On June 23, Rep. Timothy V. Johnson, chairman of the House Agriculture Committee’s Subcommittee on Rural Development, Research, Biotechnology and Foreign Agriculture held a public hearing to review and discuss the opportunities and benefits of agricultural biotechnology for farmers, the environment, food and energy security, and competition in the global marketplace. Here are excerpts of testimony presented during the hearing: “Global population growth creates a pressing humanitarian challenge. We can either meet this demand by utilizing marginal lands and lands with fragile soils and poor water resources, or we can make the smart choice of increasing the production capacity of the plants and animals themselves. Innovation in agricultural science and technology is the key.” Chairman Timothy V. Johnson(R-Illinois)

(Setting: Church basement with congregation members sitting around in a circle waiting. Enter ACTRESS playing the part of the never-prepared, always-too-busy person we know in all of our lives. She rushes in and begins to address the group.)

My father, in spite of himself, scratched the back of the cat’s neck when he passed by. The cat lifted his head and looked up at him. He followed the trajectory of my father’s hand with blank eyes as it slipped back into the pocket of his jeans.

On a hot and humid Memorial Day weekend, I visited the Arlington National Cemetery. There, on the green hills and beneath the frequent shade trees, the white stone markers jut up so we may read the attributes of our fellow soldiers and civilians.

By the time you receive this July 21 issue of the magazine, Congress and the President will be at a make-or-break moment on a bargain to raise the debt ceiling and avoid default on American debt, which some say would be “catastrophic.”

This morning I dressed my nearly 2-year-old daughter in a shirt that reads, “I love sunny days.” Yet, out my office window the sky is grey and sprinkles flicker by as I look to the tree bending toward the west with its over-turned leaves.

I recently returned from visiting a Midwestern resort to speak to a group of nutritional consultants. During the three-day conference, I noticed something particularly unique about the resort employees. They all said hello to the guests.

(Click here to listen to the podcast of this column.) When I was a child, I memorized an axiom written in the 1800s by Joseph Smith. This statement became the golden thread that wove the tapestry of my philosophy regarding literature and media.

I was 12 when I first started milking. I stood on the rusted steps and looked into the parlor. Yellow rubber hoses throbbed in unison and squirmed against the lip of the pit when milk flashed through them. Each inflation grabbed the teat it held and softened its grip only for a moment before squeezing it again.