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The magnificent history of the maligned and misunderstood fruitcake
By Jeffrey Miller Nothing says Christmas quite like a fruitcake – or, at the very least, a fruitcake joke. A quip attributed to former “Tonight Show” host Johnny Carson has it that “There is only one fruitcake in the entire world, and people keep sending it to each other.” It’s certainly earned its reputation for […]
‘Twas the night before Christmas’ helped make the modern Santa – and led to a literary whodunit
By Melissa Chim The poem “A Visit from St. Nicholas,” better known by its opening line “‘Twas the Night before Christmas,” has a special place among Christmas traditions, right alongside hot chocolate, caroling and bright lights. It has also inspired the modern image of Santa Claus as a jolly old man sporting red and a […]
How my family makes holiday decisions that work for everyone, according to a negotiation expert
By Rachel Croson This is a holiday season like no other. Many people have been apart for nearly two years and have had so many “virtual” holidays that they are craving physical presence this year. Now that the opportunity for travel has resumed, so have social obligations – from trips to see family across the […]
Smashed cars, burnt trees, soggy insulation: Post-disaster cleanup is expensive, time-consuming and wasteful
By Sybil Derrible, Juyeong Choi and Nazli Yesiller Communities across the U.S. Southeast and Midwest will be assessing damage from the deadly and widespread tornado outbreak on Dec. 10-11, 2021 for some time. But it’s clear that the cleanups will take months, and possibly years. Dealing with enormous quantities of debris and waste materials is […]
School shootings are at a record high this year – but they can be prevented
By James Densley and Jillian Peterson Whenever a school shooting takes place like the one at Oxford High School in suburban Detroit on Nov. 30, 2021, it is typically followed by a familiar chorus of questions. How could such a thing happen? Why doesn’t the government do more to stop these shootings from occurring? Those […]
The path to unity in Iowa includes federal LGBTQ protections
By Deacon Jeanie Smith As a West Des Moines faith leader, I believe our U.S. senators, Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst, have an opportunity to bring Iowans closer together by helping find common ground to ensure fairness and equality for all Americans. Over many decades, Congress has shirked its responsibility to protect the LGBTQ community […]
This Hanukkah, learn about the holiday’s forgotten heroes: Women
By Alan Avery-Peck The eight-day Jewish festival of Hanukkah commemorates ancient Jews’ victory over the powerful Seleucid empire, which ruled much of the Middle East from the third century B.C. to the first century A.D. On the surface, it’s a story of male heroism. A ragtag rebel force led by a rural priest and his […]
Talking turkey! How the Thanksgiving bird got its name (and then lent it to film flops)
By Jack Lynch “Meleagris Gallopavo Day” is a bit of a mouthful. Which may be why this Thanksgiving, most people will opt for the less ornithologically precise “Turkey Day.” And just as turkey is a versatile meat – think of those leftover options! – so too is the word “turkey,” which can refer to everything […]
What Americans can learn from other cultures about the language of gratitude
By Jeremy David Engels and Elaine Hsieh Families and friends traditionally gather to express gratitude during this time of year. Many also participate in acts of service and charity as a way of giving back to their local communities. As communication scholars who study intercultural communication, we have studied how the many languages around the […]
U.S. vaccine rollout was close to optimal at reducing deaths and infections
By Audrey L. McCombs and Claus Kadelka The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s plan for who gets vaccines and in what order saved nearly as many lives and prevented nearly as many infections as a theoretically perfect rollout, according to a new mathematical model we developed to assess the rollout of COVID–19 inoculations in […]
Five things you need to know about the Glasgow Climate Pact
By Simon Lewis and Mark Maslin The COP26 UN climate talks in Glasgow have finished and the gavel has come down on the Glasgow Climate Pact agreed by all 197 countries. If the 2015 Paris Agreement provided the framework for countries to tackle climate change then Glasgow, six years on, was the first major test […]
Veterans Day: How crosses and mementos help these Marines remember fallen comrades
By Katrina Finkelstein and Derek H. Alderman On Veterans Day, people across America will thank veterans and active-duty military personnel for their service. But many members of the public don’t have a clear understanding of what service means to people in the military. How do they honor their own? What kind of spaces and activities […]