Theranos

I know it has been a long time since I have written a blog post. My father’s health took a turn for the worse in January. Sadly, he died in May. I just have not been in the mood to blog. I’ve been dealing with grief, my father’s estate, and my own life. I am […]

Continue reading about Theranos »

As of December I have had my blog for a decade. I can’t believe how much time has passed. The past ten years have seen some extreme lows and some incredible highs. I started this blog in the midst of the financial crisis; I had just been laid off, and effectively kissed a finance career […]

Continue reading about Ten Years of Bookish Babe »

Imagine yourself as a young girl from an obscure German family.  You are asked to move eastward, to the mighty state of Russia.  There you are to marry the future czar who unfortunately turns out to be an insufferable dolt, too inept for his position.  You take matters into your own hands after years of […]

Continue reading about Who Was The Greatest Russian Ruler? »

It is always important to recognize forgotten American heroes.  Especially during this anti-heroic period we are living in.  One such hero played a pivotal role in post-antebellum southern society.  Booker T. Washington was that figure.  Born into slavery in Virginia, Washington was able to reach the highest levels of American society.  His autobiography Up From […]

Continue reading about Booker T. Washington »

We all remember the day when US Airways flight 1549 landed on the Hudson River on January 15, 2009.  That was not a good time for me or for the whole country.  I had just been laid off from my banking job, and was very fearful of the future.  This was at the height of […]

Continue reading about Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger »

I am a big fan of the Brontë sisters novels.  However I had no idea Emily Brontë wrote poetry.  It wasn’t until after watching an excellent PBS movie about the sisters called To Walk Invisible that I was introduced to her poetry.  I was able to find an old edition of her poems at my local […]

Continue reading about Emily Brontë’s Poetry »

As much as we bemoan the state of the world today with Muslim terrorism, economic turmoil, and leadership that only cares about maintaining its own power as an end in itself.  It’s easy to fall into the mindset of the world being a hellish place.  I am guilty of it as well.  Yet, some of […]

Continue reading about What The Past Tells Us About Our Present World »

I just finished reading an intriguing memoir about a segment of American society that is virtually ignored.  Writer J.D. Vance chronicles his life story in Hillbilly Elegy.  Vance highlights the terrible consequences of bad ideas passed from generation to generation.  These bad ideas include eschewing education, using violence as a means to settle disagreements, drug […]

Continue reading about Hillbilly Culture and America’s Future »

“What would you have me do?  Seek for the patronage of some great man and like a creeping vine on a tall tree crawl upward where I cannot stand alone?  No thank you!  Dedicate as others do, poems to pawnbrokers?  Be a buffoon in the vile hope of teasing out a smile.  On some cold […]

Continue reading about Cyrano De Bergerac »

Have you ever wondered why the United States has had 14 banking crises since the country’s inception, whereas Canada has had none?  Or why Mexico and Brazil has some of the riches natural resources on the planet yet the majority of its populations live in poverty.  I just finished reading an interesting book that answers […]

Continue reading about The Historical Roots of Banking Systems »