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By ALLEN WOODS

In our currently fractured world, many people delve into a bit of soul-searching. Social and political divisions create uncomfortable feelings of anger, frustration, even hatred, and it’s natural to question their sources and usefulness. I also...

By ALLEN WOODS

In the hit movie Network (1976), a mentally unstable TV newscaster prompts a meteoric rise in his ratings by convincing viewers to open their windows and shout “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take this anymore.” Although the specific target of...

By ALLEN WOODS

In my first try at college, beginning in 1968, I didn’t major in journalism, or English, but experimented with writing, and read voraciously. A literate friend tutored me in the types and styles of writing, including the period’s passionate debate on...

By ALLEN WOODS

I’m generally not a fan of speeches at political conventions. The long list of speakers preaches to the choir when they need to reach a broader congregation. They feel free to make extravagant promises without specifics or programs to support them....

By ALLEN WOODS

One inevitable, and unenviable, task of getting older is accepting that people who made an impact on your life die. Today, they might be termed “influencers,” although for me, influence stemmed from actions and accomplishments beyond looking...

By ALLEN WOODS

It seemed the voracious broadcast media fanned out almost before the vivid red blood streaming down Donald Trump’s face had a chance to be cleaned in an ambulance. They wanted reactions from eyewitnesses, and asked the usual inane questions.Most...

By ALLEN WOODS

Americans spent a lot of time and emotion fighting among ourselves in 1969. We fought over the Vietnam War, the compulsory military draft, and the “counterculture” springing from it. As a youngish man (or oldish boy) nearing 20, I was happy to march...

By ALLEN WOODS

Languages are marvelously fluid and flexible. Words are created, meanings “morph” to reflect common usages, and some are discarded when they’re no longer relevant.“Outrage” crossed the English Channel from France around 1300 with a different meaning....

By ALLEN WOODS

Everyone with a profession, or even a passionate hobby, probably has one person that stands out as a role model, a target of envy, and recipient of uncritical admiration. In today’s inflated language, that person might be termed the GOAT (Greatest of...

By ALLEN WOODS

Earlier this year, my extended family met in Washington, D.C. to celebrate multiple anniversaries and accomplishments and marvel at the grandeur of our nation’s capital. The elders and young adults relived some memories with the two youngest boys and...

By ALLEN WOODS

A few weeks ago, Donald Trump again displayed his blissfully ignorant understanding of the modern world. At a fundraiser at the home of a billionaire in Palm Beach, Florida, he went off script (if there ever was a script) not only to complain about...

By ALLEN WOODS

A mob of angry men, many recently unemployed, gathered in front of an ornate, stately building, the largest in the area and a symbol of government power. Confident, because the government had taken little action after previous mob attacks, and...

By ALLEN WOODS

There’s true madness all around us: wars creating multiple military and humanitarian crimes; apocalyptic climate news daily; migrants fleeing deadly threats and facing more on their journey; our country so deeply divided that we may experience a...

By ALLEN WOODS

Here’s breaking political news — Americans are nearly unanimous in one central belief: Our society, for the lack of a better phrase, is “going to hell in a handbasket” (i.e., quickly and directly, with the phrase possibly relating to Dante’s trip to...

By ALLEN WOODS

The familiar words bring vivid memories of the 1960s video clips that opened ABC’s “Wide World of Sports”: “The thrill of victory” (a victorious boxer carried overhead by a jubilant crowd) “and the agony of defeat” (a ski jumper stumbles before...

By ALLEN WOODS

Occasionally, a random but striking event occurs that some people might describe as having a hidden meaning or suggest “was meant to be.” My problem is determining the hidden meaning, or who (or what) meant it to be and why.Recently, I was returning...

By ALLEN WOODS

Writing on our national holiday for Martin Luther King Jr. and looking ahead to Black History Month in February, the disparity between our country’s professed love for King today and the facts surrounding his life and death are stark. During much of...

By ALLEN WOODS

“Red-baiting” — accusing someone of being “soft on communism” or having murky “connections” to communist groups or individuals — has been an effective tactic for Republicans for nearly a century. It’s a simple way to put opponents on the defensive,...

By ALLEN WOODS

It’s near the end of pandering season in my home state of Iowa — a political season rather than a meteorological one, also occurring in New Hampshire and other states every four years. Suddenly, for a short period, a few states are awash in...

By ALLEN WOODS

In trying to look at our world with the Christmas spirit this year, the continuing wars in the Middle East and Ukraine hover on the periphery of my vision, with horrific images of death and destruction just waiting to overwhelm me if my concentration...

By ALLEN WOODS

In the midst of a holiday season, when giving thanks and giving gifts focus our thoughts, how do we walk upright, maintaining a semblance of balance, through a decidedly broken world? It’s been a question for me ever since my personal world was broken...