Teeth Sharpening: Telling the Stories of Grown Men Through Children’s Books

"No, David!" by David Shannon cover illustration.

Can a 5-year-old with sharpened teeth tell the story of grown men? If you give him a talented author and illustrator, 30 pages and 60 words, why, yes. Yes, he can. David Shannon wrote “No, David!” nearly three decades ago. He based it on a book he made and illustrated as a child. The only words in it were “no” and “David.” Who can’t relate?

The Day the Fighting Cocks Died: How West Point Traded the Warrior Ethos for Political Safety

That was 1967. Vietnam was raging. Cadets were not being groomed for cable news panels or Senate confirmation hearings. They were being prepared for jungles, rice paddies, ambushes, and body counts. Humor, especially gallows humor, wasn’t a problem to be solved—it was a survival mechanism. The name “Fighting Cocks” wasn’t vulgar to them; it was irreverent, aggressive, and just juvenile enough to signal that these were young men who understood they were not being trained for polite society. They were being trained for war.

Living Behind Enemy Lines, Tale #77: “White Privilege” Died When Merit-Hiring Was Outlawed

Living Behind Enemy Lines, Tale #77: "White Privilege" Died When Merit-Hiring Was Outlawed

Americans must not let a young black surgeon operate on him/herself. It isn’t racism on the part of the patient that guides such a decision. It is racism on the part of colleges, medical schools, residency programs, et al which places way too many black Americans in classrooms & training programs where they don’t belong.