Gary Stout

We were recently gifted tickets to see the Broadway musical “Suffs” at the Pittsburgh CLO Benedum Center. The theme is the story of the American women who organized, marched, and who were brutally jailed to procure a constitutional amendment so that women could vote. The slogan for the musical is “Behind Every Powerful Woman Are More Powerful Women.” The production was first class, and it was clear why it had won several Tony awards and been crowned best new musical by the Outer Critics' Circle.

Baby boomers in the United States are 62 to 80 years old. My wife and I will both be 75 in September. In many ways, our retirement has been all we expected. It would be easy for us to assume that the American retirement system is working well and protecting older folks now and into […]

The Swarthmore Bulletin is a quarterly magazine mailed to all alumni of the college. Normally, I turn to the final pages and read the class notes to catch up on the news of those who graduated with me. Then I return to the front of the magazine to review the books written by Swarthmore graduates over the past three months. Lastly, I skim the articles for interesting topics.

The year 2026 will be remembered for the celebration of America’s 250th birthday. The events of this year will be compared with those in other milestone celebration years, and used to chronicle the ebb and flow of American history. I believe that one of the most widely discussed events from this year will be the […]

People talking without speaking. People hearing without listening. And no one dared … Disturb the sound of silence. – “The Sound of Silence,” Paul Simon Sometimes an idea for an essay comes from unusual places and at unexpected times. Such was the case this week. After hearing a friend describe his weekend of self-imposed silence […]

Our summer was capped off with an end of August trip to the New York City theater district. My nephew’s wedding took place in nearby New Jersey. It was a short drive through the Lincoln Tunnel to our Times Square hotel. Yes, the parking was $50 a day, but we avoided flying into La Guardia […]

I recently met with Antoinette Fitch, President of the League of Women Voters of Washington County (LWV). We each had a slightly different purpose in mind. As a writer, I wanted to tell a story. Fitch wanted to convey as much voting information as possible in the weeks leading up to the all-important midterm elections. […]

In the 2024 presidential election, Donald Trump disputed the Democrats' claim that the economy was in good shape. He made the election about the lack of affordability, due to inflation, allegedly caused by the Biden administration.

Alan Bradstock is the Democratic candidate for Congress in the 14th District that includes all of Washington, Greene, and Fayette counties. His opponent is Republican Guy Reschenthaler, who is currently serving his fourth term in the House of Representatives. The 14th District is overwhelmingly Republican, carrying a partisan voter index rating of R+17.

There is a relatively new political tactic being utilized by local Republican office holders called “the weaponization of ethics.” This scheme is used by elected officials and their supporters to take positive precepts like “transparency” and weaponize them against political opponents. The sad part is that the attackers ignore the same standards in their own […]