It’s true that vain people can be slothful ... and slothful people can be vain but most of these double-duty offenders exist only on the fringes of polite society. For those of us in the middle—particularly those of us in the middle financially—there is limited means to fund the expense of immense vanity or the time-wasting nature of ultimate sloth. However, many would argue that, in America, the middle is becoming a little too vanity deficient and slothfully inclined, especially when it comes to our fashion wardrobes. Therefore, it’s time to up our game a bit and rediscover dressing well!

A meteor explodes overhead, shattering windows, and drops thousands of small fragments across the ground; 

a world famous athlete runs into trouble from decisions he made during his career in his quest to be the best, and he falls from his place in the public eye and is even stripped of his Olympic medals;

the world’s richest man decides to start a private foundation and endows it with an initial one hundred million dollars. 

the US decides to institute a new income tax structure with the idea that it will help balance the budget and pay off the country’s debt; 

the US post office decides that it will cut back delivery by one day a week 

a daredevil makes the highest parachute jump in history; 

We’re a bit over a decade into the 21st century, and it’s been a busy time. But the things I just mentioned, which I’m sure you are thinking, “yea, I know all those things, they recently happened,” — what with the internet as a source of immediate news for nearly all of us, we certainly feel we are more informed than ever in history — and today is not like yesterday. 

But you know what? — everything I mentioned, actually happened one hundred years ago.

So do you think you’re modern? Well, only if you’re one hundred 100 years old.

For more than a century, radio—in its various forms—has changed the way we experience the world. What began as a means of military and ship-to-shore communication in the early 1900s had, by 1922, developed into an assortment hundreds of broadcast stations with signals cross-crossing the United States. Although electronic equipment manufacturers profited immediately from the radio craze, early broadcasters saw their efforts as being purely altruistic ventures. Even when advertising dollars began flowing into the coffers of station owners, most broadcasting professionals (in front of the microphones and in the control rooms) felt an obligation to fill the airwaves with words and music that entertained, informed, and (they hoped) enriched the lives of the listening public. To understand the tremendous effect that those who dedicated their lives to the development and elevated use of radio had on their fellow citizens, consider the work of one of its preeminent founders, Norman Corwin.

But when you explore deeper into Instagram, it will reveal some truly beautiful, artistically rendered and graphically inspired photography that has been created for small-scale viewing on the screen of your smartphone. “I’m always thinking of new ways to catch someone’s eye with just a two-inch square—that thumbnail view,” remarked Aryton Page, a novice photographer who started snapping shots of New York’s spectacular architecture with his iPhone last year. Like thousands of others, Page soon discovered the allure of posting his best shots on Instagram and quickly attracted over 2000 “followers”—those who subscribe to his photo feed because they appreciate his ability to capture the sculptural features of the city’s buildings.

Rediscover the pop-up book — which isn’t only a book — it is art.

Explore the modern masters of pop-up books: Matthew Reinhart, Robert Sabuda, David Carter, and Marion Bataille. And the early creators of paper engineering: Matthew Paris, Ernest Nister, Lothar Meggendorfer. 

You probably recall at least one title you treasured beyond all others. For the oldest among us, that might have been a book in the Doctor Dolittle series by Hugh Lofting, or perhaps a more obscure title like The Magical Land of Noom by Johnny Gruelle. Baby Boomers may reminisce fondly about Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White, or something—or anything—by Dr. Seuss: Horton Hears a Who, The Cat in The Hat, Green Eggs and Ham. And younger people might think back to the good old days of the 1980s and 90s, when titles like A Light in the Attic, by Shel Silberstein, or Matilda, by Roald Dahl, captured our attention.

But, regardless of your current age and the title of that book you fell in love with so long ago, it’s possible that, before you could speak or even before you knew what a book was, someone showed you another book that truly fascinated you—because it was different than all the others. In this book, the illustrations literally sprang to life; they moved, they shifted, and they even popped-up! Lest we forget the great joy they brought us, it’s time to rediscover pop-up books.

A looming stock market bubble, terrorist bombs going off in New York City, race riots in the American Midwest, and the possibility of a woman with a strong need to prove herself and a desire to keep secrets running the nation from the White House—the world has gone mad! Thank goodness we’re talking about events that occurred almost 100 years ago.

Learn how history overlaps: Woodrow Wilson, Edith Wilson, Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton, Eugene Williams, Chicago Race Riots, Nobel Prize, Psychology Today, Dr. Ryne A. Sherman, Hugh Rodham, Dorothy Rodham, Federal Reserve, Chelsea, D.W. Griffith, African Americans, United Nations, League of Nations, immigrants, immigration, Ferguson, Missouri, Baltimore, Maryland, Charlotte, North Carolina, Wall Street. J.P. Morgan, Great Recession.