Category Archives: Culture

Gender Privacy

Posted on April 27, 2016 by Stephen W. Browne

This bathroom thing has, pardon the expression, gotten out of hand. Those of us in the punditry industry have been saying for a while now that it’s hard to do satire anymore because life has gotten so absurd it’s hard … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Op-eds | Leave a comment

The Invasion of Europe

Posted on January 12, 2016 by Stephen W. Browne

One day in 1998, while I was working at an Industrial Training Center in Saudi Arabia, I heard that sound which once heard is never forgotten. It was the sound of hundreds of voices screaming mindlessly, the sound of a … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Immigration, Op-eds, Politics | 3 Comments

Ray Bradbury remembered

Posted on November 22, 2015 by Stephen W. Browne

Note: This was an op-ed obituary published four years ago. I neglected to post it and am doing so now in light of recent controversies concerning free speech on campus. Ray Bradbury died on Tuesday, June 5, 2012, which shouldn’t … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Free Speech, Op-eds | Leave a comment

Why Israel must survive

Posted on November 6, 2015 by Stephen W. Browne

“I have a premonition that will not leave me; as it goes with Israel so will it go with all of us. Should Israel perish, the Holocaust will be upon us.” – Eric Hoffer I get into a lot of … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Op-eds, Politics | 3 Comments

Antanaclasis that’s what!

Posted on February 6, 2014 by Stephen W. Browne

The part of a journalist’s life we don’t like to talk about involves making phone calls and spending a lot of time sitting at our desks waiting for someone to return them. For those of us raised with a work … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Humor/satire, Social Science & History | 1 Comment

Some thoughts on what it means to be an American

Posted on November 30, 2013 by Stephen W. Browne

Just the other day I had a Facebook exchange with a friend. This was an exchange of the kind which reminds me of (journalist) Frank A. Clark’s observation, “We find comfort among those we agree with, growth among those we … Continue reading →

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Review: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

Posted on December 21, 2012 by Stephen W. Browne

Note: This appeared in the print-only TV Guide of The Marshall Independent. One day in the early 1930s, an Oxford don, Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon, was grading exam papers, when he was inspired to write on a sheet … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Movies | Leave a comment

Today is Purim

Posted on March 8, 2012 by Stephen W. Browne

Note: Cross-posted from my newspaper blog. Today is Purim, a Jewish festival celebrated on the 14th day of the month of Adar in the Hebrew calendar. This year it runs from sunset on Wednesday, March 7, 2012, and ends sunset … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Movies, News commentary | Leave a comment

Is the Occupation over yet?

Posted on November 19, 2011 by Stephen W. Browne

I recommend Sarah Palin’s editorial in the Wall Street Journal, “How Congress Occupied Wall Street.” If you want to dismiss Palin as an intellectual lightweight, go ahead. This may after all be basically a book report on something written by … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Politics | Leave a comment

The time I’ve wasted not reading

Posted on July 15, 2011 by Stephen W. Browne

Note: Cross-posted at the Marshal Independent. You know what makes me feel old sometimes? No, it’s not aches and pains. I’ve spent enough of my life doing manual labor outdoors to know that’s just life. It’s not being unfamiliar with … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Personal | 4 Comments