Take a journey on the V&T Candy Cane Express to usher in Christmas. Be forewarned: you will be smiling, laughing, singing, snacking and feeling merry.
Author: Joshua Shinn
A Day Out with Thomas: Big Adventure Tour 2018
My son Jameson is now 13-months old, and I’ve learned this is the exact age when a young boy develops a full-blown love affair with vehicles: cars, trucks, planes, and trains. Every large transportation vehicle he sees is currently a “truck” (his favorite word), and “trucks” of every kind litter my living room: an ATV,…
How to Build a Busy Board Step-by-Step
I spent a lot of time growing up in garages. They were the manhood museums of my late grandfathers; they held a half-century’s worth of their work and whatchamacallits. Tools, scraps of metal and wood, sawdust, two-stroke motors, and oil cans tell the story of the men in my family. It was in those garages…
Mother’s Day: A Day to Honor Moms & Edify Sons
I was born May 13, 1982, a mere four days after Mother’s Day. I like to think I was a gift to my mother that year. I’m nearly certain she’d say the same. This year my birthday and Mother’s Day coincide. I won’t get to celebrate in person with my mother since she lives in…
American Traffic
My First Trip to Thailand “Girls?! Girls?!” That was the first thing the Thai street vendor said to me when I stepped off the brow of the USS George Washington. It was the summer of 2011, and we has just pulled into port in Pattaya Beach, Thailand. I was more than excited to finally touch…
The Modern Male Ethos: Improving the Merits of a Man’s Principles
In embarking upon the journey of discussing and hopefully improving the modern male ethos, I’ve offered my thoughts about “Improving the Merits of the Mind” and “Improving the Merits of the Heart”— two worthy endeavors for men and women alike. This article is to be my final installment in my three-part mini-series on male improvement….
The Modern Male Ethos: Improving the Merits of the Heart
I had previously written about the frail condition of many modern men. Sexual misconduct, emotional weakness, and intellectual self-destruction have become the unfavorable hallmarks of a skewed male ethos. To recalibrate our slumping social position, I’ve set out to offer some notes on and examples from men of character and of history to increase our…
The Modern Male Ethos: Improving the Merits of the Mind
When I teach argumentation and persuasion in my English 101 course, I delve into the Grecian modes of persuasion: ethos (credibility or character), pathos (passion or emotion), logos (logic or reasoning), and kairos (timing or opportunity). I always begin, however, with a detailed analysis of ethos. The ancient Greeks believed that if an individual’s ideas…
Daddy Jekyll & An Exasperated Mr. Hyde
Nearly eight weeks ago, my wife and I had our first child. In the delivery room, I was anticipating Jameson’s arrival would also usher in a flood of parental emotions I had yet to experience in my life. After my wife’s hard-fought 23 hours of labor, time slowed and the flood came. I exhaled in…
The Modern Political Pawn: Children
Our modern age has politicized everything. From the death of Harambe the gorilla, to Christmas trees on Starbucks cups, to safe spaces on college campuses, to gender-neutral bathrooms, pronouns, and toys. You name it, political life has engulfed it. ESPN is losing ratings because it spends too much time discussing politics; friends are un-following or…
The Power of Play, Part II: To Play is to Be Human
Previously, I shared a story when I and a few of my college buddies stumbled upon the great game of Toilet Paper War. From there I, with the aid of UC Berkeley researcher Alison Gopnik’s article “Why Play is Serious,” attempted to convey how crucial play is to children and adults alike, especially if they…
The Power of Play, Part I: To Play is to Learn
I can say with a sense of pride that one of my greatest qualities, one that I believe my friends and family would attest to, is my ability to be jovial. Jovial: (adjective) cheerful and friendly; synonym(s): good-natured; sociable; high-spirited; exuberant; chipper; bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. Whenever I get a character question on a job application…