Category: Uncategorized

At approximately 6:40am this morning, the Cyrus family reported their daughter, Miley, age 20, missing to the California state police.  Young Cyrus is most famous for her work with Disney as “Hannah Montana” and has, in recent years, launched a movie and music career that continued her worldwide fame.  Last month, her performance at the…

From Thursday, October 3, through Sunday, October 6, the Society for American City and Regional Planning History held its fifteenth biennial meeting in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.  The event tracked many of the recent developments in urban planning, architecture, and economic development.  Many of the new research trends hold special importance for southeastern Pennsylvania.   Professors Lynne Horiuchi,…

250 million Americans stand aghast at the recklessness of the federal House of Representatives.  The remaining 65 million people cheer the same behavior.  The brinksmanship inherent in shuttering the national government – in threatening to default on the debts the Congress has incurred – demonstrates a level of irresponsibility that risks the nation’s existence.  It is an unprecedented…

Admissions Season Dr. Walter Greason Norristown Times Herald 1 October 2013 ______________   High school students across the Philadelphia metropolitan region need more support.  The financial crisis consuming the city extends to many of the working-class suburbs like Norristown and Phoenixville. However, these conditions provide important opportunities for fundamental reform.  In southeastern Pennsylvania, and across the nation, it…

The irony of a free market economy built on slavery is one of the key contradictions in American history.  This hypocrisy remains so painful that many people flee from the idea of discussing the economics of racial enslavement.  Worse, the confrontation with the fact that basic principles like value, negotiation, and assessment took their most…

Maybe you are weird.  In fact, you definitely are.  Your parents don’t listen to you.  Teachers totally ignore you.  Even your friends misunderstand most of what you want to talk about..   Be patient.  Be patient with all of us.  Be patient with yourself.  Your story is just beginning.  People with long titles may say…

In October 2007, the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged over 14,000 points, and the jubilation surrounding permanent growth in the housing market drove anticipation of even higher results.  Five months later, when I described how the Great Depression unfolded to a group of history students, they scoffed at the possibility that anything similar could ever…

A week ago, the United States faced the likelihood of a third Asian War since 2001.  Russia and China could escalate the conflict either directly or through proxies, and a new whirlpool of global and domestic discontent would swallow President Obama’s second term.  Patience has (so far) maintained a veneer of reasoned analysis about the…

This week marks the fiftieth anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.  It was the occasion that inspired Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s historic speech originally titled “Normalcy, Never Again”, but now known as the “I Have a Dream” speech.  The coalition of radical activists who gathered that day in the…

Traffic is one of the terrible daily afflictions people suffer around the world.  Congested sidewalks, dirt roads, and highways are common feature of any densely populated area.  Every major roadway in the Norristown area gets choked full of traffic – Route 202, Main Street, Germantown Pike.  These snarled intersections resemble larger entanglements that occur on…