In 2012, 18-month-old Jun Abell loved walking around his New York house and climbing the stairs. Then one day, his parents noticed that the toddler wasn’t walking at all. Jun’s parents were concerned by his unusual behavior. Doctors couldn’t find any physical signs of injury or distress, but just to be safe, an MRI was ordered. The scans revealed that Jun had hydrocephalus, which happens when a tumor causes the cerebral spinal fluid to back up, putting pressure on the brain. The toddler was rushed into surgery to treat the hydrocephalus on a Friday. By Monday, he had another surgery to remove ..read more

The right to free expression and the right to earn a living go hand in hand. Entrepreneurship allows creatives to reject the stereotype of the starving artist by turning their artistic talent into a financially viable career. So when the government restricts the right of entrepreneurs to freely express themselves through art, it also restricts their ability to financially support themselves by selling the fruits of their labor, such as jewelry, painted art, or music. Truth in marketing Peggy Fontenaut is an artist and a member of Virginia’s Patawomeck Tribe. Inspired by her lineage, Peggy has ..read more

Imagine a world without art—where humans are held captive by drab colors and stale, monotonous imagery of the day to day. One doesn’t have to be an art buff to understand how art delights the human senses and paints our lives with beauty and meaning. Art invokes a deep gratitude and appreciation for simply being alive. Not all people feel this way, however. Just an hour outside of Houston sits the small town of Waller, Texas, where renowned painter Brad Smith, his wife Kay, and his company Tilt Vision Art have worked with local businesses to paint colorful murals on otherwise dull and colorles ..read more

When Sarah Erny was born, her father took one look at his infant daughter and knew she’d be a doctor someday. He even wrote it down in her baby book. Some kids get toys for their birthday, but Sarah got MCAT prep books. While it would be nearly 40 years before she went down the healthcare path, Sarah would eventually fulfill her father’s hope, earning a Doctorate of Nursing Practice (DNP)—the highest degree available in advanced nursing. As she embarked on her career, her patients and colleagues affectionately referred to her as “Dr. Sarah.” But that endearing (and accurate) title would c ..read more

When we think of the origins of the country’s most brilliant tech entrepreneurs, the mind naturally gravitates toward places like Silicon Valley—not the Amish Country of Holmes County, Ohio. Mike Yoder, the CEO of Drone Deer Recovery, isn’t like other entrepreneurs. For starters, he didn’t grow up with the internet in his home. In fact, he didn’t grow up with any technology in his home. He was raised in an Amish community. But while his family’s home was free of video games and the internet, he still managed to catch a glimpse of opportunities that burgeoning tech had to offer. “In our area in ..read more

A graduate student at Antioch University in Seattle has incurred the wrath of her college by criticizing their radical approach to training therapists. Leslie Elliott, who says she considers herself a liberal, is a master’s student in clinical therapy. She grew fed up with a department that she believes has abandoned genuine therapy for extreme leftist dogma, and she says Antioch has responded by attempting to defame her and derail her education. To continue reading this op-ed, visit The Hill. The post The Hill: Must an Antioch student bow down to ‘social justice’ dogma to graduate? appeared f ..read more

Colorado high school sophomore Taryn Petruncola has played the harp since she was six years old. Aside from the joy that playing the harp brings Taryn, she also enjoys helping others. Through the years, she’s played for nursing homes and even during a family member’s funeral. As part of a business class that Taryn recently took at a local community college, she was assigned to create a business plan. That’s when the idea sprung to combine her love for playing the harp with the joy of helping people. And like countless entrepreneurs before her, Taryn wanted her business plan to be more than an ..read more

With the stroke of a pen, Governor Gavin Newsom has all but destroyed the First Amendment rights of healthcare professionals across California. The newly adopted Assembly Bill 2098 takes California’s routine disregard for the Constitution to new heights, penalizing any medical professional who disseminates “misinformation or disinformation related to COVID-19, including false or misleading information regarding the nature and risks of the virus, its prevention and treatment; and the development, safety, and effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines.” A blatant attack on free speech, no doubt, but the ..read more

Over the past few years, qualified immunity has been the legal issue at the forefront of police reform. While major events like the 2020 death of George Floyd have inextricably linked qualified immunity to over-policing, it’s important to note that it is not limited to criminal justice reform alone. As our colleague David Deerson noted a few years ago, “Qualified immunity protects all government officials, not just police officers, from financial liability when they violate constitutional rights.” “Government officials” includes administrators at public universities—which means that, unfortuna ..read more

Laws barring businesses and schools from teaching anti-racist ideas, such as Florida’s Stop WOKE Act, mimic the same intolerance displayed by woke progressives. The better path is to encourage open debate, not censorship. The Stop WOKE Act prevents businesses, schools and other institutions from subjecting students and employees to training or teachings that promote various anti-racist ideas. These include the idea that a “person, by virtue of his race, color, national origin or sex is inherently racist, sexist, or oppressive, whether consciously or unconsciously” and the idea that “virtues su ..read more