Memorial Day, originally Decoration Day, began in 1866 as an observance to honor Civil War dead, both Union and Confederate. It was called Decoration Day because of the practice of decorating the graves of the more than 600,000 men who died in the conflict. Over the years, the observance was expanded to honor war dead…

Shakespeare wrote movingly about youth and old age. But it is with his older characters — Prospero, Falstaff, Lear and others — that Shakespeare reveals the depth of his understanding of the human condition. With his characters, there is wisdom with age, there is rage and there is surrender to the inevitable. “Last scene of…