Welcome to The Fred & Rheta Skelton Center for Cultural Renewal! This new section of 1819 News is your place for commentary, advice, and musings on life and renewing the culture.

The Fred & Rheta Skelton Center for Cultural Renewal aims to do just what its name implies: renew the culture.
A culture war is just as serious as a traditional war, even more so in many cases. There is no neutral in this fight, it’s a total war for the very soul of our nation.
Religion – particularly Christianity – is at the core of society because it puts us in right relationship with God. And when we’re in right relationship with God, everything else falls into place, namely, our relationships with family, work, community, and government.
If nothing else, we should read if only to prevent our society from going down the drain.
Connection, commitment, caring: these are three key elements of leadership.
Arguments may change minds, but if you want to change a culture, sing.
Points of light are appearing everywhere. They’re real, they’re beautiful, and they may well be the salvation of our republic.
Melania Trump, her hat, and the embrace of femininity it signifies is a refreshing change. No, it’s not one that oppresses women. Instead, it’s one that simply returns to common sense: men are men and women are women and those who accept that are no longer crazy.

Today's parents would be wise to look to the past and apply these seven bits of parenting advice from veteran parent and American founder Noah Webster.
Churches, coaches, mentors, teachers, extended family and friends: all can help children grow in virtue and avoid falling prey to our toxic culture. But mom and dad are the chief educators of their children.
America appears to have experienced a regime change from criminality to competence. But many would agree our culture is still in crisis.
How our intellect, imagination and external senses work together to form our thoughts.
In this 21st century, and particularly in the last five or six years, we have all witnessed the dire consequences that occur when government becomes a master rather than a servant.
If we pause to remember that children are a parent’s legacy, then the time we spend training them, while time-consuming and not always initially rewarding – perhaps even humbling – will eventually reap a huge return on investment.
Whatever the case, if you’ve found yourself considering homeschooling, you’ve probably considered all of the other options and feel a little overwhelmed. Where do you even start the process?
Encourage your girls to be girls and your boys to be boys. Stop the confusion and start them thinking straight.
We’ve spent enough time on our knees. Let’s get to our feet and walk like Americans again.
The contrasts between the traditional and the modern sets of deadly sins are fascinating. While both sets judge individual actions, they work toward very different goals and play out in very different ways in society and for individuals.
These points of light are appearing everywhere. They’re real, they’re beautiful, and they may well be the salvation of our republic.

The “Father of American Scholarship and Education,” Noah Webster, gives us some practical tips on child-rearing.
Our country would do well to recover communal singing. Folk songs tell us about our national history in simple words that are easy to memorize. Anthems and fight songs reinforce our shared identity.
Give these gifts to our children, and we will have played a major role in making America good again.
Completely unexpected in a day when casual comfort reigns, Melania Trump's Inauguration Day hat knocked her simple suit look out of the park, presenting class and elegance in one fell swoop.

Once upon a time kids didn’t go to preschool. Or kindergarten.

Here is an annotated list of modern thinkers whose thoughts about God, man and the world will inform your mind and satisfy your soul.
Children in every state of the United States deserve educational freedom, particularly when it comes to homeschooling.
If everything is supposedly so great, why are so many of us so miserable?
Not long ago, a video circulated on social media highlighting the difference between the parenting styles of baby boomers and millennials. For the millennial mother, everything was about being gentle.
With a full-blown case of the blues like this we’re not talking clinical depression. We’re talking about that sadness, that melancholy which descends without warning.
Does today’s foodie culture, with its exquisite tastes and picturesque plating, distract one from growing in virtue, from controlling the desires of the flesh?