A tiny baby girl from San Diego, California now holds the record for the tiniest baby to survive. Baby Saybie was born the end of December of last year weighing about as much as a juice box. After a five-month stay in the NICU unit of Sharp Mary Birch Hospital she went from her birth…
Empathy is the experience of understanding another person’s thoughts and feelings from his or her point of view rather than from one’s own. It is a crucial force for building friendship, unity and good will in human relationships and important for developing emotional intelligence. In recent years some neuroscientists have advanced the concept of mirror neurons,…
On a recent road trip we got to see part of Cindy Peters’ collection of antique sewing machines. Clearly this woman had a passion for these old machines and we wish we had been able to get to know her before she died. These are some of the very first electric sewing machines. Most…
As one who takes playing with my grandchildren very seriously, I was glad to see new research supporting the importance of play in the development of children. Research conducted by Olga Jarrett, a professor emeritus at Georgia State University, shows the importance of recess. Dr. Jarrett draws on her experiences as a mother, civil rights…
Artist Kathy Mommsen’s Emotional Expression Wall Show is showing now at the Owatonna Arts Center. For this show the artist used live models and sculpted directly on clay wall pieces to show the essence of people in action. Moving Through the Texture of Water Over, Under and Through This one is called Garden…
Can you tell from their artwork if today’s young people are happy?
One of the changes that was initiated by the Lutheran leaders of the Reformation in the Sixteenth Century was to allow members of the clergy to be married. The recently-concluded summit on clergy sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic Church has focused attention on that church’s requirement that its priests be celibate, that is, abstain…
Fourteen years after he died they officially apologized. The experts thought he just made it all up. Accused him of forgery. But till his dying day, Marcelino Sanz de Sautuola maintained his integrity. Led by his eight-year-old daughter, Sautuola discovered the polychrome cave drawings of Altamira, Spain in 1879. He enlisted the help of Juan…
On a recent visit the Nelson-Atkins Museum in Kansas City we took in the Napoleon: Power and Splendor exhibit. The exhibit does not focus on Napoleon’s exploits as a military conqueror but on the majesty and significance of his imperial court and household. Napoleon all decked out in his royal attire. Napoleon’s wife, Joesphine. An…
On display now, through mid-April, is the stunning exhibit “Egypt’s Sunken Cities” at the Minneapolis Institute of Art. More than 1200 years ago two cities along Egypt’s Mediterranean coast disappeared into the sea. Ancient records told of their existence and splendor but very little physical evidence could be found. Then in 1996, the European Institute…
Mirror Neurons 