Tag Archives: Zilian

Hope for a Race-less America

Posted on August 16, 2021 by Fred Zilian

(This essay was originally published by the Newport Daily News (RI) on August 9, 2021.) With COVID in retreat, I recently took a three-day trip to our nation’s capital with 12-year-old grandson, Alex, to show him the sights and teach … Continue reading →

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The Humanities Keep Us Human

Posted on March 16, 2016 by Fred Zilian

(Note: This essay was originally published in Education Week on January 6, 2015.) President Obama’s announcement in the fall 2014 of an additional $28 million to bolster STEM teachers was great news and reminded me of my passion for science … Continue reading →

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What the Robins Tell Me: Climate Change Is Our Problem

Posted on February 16, 2014 by Fred Zilian

(This essay was published originally by the Newport Daily News on February 12, 2014.)   Even before Rachel Carson’s book Silent Spring in 1962, I was environment-curious. Sixty years ago in northeast New Jersey, I watched the trash men haul away … Continue reading →

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Did American Education Forget Gettysburg?

Posted on January 6, 2014 by Fred Zilian

 (This essay was originally published in The Lincoln Forum Bulletin, Fall 2013. On the 150th anniversary of the greatest, most significant battle since the Revolutionary War, America—but for historical circles and the celebrations in Gettysburg itself—appears disinterested. Abe Lincoln, our … Continue reading →

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The Decline of Thanksgiving

Posted on November 30, 2013 by Fred Zilian

(The essay was originally published by the Newport Daily News on November 27, 2013.) An important threshold was crossed two years ago when Wal-Mart and Toys R Us moved their opening or early bird specials from very early Black Friday … Continue reading →

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The Gettysburg Address

Posted on November 26, 2013 by Fred Zilian

(This essay was originally published in the Newport Daily News, November 19, 2013, as “Gettysburg Address Defined Our Purpose as a Free People.”)  One-hundred fifty years ago, on November 19, 1863, at a ceremony to honor the fallen in the Battle of … Continue reading →

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The Monotonous Diet of Billy Yank

Posted on September 15, 2013 by Fred Zilian

(This essay was originally published by the Newport Daily News as, “War Meals Were for Survival, not Great Taste,” September 6, 2013.) The Union soldier’s diet during the Civil War was sufficient to keep him alive and fighting, and distinctly … Continue reading →

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The Battle of Gettysburg: the Turning Point

Posted on July 7, 2013 by Fred Zilian

 (This essay was originally published in the Newport Daily News on July 1, 2013)         In probably the greatest land battle ever fought in the Western Hemisphere, Union and Confederate forces clashed at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, July 1-3, 1863. During these … Continue reading →

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“All Slaves …Shall Be Free”

Posted on January 3, 2013 by Fred Zilian

(This essay was originally published in the Newport Daily News on December 31, 2012, as “Emancipation changed the war, and the nation.”) One hundred and fifty years ago today President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation took effect, stating that “all persons held … Continue reading →

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Seeds of Chinese Liberalization, Made in America

Posted on October 31, 2012 by Fred Zilian

(This essay abridged was originally published in the Wall Street Journal on October 30, 2012, as “Seeds of Chinese Liberalization, Made in America.”) Right here in our cozy, conservative boarding school, we are unconsciously and with no malicious intent sowing … Continue reading →

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