Beyond being a great investor, Buffett writes wittily and well
One of the greatest investors of all time, Warren Buffett is always refreshingly candid and informative in his letters to investors, and 2008’s 21-page missive is no exception.
Chris Katterjohn
Articles
Education, health still key issues
The people of Indiana need to work to improve education, the overall health of our work force, and productivity and innovation.
These stories might cheer you up
This week I’m going to be
your own, personal Pollyanna and try to cheer you up with some good news.
Hall of Fame stories teach lessons
Judging acts of heroism for the American Red Cross Hall of Fame program is always an education and inspiration. It’s powerful stuff to read about professionals going above and beyond the call of duty and about ordinary citizens stepping outside their comfort zones on impulse to save a fellow human being. This year, it struck […]
Don’t get buried by negative news
When our economy is
challenged, American resilience and resourcefulness have heretofore always saved the day. I have good reason to believe those
traits will save the day once again.
Have you checked your PSA lately?
I’m here to plead with all men and the people who love them: Don’t be lazy like I was about getting annual PSA checks
and physical exams.
Indiana b-ball programs back on track
With both the NBA and college basketball seasons under way, Indiana’s two namesake programs are coming back to life in a big
way.
Give thanks, and more, in tough times
As we hunker down and try to fend for ourselves during this difficult economy, don’t forget to support those who are even
less fortunate and
have been hit even harder than we have.
Downtown development great for citizens, visitors
The development of shopping, restaurants, museums, public arts and hotels downtown in the past 25 years has made Indianapolis
a vibrant, more interesting place to live—and to visit.
Commentary: White deserves praise and support
Chris Katterjohn has the week off. In his absence, this column, which appeared on Oct. 2, 2006, is being reprinted. It’s been a little more than a year since Indianapolis Public Schools Superintendent Eugene White took over the job of battling the flames at IPS. We should all be grateful he did. He is a special man. “It was like going into a burning house,” White told a group of business leaders at a recent breakfast. “I don’t know too…
Commentary: Welcome to Wall Street, the sequel
Author Tom Wolfe wrote a bestseller in 1987 called, “The Bonfire of the Vanities.” The title of the book alluded to 15th century Italy, when religious fanatics staged public fires at which they burned items thought to encourage lives of sin, things like mirrors and cosmetics. Wolf’s “Bonfire” popularized the term “masters of the universe” to refer to shallow, highly compensated Wall Street types who made big bucks and lived lavish lifestyles, often at the expense of others. The novel…
Commentary
Commentary Summer mega-events consume us Just when I thought I could start getting to bed at a decent hour again after the 2008 Olympics were over, up pops the Democratic National Convention from Denver. I’m not a television watcher. About the only things I find worthwhile on the boob tube are sports, PBS, movies, and arts or cultural programs. The occasional exception might include a cooking show. Like many Americans, I found myself watching the Beijing games late into the…
Commentary: Summer mega-events consume us
Just when I thought I could start getting to bed at a decent hour again after the 2008 Olympics were over, up pops the Democratic National Convention from Denver. I’m not a television watcher. About the only things I find worthwhile on the boob tube are sports, PBS, movies, and arts or cultural programs. The occasional exception might include a cooking show. Like many Americans, I found myself watching the Beijing games late into the night for most of two…
Commentary: Indiana State Fair is on a roll
Riding a stretch of near-perfect weather, this year’s Indiana State Fair seems destined to break attendance records. I was there for a few hours one day, and I can see why it still is a big draw: The fair is alive with what’s great about Indiana tradition. And, relatively speaking, it’s a cheap form of entertainment. Eight bucks for admission seems more than reasonable in these days when a movie costs you nearly $10, especially when you realize your $8…
Commentary: Indiana State Fair is on a roll
Riding a stretch of near-perfect weather, this year’s Indiana State Fair seems destined to break attendance records. I was there for a few hours one day, and I can see why it still is a big draw: The fair is alive with what’s great about Indiana tradition. And, relatively speaking, it’s a cheap form of entertainment. Eight bucks for admission seems more than reasonable in these days when a movie costs you nearly $10, especially when you realize your $8…
Commentary: Please copy this column
(In deference to ’60s radical Abbie Hoffman and his 1971 cult paperback “Steal This Book,” I hereby relinquish our copyright to this column and give you permission to copy it. I’ll tell you what to do with it later.) Silly me, I thought Mitch Daniels had really shaken things up and done a great job in his first four years as governor. To hear his Democratic opponents in the upcoming election tell it, you’d think he had provided uninspired leadership…
Commentary: This game gave me Fever
It’s time for more people around here to take note of the “other” professional basketball team in town: the WNBA’s Indiana Fever. And that means all the men out there who won’t give women’s basketball a fair shake, the men who think women can’t play the game. I know they’re out there because I was one of them. I stand before you this week humbly acknowledging the error of my ways. I have learned; the women can play! I had…
Commentary: Two worlds, one language
Do you speak Chinese? I don’t, but I had a great conversation with two non-English-speaking Chinese artists and educators last week. I was moderating a roundtable discussion at the governor’s residence for Joyce Sommers and the Indianapolis Arts Center. The roundtable kicked off a two-month summer exhibit at the center called “Two Worlds, One Language through Art.” (You can read more about the exhibit on page 37.) It was my first time as a moderator in a situation requiring the…
Commentary: It’s all about managing diversity
“Diversity” is a word that gets thrown around a lot these days. The pair of words “diversity management” might be more to the point. Diversity really is a fact of life. In terms of humankind, the world is made up of different kinds of people. And those differences go way beyond race, gender and ethnicity. People come from different backgrounds, believe in different religions, and have different sexual preferences, for example. Some are physically handicapped or mentally impaired. Our differences…
Commentary: HealthNet casts a wide one
Indianapolis is becoming a much more international city. Consider some of the facts: Central Indiana’s Latino population is now 100,000, fifth-fastest-growing in the United States; one in five scientists at Eli Lilly is Chinese; and 2,000 Burmese immigrants live here. These tidbits and mounds of other information about immigration in our community can be found in the International Center’s coffee-table book, “New Faces at the Crossroads: The World in Central Indiana.” The book also contains the stories and beautiful photographs…