Sparks Commentary

Part history, part politics, and part random other stuff.

Monday, September 28, 2026

A review of “Confucius, Lao Tzu, and Chinese Philosophy” (audiobook)

›
In the West , Confucius may be the most admired of all of the Eastern philosophers . When  Westerners  are asked to give the name of a  non-...
Wednesday, September 23, 2026

Why I’m glad to be a native speaker of English

›
“… all Pleas which shall be pleaded in [any] Courts whatsoever, before any of his Justices whatsoever, or in his other Places, or before an...
Wednesday, September 16, 2026

Why I’m glad that I learned Spanish

›
“ Se habla espaƱol. ” (“We speak Spanish.”) – A phrase used by businesses in parts of the United States (including here in the Southwest ) ...
Thursday, September 3, 2026

How the Seven Years’ War spilled over into Latin America

›
The Seven Years’ War was fought on five different continents. Thus, it was a massive worldwide conflict (as I argue  elsewhere ). It started...
Monday, August 24, 2026

Some medieval pros and cons: Striking a “middle” course with the Middle Ages

›
Two possible extremes of the Middle Ages: romanticizing them, and demonizing them The Middle Ages remain a source of enduring interest today...
Sunday, August 23, 2026

Why does the Declaration of Independence list so many grievances?

›
“Whereas many of our subjects in divers parts of our colonies and plantations in North America … have at length proceeded to open and avowed...
Saturday, August 15, 2026

Jainism and Sikhism: Two of the minority religions of India

›
“The State shall not discriminate against any citizen on grounds only of religion , race, caste, sex, place of birth or any of them.” – Part...
‹
›
Home
View web version

About me

My photo
Jeffrey Sparks
By training, I am a business major with a concentration in marketing, and a certificate in economics. I originally wanted to do market research for businesses because I enjoyed the social science aspects of marketing, and I have studied psychology a little on my own; but I now wonder if this will ever be my field. I have also taken a fair amount of communications classes, because I thought about grad school in advertising or public relations (or even business & economic journalism), but I'm not sure I will ever do these things. (I'm glad I studied them just the same, though.) By inclination, I learn about a lot of other things in my spare time. For example, I am a history buff, an aspiring polyglot, an amateur linguist, a political philosopher (after a fashion), and a student of the Bible. Most of the things I study on my own these days have something to do with one of these subjects (or sometimes even more than one), and I write about many of them on my blog. So my actual profession is … you guessed it … a math tutor! Not what you'd expect, right? (Not what I would have expected, either … )
View my complete profile
Powered by Blogger.