Author: Maran Mcleod (Maran McLeod)

Recently, I began reading a book well known in academia—Alan Bloom’s “The Closing of the American Mind.” One of his central premises is that modern American students are indoctrinated with a single virtue—“openness.” Nothing seemed more pertinent to my experience this summer. I interned at a well-established non-profit theater company in Los Angeles, known for...

wering bookshelves, a group of costumed men, women, and children gather for some Halloween socializing and karaoke. Two teenage girls sing, “Jeremiah was a Bull Frog,” with heart, if not pitch. An old upright piano stands against the wall, slightly dusty and frequently used. Atop the piano, beautiful landscapes hand-painted by a local artist add...

Up until a few weeks ago, someone would mention the words “teen singer” and immediately my mind would fill with Taylor Swift’s thin voice singing “Love Story,” or, worse, the grating strains of Rebecca Black’s Friday. But thanks to Jasmine “Birdy” Van den Bogaerde, a fifteen-year-old indie artist, my hope for talented youth is renewed....