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I try to stay away from discussing my research online. A recent thread trying to blame the British Empire for American slavery (and, then, celebrating the United States for abolishing slavery “as soon as it could”) pushed me to write a brief reflection.  For you, FB friends, here’s a glimpse of what I’ve been doing for the last three…

Sometimes you just can’t make anyone happy. In fact, it might be true that you can never make anyone else happy. After all, the power to become happy is never really in another person’s hands. Each individual has to find her own path to happiness. Even in the face of adversity, confident people will remain…

Basil Bruno won election as the Sheriff in Red Bank, New Jersey, in 1925 after he declared his membership in the Ku Klux Klan. Bruno was the child of Italian immigrants who were the primary targets of the Klan’s attacks on Catholics in the United States during this time period. Red Bank, as a community,…

  How do you honor the best teachers in your life? Do you name streets after them? Are there statues built to remind future citizens about their lessons? Schools and universities themselves are symbolic monuments to the teachings of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. Under this model, questions are more important than answers. The search for…

Precision Dr. Walter Greason Norristown Times Herald 27 January 2015   Silence and secrets only poison the work of improving a community. Norristown’s new leadership needs to start the year by breaking silence about the taboo social divisions and history of leadership miscommunications within local government. When trust takes root, then the details of complicated…

Season of Justice 2015 Dr. Walter Greason Norristown Times Herald 13 January 2015 How does democracy work? For too many, it resembles the Olympics. Every four years, charismatic personalities compete on a national stage to become a gold medal winner – a President, a Senator, or a Representative. In between those pageants, few voters pay…

Where Integration Worked Dr. Walter Greason 4 January 2015 Broadcast television dominated my early life.  Sports highlights involved Warner Wolf shouting “Let’s go to the videotape!” Lawrence Taylor, Magic Johnson, and Bo Jackson were the athletes who inspired me. I never saw ESPN until I enrolled in college.  Dan Patrick and Chris Berman were entertaining, but…

Porn for Zombies Political Discourse in the United States By Dr. Walter Greason Nothing quite satisfies like your teeth sinking into your enemy’s fleshy veins, tearing away their muscles with your bare hands, and ripping the seams of their skulls open, before devouring their brain. Over the last month, this statement described the visceral hatred…

Solve for X Dr. Walter Greason Norristown Times Herald 6 January 2015 Norristown is not just a municipality.  As the county seat of Montgomery County, it has a unique role in the future of Pennsylvania.  After almost 80 years of suburban sprawl, Norristown is a regional economic capitol.  It is one of the most important…

President Obama’s humiliation over the next two years will be a mild exercise in public discipline.  It will be a lengthy spanking for the millions of voters who mistook fandom for political organization. Would a McCain-Palin or Romney-Ryan administration have been as ineffective in moving senior citizens to the polls or persuading Washington mediainsiders to carry…