Gov. Paul LePage, R-Maine, who longs for “authoritarian power,” is a striking example of our need to improve public education in history and civics. “Sometimes, I wonder that our Constitution is not only broken, but we need a Donald Trump…
Author: Eric F. Frazier
Eric F. Frazier is an independent writer, editor, book reviewer and co-author of GPS Declassified: From Smart Bombs to Smartphones.
9/11 @15: Scars and Healing
9/11 changed everything, everyone said. Fifteen years later, we have some perspective to consider the truth of that statement. Physically, there is no doubt about the permanence of 9/11, even amid great change. What seemed for years a gaping, unhealable…
Photography: From Grainy to Ingrained
In recognition of World Photo Day, I am posting images of the first photograph and the earliest known photograph of people. We can thank two Frenchmen for these photos, and for their contributions to the development of photography. (Raise a…
Coffee Warning: May Contain Ethical Dilemma
The Syracuse Online Business Blog recently published my article, “The Coffee Trade: Fair, Direct or Transparent?” If you love coffee, you may never stop to consider that the steaming cup in front of you also contains an ethical question: Is…
If Thomas Jefferson had Twitter…
On this Independence Day, I salute editors—those unseen gatekeepers who make writing better and whose absence highlights the risks of too much independence. Freedom. Liberty. Rugged individualism. They are in our national DNA and inseparable from American culture. But like…
Gorilla Shooting Provokes Birdbrained Response
One week after Cincinnati Zoo officials fatally shot a gorilla to protect a child, one aspect of the public outcry proves many humans are birdbrained. That’s actually unfair to birds. Many are quite intelligent. A study two years ago found…
Peeing, Privacy and Politics
Since politicians have made bathrooms a trending topic, I have a confession: I’ve been urinating in public all my life. Or at least it feels that way. For those of us with penises (and birth certificates to prove it), exposing…
New Word: Pledgislation
Recent actions by North Carolina’s General Assembly have been called many things, but I couldn’t find the exact right word. So I coined one: pledgislation. Our politicians are certainly not alone in succumbing to this impulse. It’s a human failing…
Every Day is the New April 1
I know it’s only April 1, but what a long, strange year it has been already. Every day, the real headlines look more and more like something from The Onion. Reality and farce have become so intertwined that Snopes.com recently …
Female Entrepreneurs: The X(X)-factor in Economic Growth
Business.com recently published my article, “Well-Rounded Leadership: The Nature and Nurture of Female Entrepreneurs.” Over the past two decades, and especially since the Great Recession beginning in 2008, women-led businesses have increased dramatically, and now contribute $1.5 trillion annually to…