Rex Smith

2 weeks ago | wamc.org | Rex Smith

“Freedom is a fragile thing, and it’s never more than one generation away from extinction.”That’s not an original thought, of course; in fact, it was a line delivered in the 1967 inaugural address of the new governor of California, a retired actor named Ronald Reagan. It’s a bit ironic that some of the people resurfacing these words nowadays are certainly not ideological descendants of the 20th century’s most successful conservative politician. Like me.

3 weeks ago | wamc.org | Rex Smith

There’s a silly Monty Python sketch from a half-century ago that some of you surely remember, and it spawned an enduring meme — though we didn’t have that name for it then.

1 month ago | wamc.org | Rex Smith

Being a guy, you know, I assumed for a long time that I was supposed to be able to fix things. For years, this led to lots of disappointment, especially early in our marriage, before my wife figured out that my skill set was limited to – well, punctuation, I guess. It took me longer than most folks to understand that it’s OK to not even try to be the fix-it guy – and that sometimes folks just want you to listen and care, not to tell them what to do.

1 month ago | wamc.org | Rex Smith

I was always impressed with the many titles of Haile Selassie, who was the Emperor of Ethiopia for 45 years starting in 1930. I mean, he ruled! After all, who could withstand the power of a guy known as “Keeper of the Door,” and “King of Kings” and, especially, “Lion of the Tribe of Judah, His Imperial Majesty.” That’s a seriously fine job title. By comparison, America’s leader is by nomenclature nearly a nobody.

2 months ago | wamc.org | Rex Smith

I didn’t grow up in a wealthy family, and I mean no disrespect to those who did when I say that the qualities that matter in people – that is, the lessons that we hope our kids absorb – have nothing to do with earning power. People can get rich even if they are foolish or immoral or ignorant. Which brings me to the people currently running the government of the United States, Donald Trump and Elon Musk, both of whom are all of those things – very rich, quite foolish and by all appearances immoral.