Donald Glover)
A better recommendations would have been to watch it twice.
My first viewing left me mesmerized, but also wondering, “What the hell was that about?”
My inclination was to google that very question. The results were revealing. Countless articles broke down the multiple layers of the video, pointing out important things I had clearly missed in my initial viewing.…
This week marks the 50th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King’s assassination.
On April 3rd, the evening before his death, he gave his last public talk in Memphis. The speech is largely known for his prescient “mountaintop” passage below:
Well, I don’t know what will happen now; we’ve got some difficult days ahead. But it really doesn’t matter to me now, because I’ve been to the mountaintop.…
Distillation requires us to reduce something to its essence. Within art and literature, it often means that less is more.
Hemingway was especially gifted in this regard and, as legend has it, was once challenged to write a story using only six words. His response?
“For sale; baby shoes. Never worn.”
This six-word format has been popularized by the organization Six Word Memoirs.
It has also been an effective instrument in getting people to open up on issues like race as evidenced by The Race Card Project. …
We all like to believe that our self-worth is something we determine on our own. It is after all called self-worth.
Then why do we so often feel compelled to compare ourselves to others? We do it with our looks, our grades, our performance, our income and raises. And we do it between neighbors or friends (e.g. keeping up with the Joneses) and within our families (e.g. will we do better than our parents?)…
Today, I’m excited to announce the release of Your American Dream Score, a simple online tool to find out what factors were working for and against your efforts to achieve the American Dream.
The tool was made possible with generous support from the Ford Foundation and is being launched in conjunction with WNET, America’s flagship PBS station, and its’ Chasing the Dream Initiative.
It takes less than five minutes to discover Your American Dream Score.…
| Last week, my five-year old daughter suffered a small fracture in her tibia just below the knee. Ultimately, she will be fine. As they say, we grow stronger in all the broken places. For now, she is laid up with a removable knee brace, unable to walk, go to school, or move freely about on her own. She has warmed to this new situation. Reminiscent of Hodor and Bram from Game of Thrones, she must be carried everywhere and has an innate power over all of us as we cater to her every desire. The |
On the lead up to St. Patrick’s Day, I wondered about the phrase, “luck of the Irish.”
I had just watched a PBS documentary on Irish history and they didn’t seem very lucky at all. Considering:
| Music is seminal to our lives. From our first lullaby to our wedding dance to whatever dirge they may play at our funeral, songs mark both our most important moments and hum in the background of our daily lives. (As I write this now, music ripples through my ear buds playing Springsteen’s Streets of Philadelphia – which perhaps subconsciously led to the inclusion of the funeral reference above). |
There would appear to be something deeply ironic about our country’s name today.
To look at an electoral map, with it’s blues on the coasts and red in the middle, makes a clear enough case that at least politically there is nothing united about these states at all.
But upon further inspection, our geographic borders and how they came to be, tell another story altogether.
In his new book, Earning the Rockies: How Geography Shapes America’s Role in the World, Robert Kaplan takes us on a road trip from New York to California.…
It’s the biggest night of your career. Over 30 million people will watch you take the stage to accept an award. Filled with pride and gratitude for everything that it took you to get to this pinnacle of success, you lift your trophy and approach the microphone.
You now have 45 seconds to express what’s in your heart. Go.
During last night’s Oscars a few took the opportunity to use one of the world’s largest stages to make an overt political point — no doubt earning appreciation from their fans but derision from those who disagreed with their views.…
This phrase has probably been uttered to hundreds of millions of American children over our country’s 240 year history.
Yet during that time only 44 people have actually held that job.
It is no wonder that when we tell the stories of our Presidents we marvel at the individual efforts and the hard work that must have been required to ascend to our highest office. Yet consider how many other factors, like these, had to fall in place when you hear their extraordinary individual tales:
Money helps.…
This is the mantra of the New England Patriots. The idea is simple. If everyone commits to understanding what your role is, focusing on doing that job well, and trusting your teammates to do theirs, the team – and everyone on that team – will win. The emphasis is not on being the best person ON the team but being the best person FOR the team.…
This Friday is the birthday of the person whose name is so synonymous with rags to riches tales, they actually refer to them as “Horacio Alger stories.”
However, there are many fallacies associated with both the man and the over 100 stories he wrote about boys rising out of poverty.
Beginning this month, Fast Company will be serializing Moving Up: The Truth About Getting Ahead in America on Fast Co.Exist.
Fast Company is inspiring its readers to think beyond traditional boundaries and lead conversations that will propel the future of business. Fast Co.Exist is their daily exploration of the latest world changing ideas and innovations, focusing on projects that can change the way people live in the next year — and the next 100 years.…
In his book, The Epic of America, James Truslow Adams became the first to coin the term “American Dream” and define it.
“The American Dream is that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement. It is not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position.”…
Picture two 15-year-old children. One has a strong family, but lacks ambition. The other has a strong work ethic, but an abusive family. Which of these two do you think would be more likely to achieve the American Dream?
We asked this question as part of our research project looking at the American Dream. Almost 70% of respondents believed that the child in the abusive family is more likely to achieve the American Dream.…
