By David A. Atkinson               This title may have a “Say What?” nature, but it squares with the impressions that follow.  People of a certain age remember Art Linkletter achieving television immortality through a popular segment titled “Kids Say The Darnedest Things.”  A modern variation is: “Surprising Things You Learn By Quizzing College Students.”  They too give delightfully candid answers to unanticipated questions.                 Shippensburg University hosts an annual presentation of student research projects called Minds@Work, celebrating research, scholarship, and creativity.  The collection of projects is drawn from he Colleges of Arts and Science, Business, and Education and Human Services.  An impressive array, especially to someone marginally literate in hard sciences.  I must confess my science courses in high school were enough to satisfy curiosity.  My lone close encounter with a science course at SU was called Man’s Atmospheric Environment, which was edifying but not trajectory altering.  Thus, the current depth of research and the astounding capabilities of the equipment students work on are intriguing.                 In this year’s session, one display room was filled with chemistry and biology projects.  While viewing the poster boards and asking questions about the projects, I noticed nearly …

By David A. Atkinson      In a recent issue of TIME magazine, Queen Rania of Jordan provided a piece advocating empowering girls with education, citing the value and virtue derived from such efforts.  Both the message and the messenger have significance.  As we know, arguments over the place of women in Islam are escalating.  Even so, it is not just in Muslim majority nations where women find rights and opportunities sharply limited still.                 Not coincidentally, a separate article in the same magazine described the rise in anti-immigrant sentiment here, while detailing the difficult circumstances that cause individuals and families to flee their homes.                 Many people believe public policy and religion should never intersect.  Yet, there are present day parables about what happens when people of faith take their energies beyond sanctuaries and places of worship.                 Guatemala is a growing source of refugees seeking entry into America.  Life for many there is shadowed by gangs, abuse, corruption, natural disasters, and lack of educational and economic opportunity, making harrowing exodus seem the reasonable alternative.  Our political penchant for preaching to migrants about staying put and making the best of things does not solve their daily problems on the …