"American Exceptionalism" is a phrase that floats through the body politic from time to time, usually in election years. Yet despite many Americans thinking our country is the envy of the world, we fight a lot with each other. Mugambi Jouet brings up many examples in his book Exceptional America: What Divides Americans from the World and from Each Other . Robert Goodwin hosts the author in the return of our "The Keenest Observers" segment.

There's a lot of work to do at the Josephine County libraries . But for the first time in years, the future of the libraries is assured. Voters just passed a ballot measure creating a library district and a property tax base to fund it, after years of non-profit/non-governmental library operation. All kinds of details have to be addressed to set up the new regime for the four libraries.

Mount Ashland Ski Area is closed for the season, and what a season it was. Heavy snowpack brought big crowds to the mountain. And right after the season ended, the ski area got STOKE certification , STOKE standing for Sustainable Tourism Operator’s Kit for Evaluation. Sustainable can and does mean different things... we sort out the meaning of the certification with ski area manager Hiram Towle and STOKE co-founder Carl Kish.

Three-day weekends are rare for the Exchange staff in the first half of the year. So you'll excuse us for leaving a couple of reruns in the jukebox for Memorial Day. At 8: Melissa Clarke shares her doctoring experience with the world in her book Excuse Me Doctor! I've Got What? She shows patients how to take control of their health care. At 9: Former "Sex and the City" writer Cindy Chupack covers sex and love in the real world in a book about her own search for relationship success: The Longest

The images chosen by gyms and fitness centers to advertise for new customers tend to show young and slender people who look like they live at the gym. Any gray hairs in there? Probably not, but we need exercise to maintain fitness as we age, and the Rogue Valley's Andy Baxter focuses his fitness business on people 50 and older. Baxter sees himself as standing in opposition to the giant "fitness industry," and his feelings led to a small book, The Exercise Prescription .

Many agencies and organizations are set up to help the more vulnerable members of any community. And once in a while, they join forces to compare notes and consider new approaches. That is the function of Project Community Connect , happening in Jackson County since 2009. It brings together nonprofits, government agencies, businesses and more to help people in need, primarily people dealing with homelessness.

Jane Aronson lives her work. She's a pediatrician who advocates for the adoption of children, has adopted children herself, and works on behalf of the health of orphaned children overseas. She tells the stories of parents who have adopted children from foreign countries in the book Carried in Our Hearts .

Wolves came a long way in a human lifetime. In Oregon, the last bounty for killing a wild wolf was paid out in 1947. 60+ years later, OR-7 captured the attention of the state and nation, as the first wolf known to be living free west of the Cascades since the time of extermination. OR-7 is one of the key characters in Brenda Peterson's book Wolf Nation: The Life, Death, and Return of Wild American Wolves .

You think of archaeology, you think of shovels... digging in the ground is what recovers artifacts. But technology helps in covering broader areas, like the ancient burial mounds of the Prairie Island Indian Community in Minnesota. Most of the mounds have been disturbed, but LIDAR technology has allowed the mapping of the remaining mounds. And further investigation shows a propensity for lightning strikes at the mounds. That's the focus of this month's "Underground History" with Mark Tveskov of

In both Oregon and California, teenagers can now pre-register to vote . They sign up when they are 16 and 17, and the registration becomes official on their 18th birthday. Assembly Member Evan Low (D-Campbell) wants to go a step further and lower the actual VOTING age to 17. He's introduced a bill in the legislature to make the change.