Trump was driven by his vanity rather than by the necessity of stopping Iran from attacking America, rather than by the necessity of stopping Iran from attacking America when he bombed Iran and started a war.

 

Jobs and work have always been our key topics for June. While everyone is hellbent on talking about A-I and technology, we need to keep in mind that traditional career opportunities abound and offer deep job satisfaction. Barbara Lloyd McMichael writes about a farmer who owns Johnson Pecan Farms in Beebe, Arkansas. Dr. William Johnson, Jr. is growing crops and cultivating farmers for the next generation. As a longtime farmer on a farm that has been associated with his family for generations, he knows the challenges firsthand.  My Friend Sue is an essay about a wonderful friend. I’m astonished that the things we did as little kids predicted who we would become as adults. I think we might have been acorns. A theory about acorns asserts who we are destined to become is imprinted on our souls from the first moment of our lives. Robin Lindley interviewed renowned Professor Doug Underwood, who has recently launched his debut novel, Always Tessie, a Tale of the Turbulent 1960s that is set in the Pacific Northwest. Robin Lindley also interviewed Australian Director Anthony Maras about his new film “Pressure” that captures the intense planning for D-Day immediately before the invasion during World War II. Please see the entire interview that was originally published in the Hollywood Progressive.  ––Patricia Vaccarino

A Third Act: At Last, Renowned Professor Doug Underwood Launches His Debut Novel, "Always, Tessie,"  a Tale of the Turbulent 1960s Set in the Pacific Northwest.  Professor Underwood relates the story of young lovers Tessie and Derek who live in a Portland, Oregon suburb during the turbulent 1960s. He captures the concerns of the period as the Vietnam War raged, a civil rights movement challenged racism and segregation, and women demanded equal rights as they gained more personal freedom with the advent of the birth control pill. The beauty and relative isolation of the Pacific Northwest loom over the young couple and their friends as they deal with past trauma, social pressure, the threat of the military draft, intense competition, and other ominous developments in their rapidly changing world.