Pasadena Craftsmanship By David DeVoss Every New Year’s Day America turns its attention to Pasadena, California to watch the Rose Parade and the Rose Bowl football game, which this year will showcase Penn State and the University of Southern California. The spectacles are marvelous advertisements for the city, which almost always enjoys winter sunshine while…
Cuba Flirts With U.S. Entrepreneurs, But Courtship Can Be Challenging By David DeVoss Seattle tour operator Zach Smith built Anywhere.com into a $15 million travel business by offering customized tours to exotic locations in Latin America. The 35-year old entrepreneur knew from ten year’s experience that small and medium-sized companies like his must constantly…
Trans Pacific Partnership Under Fire From Both Right & Left in America by David DeVoss Foreign Ministers spend most of their time persuading other countries to do their bidding. But last month U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry flew to Los Angeles to convince a decidedly American audience to support the Trans Pacific Partnership, the…
Branson Entertainment and Ozark values attract all faiths, creeds and cultures by David DeVoss When I told neighbors in Los Angeles that I was going to Branson, Missouri. their facial reactions embodied the word consternation. “Isn’t that the Christian country place,” they responded nervously, attempting to elicit information without giving offense. “Why not just…
Hard Work U By David DeVoss Both Democratic presidential candidates believe higher education in America should be free at public colleges and universities. Neither is forthcoming, unfortunately, on how to pay for this massive entitlement. Nor have they hinted that students should work campus jobs or give a year of community service in return for…
Meme Wars By David DeVoss In the years between 9/ll and the U.S. invasion of Iraq, Osama bin Laden and his lieutenants publicized Al Qaeda’s beliefs, demands and atrocities with a succession of crudely produced audio and videotapes sent to Al Jazeera and other networks. By March 2004, however, the way that news and ideas…
Detroit Emerges from Bankruptcy, but Recovery will take Years By David DeVoss For close to a century the Forest Arms apartments was one of the most prestigious addresses on Detroit’s near Westside. But by the start of this decade Detroit’s declining population, municipal mismanagement and foundering economy had left the building reminiscent post-war Berlin The…
How Dry I Am By David DeVoss After four years of drought it has come to this: California’s politicians are trying to convince Los Angeles residents to drink treated sewage. Toilet to Tap is no joke. The idea was floated 20 years ago during the last serious drought, but foundered on the fact that recycled…
Natchez Trace Pathway Through the Past By David DeVoss It’s midnight on the Mississippi. In the antebellum city of Natchez, high atop a bluff overlooking the river, lights are winking off in the Victorian mansions and plantation homes emblematic of the Old South. Down on the riverbank, inside the Under-the-Hill Saloon, a dozen yahoos fresh off…
Guide Dog Graduations Offer Glimpse of America at its Best by David DeVoss Graduations are joyous events. For students with newly learned skills, they mark the beginning of lives as independent adults. At Guide Dog schools around the country the ceremonies are even more emotional since there they celebrate, not only the hard won mobility…