notanotherbookreview

Is honesty still a Virtue in 2026? Well yes, though it's under siege, writes Christian B. Miller in THE HONESTY CRISIS : Preserving our most treasured virtue in an increasingly dishonest worl d  (Oxford University Press. This book is a rare investigation of a value essential for humanity, despite our runaway "for profit everything" culture. Miller's position about honesty is also rare.  Though a Professor of Philosophy at Wake Forest, who previously published Moral Psychology (2021, Oxford), his literary voice reminded me of Emerson's in  Nature and  Self Reliance.  Investigating what exists in human character and our world, Miller is no smug academic championing obsolete values. Honesty is still the virtue people most value in public and private character. The human spirit suffers from casually accepted deceit. Students' growing inability to resist having AI write their papers is a serious concern to Miller. What's the harm in using such "tools?...

 The Playground NY/LA , Barefoot Theatre Company & Pontifex Productions presents ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST by Dale Wasserman, based on the novel by KEN KESEY. Directed by Francisco Solorzano (April 30th-May17th, 2026)      During the Vietnam War era, the politics surrounding ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO's NEST , the novel, were volatile. "Counterculture" was not a "trend" in a time, when the nightly news showed the ritual of body bags being unloaded from planes for burial. Thousands of young men were dying in what was increasingly viewed as a brutal lost cause, a superpower game. Canada was the destination for an underground railroad of young men fleeing the war; whether students with high numbers in the lottery, or soldiers in the U.S. After the Kent State shooting of peaceful student protestors, a photo of a young woman placing a flower inside a gun barrel, was famous, as "They Shoot Students Don't They" marathon dances on campuses rais...