Beech Tree News Network

Boys Will Be Men: From personal observation—and I realize that doesn’t mean it’s set in stone—it seems that boys without a positive role model and direction, struggle more than girls who don’t have a positive female role model.  Maybe, it’s because women are such nurturers.  If we see a young person struggling—male or female—we tend to take them under our wing.  That’s all fine and good, but women can’t provide male perspective.  (Before I continue, I apologize to all of the feminists upon whose toes I will inevitably tread.)

The life of British Lt. Col. T. E. Lawrence was portrayed in “Lawrence of Arabia,” a famous film of the early 1960s.

This was a rare case where the real-life experiences of the man whose name graced the title of the box-office hit were at least as adventurous as anything portrayed by the great Peter O’Toole, a virtual unknown made into a star by the movie.

Change is never an easy thing but we at Beech Tree News appreciate the patience of our loyal readers during our transition to BTN 2.0.  The response we've received has been extremely positive about the new site.  Yes, we've heard from some of you who prefer the old site but we ask you to stick with us during this transition time and we believe you'll come to enjoy the new site even more than the old one.  

Underestimated allies of freedom are judges who uphold constitutional government and smack down regulatory agencies when they cross the line. 

In recent months, we’ve had some stellar rulings by fair-and-balanced judges. 

Most of us have several friends, but some of our friends have stood by us more closely than others. Four of my friends have stood by me for years. These women have different roles in my life, but each one is very important to me: the encourager, the mentor, the reality checker, and the comrade.

When Men Cook: Growing up in a rural area, I noticed something about men in the community.  Several of them could cook, but their cooking was very food-specific.  My dad is a good example.  He often cooked Sunday morning breakfast for the family, and when he did, he really laid out a spread.  He would fix home-made biscuits and either bacon, sausage or country ham.  He would fry eggs and make gravy—two kinds, milk-based and red-eye, if we had country ham, because red-eye is an acquired taste that not everybody in the family had acquired.  

One of the lessons that may be gleaned from the life of the late Apple icon Steve Jobs isn't being talked about in many places.  Sure, we all know about the founding of Apple, his firing, Pixar,  his rehiring, MacIntosh computers,  iPods, iTunes, iPhone, iPad, etc., — but that isn't all of his story.  One of the big lessons that I think society needs to learn — and quickly — is that college isn't for everyone.  In fact, for many it can be one of the worst things for a young person to ever attempt to do.  

One of Kentucky’s best-kept secrets is the Barren Academy of Virtual and Expanded Learning.

While the commonwealth loses 10,000 students from each graduating class, only 110 students currently are enrolled in the academy. Nevertheless, BAVEL offers the right kind of alternative to tip the scales in the other direction.

Not only does it offer all Kentucky students – regardless of where they live – the opportunity to acquire a high school diploma while every single class online, but it’s getting top-quality results at very low costs.

Back on Your Feet Again

There are many times in everyone’s life when we all have to pick ourselves up from our boot straps and soldier forward.  We all go through times when we are down and heart-broken. These are times when faith in God and good friends come in very handy.

My grandparents and my parents both had apple trees in their yards. Those trees are connected to some of my childhood memories. My siblings and I climbed my parents’ trees and ran around them to catch lightning bugs as well as imaginary “bad guys.” Those apple trees provided protection when playing Hide-and-seek and shade in the heat of the day.

More importantly to my grandparents and parents, those trees produced apples. According to the Internet (www.nutrition-and-you.com), apples are a healthy food choice: