Gary W. Toyn

History isn’t always rewritten. Sometimes it’s just reduced, altered or subtly modified. Today is Yom HaShoah . Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Day. Around the world, communities pause to remember six million Jewish lives extinguished by the Nazi regime and its collaborators. Candles are lit. Names are read aloud. Survivors, or the memory of survivors, are honored. But this year, on this day, I find myself thinking not only about what we remember, but about wheth

From Soviet censorship to Chinese AI, the battle over narrative intensifies Copies of copies of copies. Each stack on that table represented ideas the Soviet system had spent decades trying to suppress. (AI generated image) At a Glance: In 1990 I visited a Soviet university where students copied American textbooks on an aging photocopier because uncensored information was forbidden. When I recently read a study showing that AI systems developed in China routinely suppress o

My USO bandmates, 1985 Forty years ago this month, I was dangling out of a Chinook helicopter, wind whipping my hair as I watched the Honduran jungle rush by below. Me strapped into a "monkey harness" in our CH-47 Chinook I was riding high on adrenaline and applause...enjoying the excitement of another helicopter ride on another whirlwind USO tour. I was convinced I was living my dream as a musician. In retrospect, I was pretty clueless. About life, my responsibilities. Just

After decades of travel in Europe, we Americans can learn a thing or two from our European friends.

I’m in Austria, and what’s hidden beneath decades of underbrush is all that remains of the infamous Nazi POW camp Stalag 17B.

Former historian of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Elder Marlin K. Jensen once spoke about “ Witness Trees ” located in "the Sacred Grove," a significant historical/religious site for the Church near Palmyra, New York. I was greatly intrigued by this idea. First off because Elder Jensen was a significant role model in my life. As a young man, he led my congregation as the "Bishop" and was also the leader of my youth group. But more important, I had never co