Social Studies
Alert: Tourists Headed to St. Simons Island – Beware Glynn County Police
Alert: Tourists Headed to St. Simons Island and the King & Prince Hotel – Beware Glynn County Police I drove 325 miles from Dunwoody, GA, to St. Simons Island (SSI) on April 14, 2026, and planned to stay at the King & Prince Hotel (K & P) for three nights....
America’s Dark Age and Great Aberration II: An Apology to Canada, the EU / NATO and Global Allies
Sorry for Trump’s Treatment of Our Good Friends and Neighbors. I am a retired American social studies teacher and I am distressed by the actions of my president. As a student of history, I view him as the worst American ever for he has harmed the country in countless...
High Street #4: Phase 2 Construction Begins with the Demolition of the Old AJC and Gold Kist Buildings.
High Street #4: Phase 2 Construction Begins with the Demolition of the Old AJC and Gold Kist Buildings I moved to High Street two years ago when the complex first opened and am a happy tenant. The nicely designed first phase has been so well managed by Windsor...
Sea Island’s Beach Replenishment Program’s Impact on St. Simons Island’s East Beach and Gould’s Inlet
Sea Island’s Beach Replenishment Program’s Impact on St. Simons Island’s East Beach and Gould’s Inlet. John “Coach” Allen (left) and I have been friends for about forty-five years. We are both retired social studies teachers, widowers, have one son, and share common...
High Street 3: Two Local Treasures for Residents to Discover, Explore, and Appreciate
Cox Corporate Headquarters Strand of Forest and Walking Trails High Street Atlanta is located a quarter of a mile from traffic-choked I-285, ever-busy Ashford-Dunwoody Road, and borders Hammond Drive and Perimeter Center Parkway West, two four-lane thoroughfares that...
High Street 2: A Great New Neighborhood, Village, and Destination Area is Taking Off
Also coming soon to High Street are the Rosetta Bakery, The Hampton Social, and Jaguar Bolera. The following photo of High Street and Velvet Taco was taken from across the street at the entrance to Perimeter Mall. My aim was to illustrate how this fast casual...
High Street Atlanta: Redefining Luxury Apartment Living in the Perimeter Area
If you’re looking for responsive maintenance, good visible security, fair fees and great design, head to HIGH STREET. Rendering of design and vision. The following picture of High Street’s progress was taken May 28, 2024. Phase 1 is complete, and restaurants and...
Birth Injury Justice Center Resources
According to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, children with disabilities are entitled to educational services. Children born with Cerebral Palsy will require specialized learning plans to meet their unique needs. Parents with special needs children...
It’s Beginning to Look A Lot Like Chanukah
It’s beginning to look a lot like Chanukah Everywhere you go Take a look at the latkes fry, I’m winning all the gelt tonight When the dreidels spin to and fro Chanukah is my favorite time of the year. As a child, it was all about the gifts and the gelt. The first...
Two Bridges Park: A Garden of Earthly Delights
I moved to the Lofts Apartments on Nov. 4, 2012. While directing the movers to my new apartment, I noticed a sign across the street that was standing before a long, deep strand of trees. Coming: Perimeter Center East Park. The park, as the years passed, and did not...
Proposal: Construct the Ashford Highline Viaduct, an Elevated Linear Park, to Transform Downtown Dunwoody
This proposal was first published on Dec. 12, 2014 after attending my 50th high school reunion in Newark, NJ and experiencing the Highline on a day trip into New York City. New York Highline up the West Side I loved the Highline’s ability to influence development...
2021 Visions: What opportunities do you see in the Upcoming 5782 Jewish New Year?
My son Sasha Heller is an amateur DJ named Fried Sushi who showcases his drum and bass music mixes on web site www.deltadubproductions.com. His most recent dub step mix is a global hit called 2021 Visions that parallels this column’s theme of opportunities for...
Passover 2021: Celebrate Freedom from Four 2020 Plagues
Theme: What does freedom look like to me this year? The Passover holiday is symbolic for the Ten Plagues the Hebrews cast upon the Egyptians to win their freedom from Pharoah. The Passover holiday for 2021 is symbolic to me for freedom from four 2020 plagues: Donald...
America’s Dark Age and Great Aberration: The Trump Administration 2016 – 2021
Introduction: I salute American political cartoonists, M. Wuerker (Politico.com) and Mike Luckovich (AJC.com) in particular. Political cartoonists envision what we’re thinking and feeling in real time, sometimes at risk to themselves. I also thank,...
Life During the Pandemic: A Ten-Month Long Blur of Days
The Atlanta Jewish Times, for major Jewish holidays, asks about forty Atlanta Jewish community leaders to submit 250-word columns on a common theme. For Hanukah 2020, the concept was; As a Candle Gives its Light to the Other, We Are Reminded How Our Own Light...
Black Lives Matter: Race – America’s Original Sin and Crucible
Google defines (1) original sin as Christians being inherently sinful because of Adam and Eve’s fall in the Garden of Eden. Original sin (2) is a wrong of great magnitude as in the case of American slavery that began in 1619. Crucible is a melting pot used for...
Opening up the Floodgates to a New Normal
Published in the Atlanta Jewish Times, April 15, 2020 Last year I wrote that the Hebrew’s ten plagues was the first recorded use of applied terror to achieve political goals. The plagues brought about the Exodus from Egypt, and after the wandering, the ancient...
Mr. Darryl Aftel, Oct. 21, 1950 – Jan. 21, 2020: Memorial for a Beloved Teacher, Coach, and Registrar
I was a colleague of Darryl Aftel for over twenty years and attended a memorial held for him on March 8, 2020, at the Sutton Middle School. All came to celebrate his contribution to special education instruction, athletics, and Northside / North Atlanta High School’s...
Memorial to Andrew Beard, 1947 – 2018: Publication of His Book of Poems Never to Catch a Butterfly
I only met Andy Beard three times so maybe it’s questionable why I am honoring his life with a memorial web page and publication of his book of poems, Never Catch a Butterfly. Regardless, Andy gave me his handwritten book of poems to read and he died before I could...
Chef Chris Lanter, Cache Cache, and Aspen, Colorado
My son Sasha Heller, a newspaper designer and journalist, lived in Denver, Colorado from August 2018 to January 2022. Sasha and I are pictured standing in front of Chris Lanter’s smoker eyeing delicious briskets to be sliced up in his Home Team BBQ restaurant in...
Forgiveness in the Dark Age of Trump
Psychologists define forgiveness as a conscious, deliberate decision to release feelings of resentment or vengeance toward a person or group who has harmed you (Google). On Yom Kippur, Jews ask God to forgive their sins and atone by fasting to learn that repentance is...
Dunwoody, GA, March 12 – 28, 2019: Spring begins anew and my city again becomes a blooming beauty
Map of Dunwoody, GA, Dekalb County Spring across the Metro Atlanta area may occasionally begin as early as the third week of February if a prolonged warm spell prematurely triggers nature. Some years, 2018 comes to mind, spring arrived the...
Images of the Western Caribbean Region – Costa Maya, Mexico: The Rising Star of the Mahahual Coast
My first impression of Costa Maya as I disembarked was to ask Patty; “Is this place – Costa Maya of the Mahuhual – a cruise ship port fantasy or well-developed resort that’s keeping it pretty real?” Mahahual came into existence in 1959 when the nation of Mexico gave...
Images of Western Caribbean Region – Harvest Cay, Belize: ‘Margaritaville Island’ & Ecological Wonderland
It seems that each cruise line must build or purchase their own island and version of tropical paradise. Patty and I experienced Half Moon Cay in the Bahamas that’s owned by the Holland-America Line. For more information, please access...
Images of the Western Caribbean Region – Belize City & Belizeans: A Warm Smiling Mix of People with a Soft Welcoming Voice
My first awareness of this country was during an elementary school map lesson on Central America: British Honduras was a territory in the region’s northwest corner. Belize, the last United Kingdom colony on the American mainland to still maintain s strong tie with...
Images of the Western Caribbean – Cozumel, Mexico: A Great Little Island and Getaway
Patty and I celebrated former birthdays at three all adult, all-inclusive resorts in Cancun, the Playa del Carmen, and the Riviera Maya. Two resorts were very good, the third, Secrets Maroma, was special. See...
Images of the Western Caribbean Region – New Orleans: The ‘Big Easy’ is Back and Better than Ever
I’d previously been to New Orleans three times; 1972, 1984, and 1998 but not since and wondered how the city had changed in the years since Hurricane Katrina transformed it. An estimated 150,000 of the poorest and least educated citizens left New Orleans for Houston,...
Green Cay Wetlands, Delray Beach, Florida: A Nature Preserve and Reconstructed Wetland
I discovered the Green Cay Wetland and Nature Preserve Dec. 27, 2017 when my sister Bobbie Polinsky suggested that we visit the place. I did not know what to expect and did not bother to bring my camera. Upon first view, I realized that I had made a big mistake....
My Panzer Family in Israel Web Page
The inspiration to produce this web page grew out of a March 20 – 27, 2015 Atlanta trade and sister cities mission to Israel. After 39 years, I fortunately re-connected with branches of the Panzer family in Israel, the Ilani and Metzger lines. I so appreciated the...
Images of the Eastern Caribbean Region: St. Maarten – St. Lucia – Barbados – Martinique – Dominica – St. Thomas – Half Moon Cay
The eastern Caribbean region includes the Bahamas, Turks & Caicos, the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, and the Leeward and Windward chain of islands. This report focuses on six of the islands: St. Maarten – St. Lucia – Barbados – Martinique...
Video: Northside High School of Arts & Soviet Youth Visa Exchange Dec 22, 1989 – Jan 6, 1990
Tour Show Performances in Russia and Ukraine - Moscow Aviation Institute, Sponsor: A Dom Fusco Production https://arnoldheller.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/one-moment-in-time-2.mp4 Other Links: Mainor School of Economics, Tallinn, Estonia – USIA Grant Fulbright ACIE...
Dr. John Goodlad, Educational Leadership, Curriculum & Instruction
Dr. John I. Goodlad, one of America’s most prominent educators, began his professional career at the most basic level: teaching in a one room schoolhouse. For there he worked his way up the professional ladder by teaching every grade level possible. He has been the...
Values Clarification 2: Four Lessons in Values and Drug Education
Elementary Level: The Growing Child and Search for Personal Values To the Parent: Drug education at the third and fourth grade level is controversial and questionable. The normal reaction is; “That’s too young.” “What is that guy crazy?” “No way there going to teach...
Values Clarification 1: American Perceptions of Futurism, Change, Technology, and Politics
As a child, I grew up thinking that we Americans took for granted that the future would always be better for the next generation. I was taught to believe that the advance of knowledge and benefits of galloping technology would improve our lives. We were imbued with a...
Nzimbu Brown, SVG, Goatskin and Banana Leaf Artist
I met Nzimbu Browne at the 1993 Harmony Hall Crafts Fair in Ocho Rios – he was from the McKies Hill section of Kingstown located on the island of St. Vincent in the Grenadines. This small island group is part of the Leeward and Windward chains that stretch across the...
South & Central America Today Update & Personal Protest
This web page is technically under construction as a personal protest and will remain so for the following reasons: The Maduro dictatorship and its continuance of repressive and failed Chavez policies must give up and / or share power before total national collapse....
Five Themes of Geography – Iceland
Geography: 1998 Dunwoody Tornado & Reconstruction
Five Themes of Geography – South Africa
Regions: Atlantic Provinces of Canada
Regions: Great Plains & Prairie Provinces
Fulbright ACIE Teacher Exchange to Karagonda, Kazakhstan
New Independent States Teachers Group Photo: Pre-Exchange Preparation Conference / Symposium Radik Shaihudtinov’s circle of pretty friends Radik Shaihutdinov was my host teacher in Karagonda and he opened his home and world up to me. Mr. Shaihutdinov, a...
Changes in Teaching U. S. – Japan Trade Relations, 1990 – 2000: A Retrospective
Note to reader: This article, originally published by the Keizai Koho Center (KKC) - Japan Institute for Social & Economic Affairs – was a requirement for participation in the 1999 Study Tour of Japan. The article has since been edited and updated for...
When Dr. Harriss Canceled the Critical Issues Seminar on South Africa
When Dr. Harriss Canceled the Critical Issues Seminar on South Africa Note: This report was first submitted to Northside High School Principal William Rudolph on May 14, 1990. The report, which documented an extraordinary week at Northside during the Principal’s...
Bridging the Gap between Academic and Vocational Education: Applications for the Social Studies
Dr. Jana S. Eaton and Dr. Arnold Heller Introduction Vocational education’s historic role of training workers for large-scale industrial enterprises and the unionized trades linked it to the “blue collar” working classes, resulting in a form of...