Smarts, With a Side of Grits

Intelligence and education in public schoolsEducation. It’s a topic that has always stimulated vigorous debate and yielded staunch opinions from both professional academics and the public at large.

With talk about expanding access to education, improving our educational system and outcomes and, most recently, President Obama’s proposal to offer free community college to students nationwide, it’s an issue that continues to feature prominently in our nation’s dialogue – and for a good reason. Read more

I Have A…

Hilton Head Island beach palmetto dunes

Happy Martin Luther King Day from ATG!
“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”
“The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character – that is the goal of true education.”
–Martin Luther King, Jr.

If That Isn’t Power, Then I Don’t Know What Is!

Moisés Naim The End of Time ReviewPotency. Strength. Force. Intensity. Energy. Vigor. 

These are but just a sampling of synonyms listed in Doubleday Roget’s Thesaurus under the word “power” – defined in Miriam Webster’s New Collegiate dictionary as, “possession of control, authority, or influence over others.”

Interesting, then, that the CEO of arguably one of the most “powerful” companies in the world – Facebook – has chosen a book entitled The End of Power (March 2013) as the first pick for his new book club that he so fittingly announced on the social networking site earlier this month. Read more

Journeying Into The Past

Metropolitan Museum of Art New York CityTwo years ago almost to the day, on January 16, The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City reopened the “American Wing” to the public after a decade-long restoration that included recreating the original frame for the “best-known painting in America’s best-known museum”: Washington Crossing the Delaware.

Measuring 12 ft. 5 in. by 21 ft. 3 in., it was painted in 1851 by the German born artist, Emmanuel Leutze, in his studio in Dusseldorf Germany. It entered the Met’s collection in 1897 after a much storied journey of its own, as told in the Met’s booklet: Washington Crossing the Delaware: Restoring an American Masterpiece. Read more

I’ll Vote For That

Independence Hall
Independence Hall in Philadelphia, PA where our founders signed the Constitution

In a letter to an orphaned nephew dated December 5, 1790, George Washington wrote: “A good moral character is the first essential in a man…it is therefore highly important that you should endeavor not only to be learned, but virtuous.”

Similarly, four other of our most prominent founding fathers echoed this sentiment on various occasions, in various forms, from writings in The Federalist Papers to speeches at state ratifying conventions, saying:

Thomas Jefferson: “…never suppose that in any possible situation, or under any circumstances, it is best for you to do a dishonorable thing, however slightly so it may appear to you.” Read more

Skating Into The New Year

Best places to ice skate in NYCThe holidays are over and January – in its cold, snowy and post-holiday glory – is settling in. But, despair not! The excitement, merriment and cheer of the joyous holiday season don’t have to end.

Let a new book, a trip to an ice skating rink with friends or a cup of hot cocoa with fresh whipped cream revive your spirit, carrying you into the New Year with hope and joy, and curing you of those inevitable “January blues.”

World-famous and one of the quintessential New York City experiences, the ice-skating rink in the center of Midtown Manhattan at Rockefeller Center is worth a trip for both tourists and city-goers alike. Read more

The Wonder of the Human Will

January

With each New Year come new beginnings, new hopes and new dreams – and, perhaps less welcomed, but not less important, change. But, change – as unsettling, disconcerting and frightening as it can be – is not always bad. In fact, change is good. It is necessary; it is what pushes and advances us. It is instructive; it teaches, inspires and transforms. After all, as Henri Bergson once said: “To exist is to change, to change is to mature, to mature is to go on creating oneself endlessly.” And Confucius: “They must often change, who would be constant in happiness or wisdom.”

It is in this spirit that ATG puts forth two “must see” movies of the New Year (see below), both of which underscore the necessity of hope and the transformative power of change. We *hope* you enjoy! Read more