FITZGERALD writes: The mother of Steve Jobs chose to put his sister and him up for adoption when they were infants. What if he had been aborted? Jobs had an enormously influential role in the creation and transformation of several industries. How many other potential innovators, business leaders, architects, and artists have met an untimely end in [...]

  THE EMPLOYMENT rate among American men reached its lowest level in 63 years this summer. Not since 1948 had so relatively few men held jobs. But the news was already bad. The median annual earnings of all men 30 to 50 years old, including those who did not work, fell 27 percent from 1969 to 2009.  When [...]

  Autumnal Sonnet                         — William Allingham Now Autumn’s fire burns slowly along the woods, And day by day the dead leaves fall and melt, And night by night the monitory blast Wails in the key-hold, telling how it pass’d O’er empty fields, or upland solitudes, Or grim wide wave; and now the power is [...]

  WHEN I think of pink in its loveliness, I don’t think of pink ribbons, pink lemonade, pink planes or the aggressive sentimentality of hot pink Blackberry covers, but of the Rosa Damascena of Pierre-Joseph Redouté, one of history’s great botanical painters. The petals and thorns of this rose, which cannot be conveyed on a screen, are exactly as the [...]

  SEE the ongoing discussion of fundraising for breast cancer. Breast cancer research is a worthy and important cause. Breast cancer is a terrible evil. But why do women seem to show far more interest in their own health than that of others? And, since this is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, why are we not insistently reminded by [...]

  GIRL SCOUTS of America has joined the growing list of cultural institutions that have reached the point of no return. According to NBC News and Yahoo, Girl Scouts spokeswomen  in Colorado say it is now official policy for the organization to accept “transgendered” boys.