Calling insects beneficial seems contradictory. Most of us think of insects as “bad bugs.” We buy bug spray and pesticides hoping insects will disappear for good.

William Safire’s “Drinking in America: A History” is not a book on traveling around to soak up the wonders of these great United States, as I thought. It is rather a book about the history of drinking, as in alcohol, a mainstay since the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth.

Every single thing you see on screen came out of somebody’s creativity. It doesn’t exist. Nature didn’t deliver it to us. Everything had to be dreamed. — Jeffrey Katzenberg, Dreamworks

The new school year began this week, and with it a rekindling of the hopes and dreams of several generations: parents dreaming of a successful life for their children, children wanting to define success on their terms, old-timers wanting youth to learn from their experiences.