Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library: A Love Letter to Little Readers

There are few gifts more powerful than a child’s first book. A book can turn bedtime into an adventure, a parent’s lap into a classroom, and a quiet afternoon into a doorway to the wider world. That simple belief is at the heart of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, a program that mails free, high-quality, age-appropriate books to children from birth until age five, regardless of family income.

STEM Education in Louisiana: What is Working

This post looks at the best STEM programs in Louisiana and what we can learn from them.

Understanding Collective Action for Public Good

Public development priorities are both ambitious and fragile. They aim to address often interconnected challenges such as poverty, inequality, health, climate change, education, and institutional trust, yet progress remains difficult and uneven (United Nations Statistics Division, 2025; Sustainable Development Report, 2024). When these efforts repeatedly fall short, they can also weaken public confidence and make future mobilization harder.

Exploring The Washington Post’s Staff Cuts: A Risky Strategy

The Washington Post’s recent layoffs have reignited a familiar — and deeply uncomfortable — debate in American journalism: when a newsroom faces sustained financial losses, is cutting staff a necessary step toward survival, or a self-defeating move that accelerates decline?

Simplifying Tariff Equation for International Trade

I’ve seen complexity used to silence criticism. Reciprocal tariff calculations look thorough and scientific because most people aren’t familiar with equations or Greek letters. But when examined closely, it’s much more straightforward.

The Evolution of Online Surveys: Insights from 40 Years Ago

Believe it or not, 40 years ago, I put my first online survey in the field. My how things have changed.

Gay Pride Month. Demographic Research Issues.

Small subgroups create special challenges. In this Gay Pride Month, we look at the issue of including the LGBTQ community as a subgroup.

Coffee and correlation

Recent reports suggest that coffee is associated with longer life. This is great news but why should we be suspicious?

Communication Bias

We can all learn to open ourselves up to alternative perspectives. This short post discusses bias. It won’t hurt.