Page 1 of Jon Searles's writing

1. Everyone gets a trophy- Trashing American Self Esteem My daughter recently worked many hours preparing to try out for her school play. She sincerely wanted a lead in the spring musical. Hours upon hours in our living room she sang, danced, and worked on her monologue. She knew she would be up against... (posted by Jon 1 year 123 days ago.)

2. In Defense of the Wealthy and the Elite: Tell the Middle Class to Stop Whining and Step Up Human society is an amazing thing and can best be described as the powerful and influentially passionate few leading the less impassioned and weak many. This is evident in all forms of government throughout the world. How the “few” use... (posted by Jon 1 year 131 days ago.)

3. Inevitability of the Unexpected: Shootings and Murder are Acceptable Risks in a Democracy Recently I read a book What the Dog Saw which is a collection of the writings of Malcolm Gladwell. Malcolm Gladwell is an economist and author of such books as The Tipping Point , Blink , and Outliers . He is known for some amazing incites and... (posted by Jon 1 year 135 days ago.)

4. Urban chickens in New England; A Reluctant Urban Rooster My wife is now the queen of her own backyard coop. We have become part of the urban chicken movement in New England. Honestly it was a quick decision more than likely based on two of our three children leaving the roost and going off the college... (posted by Jon 1 year 138 days ago.)

5. “I’m Not a Doctor, but I’ll Take a Look at It.” Medicine is science but science is not always right. With that in mind, because science is filled with contradictions, unusual outcomes, and mistakes it is reasonable to assume that doctors and those that practice medicine will also be filled with... (posted by Jon 2 years 40 days ago.)

6. People, Their Stereotypes and Prejudices- Profiling Others is a Way of Life I do realized that racial, socioeconomic, religious, and sex stereotypes are considered to be outside the norm of political correctness and acceptable evaluation of those around us, but darn it if they are not still extremely accurate! True, you... (posted by Jon 2 years 46 days ago.)

7. National "Do not Criticize, Condemn, or Complain" Day As I dig through my wallet amazed by the mass of papers it can hold that are hastily stuffed into it during each financial encounter over several weeks I find a little piece of my history that is over 20 years old . Among the Dunkin Donuts... (posted by Jon 2 years 54 days ago.)

8. How to Love and Keep Your Wife This article is not intended for women to read and know the secrets of men's minds and hearts, so do what you can not to read this if you are a woman (yeah, good luck with that.) Do you know that feeling when love is beginning to grow from... (posted by Jon 2 years 60 days ago.)

9. Government Jobs and Spending Must be Eliminated- Slaying the Government Monster Jobs in business and industry are what makes this country's wheels roll. Job infrastructure builds around the ability of a city, county, state, and country to build industry and business that is providing goods and services needed locally... (posted by Jon 2 years 61 days ago.)

10. Companions for the Elderly My wife has begun a new career that I would find difficult to pursue. This new career has nothing to do with her college degree in Horticulture or in her years of banking experience. The career has a lot to do with what she learned at home, with... (posted by Jon 2 years 81 days ago.)

11. Sleep Seems Like Such a Waste of Time. My mother will tell you that I was never a nap taker as a child. I would kick, scream, cry, and stare at the ceiling waiting for nap time to end. Even in nursery school when we were to layout our towel on the floor for a quick nap after lunch, I... (posted by Jon 2 years 263 days ago.)

12. My Children Are Leaving Home and There Is Nothing I Can Do About It Our second son just yesterday moved into his dorm room in college. He will be a freshman and start an adventure in meeting new people and working to find and define himself as a man. For weeks I had planned on loading up all he needs and... (posted by Jon 2 years 270 days ago.)

13. Gluten and Celiac Disease: Is gluten free for me Gluten comes from the Latin word meaning "glue", which obviously causes a little concern when we realize that this is in our food. Gluten has been used in wallpaper pastes because of its sticky non water soluble properties. It also helped me to... (posted by Jon 2 years 270 days ago.)

14. Movies: District 9 and the Watermelon Man In 1970 a movie titled the Watermelon Man was directed by Melvin Van Peebles and starred Godfrey Cambridge. The movie was billed as a comedy/drama and I remember watching it when I was 9 years old. The reason I remember it is because it was a... (posted by Jon 2 years 284 days ago.)

15. I Hate Church Religion will always be a focal point of debate as long as man has breath on this earth. Ironically, when he or she no longer is able to express their opinion in the religion debate, they will know if they were on the right side or wrong side of... (posted by Jon 2 years 285 days ago.)

16. Wasted Food, Wasted Money Americans waste and amazing amount of food. My limited research of this topic found that government agencies with the time to calculate the amount of food wasted estimate that 25-40% of all available edible food is wasted by producers... (posted by Jon 2 years 285 days ago.)

17. Healthcare and Your Cell Phone The current state of the healthcare industry in our country seems to point to a very dysfunctional relationship between the healthcare industry, the government, and the people that require any type of medical service (which coincidently is all of... (posted by Jon 2 years 292 days ago.)

18. Restaurant Nation Food is definitely a major focus of our lives. The food service industry has exploded over the last 20 years. Fast food and processed foods have made convenience eating an American past time. Restaurants have exploded accounting for an industry... (posted by Jon 2 years 292 days ago.)

19. Farmers Markets- Tradition and Today Farmers markets have been in existence since man first harvested the bounty which sprouted from the hard work and labor associated with farming and living off the land. Taking the excess family inventory and selling it, or trading it for other... (posted by Jon 2 years 306 days ago.)

20. Which Came First: Free Range Chicken or Free Range Egg? I am not a card carrying member of PETA nor am I a vegetarian. Steak, pork, lamb, chicken, fish and all other creatures considered food have passed my lips on the way to digestion. This will hopefully establish my credibility as a carnivore, and I... (posted by Jon 2 years 313 days ago.)

21. Cancer Screening: I Don't Want To Be An Inspirational Story! Those of you who are over 35 years old may have noticed that cancer is more prevalent in your lives. Now, I do not know if cancers are stronger and more rampant today than they were possibly 20 years ago, I just know that I hear more about them... (posted by Jon 2 years 319 days ago.)

22. Severe Nausea and Explosive Diarrhea The descriptive and slightly displeasing phrase that titles this has been stuck in my brain for over 20 years since I sat through lectures on Veterinary Public Health at Texas A & M University on my way to my degree in Food Science and Technology.... (posted by Jon 2 years 320 days ago.)

23. If Charles Darwin was right, why am I bald? If you have been watching the news for the last two weeks you would have noticed the media attention given to the occasion of Charles Darwin's 200 th birthday on February 12, 2009. Charles Darwin was responsible for the research and writing of On... (posted by Jon 3 years 102 days ago.)

24. Clint Eastwoods Gran Torino and the Heart of Prejudice Clint Eastwood is an iconic figure in Hollywood since his days on the television series Rawhide . Most of his characters were molded as the same decent man, haunted by a past, with a sixth sense in determining the character of others and standing... (posted by Jon 3 years 122 days ago.)

25. The Heart of a Parent in the Hands of the Potter My mother collects pottery. Over the years she has amassed a collection of old Rosehill and McCoy pottery. Whenever my wife and I have an occasion to buy a gift for my mother we search the flea markets and antique stores for the next addition to... (posted by Jon 3 years 122 days ago.)