Forty-five years had passed before a former student emailed me.  His first remark didn’t come as a surprise. I’d heard versions of it before. “I’ve always thought of you as a maiden lady rather than an old maid.”  When I made no reply, the man prodded. “A maiden lady is

The challenge in writing a daily blog is to stay balanced: to choose topics close to centers of interest my readers recognize, while providing enough novelty to prevent them from becoming bored. All writers face this delicate balance.  Harry Potter put J. K. Rowling on the map. But w

J. K. Rowling’s criticism of Donald Trump is raising hackles on the internet. His loyal fans, once her loyal fans, are behaving like jilted lovers and threatening to burn their Harry Potter books in retaliation. Rowling says, “Go ahead. I’ve still got your money.” (Click)  Pr

J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter book saga, has been unmasked as the author of a new detective mystery, The Cuckoo’s Calling. She wrote it under the pseudonym, Robert Galbraith, hoping to escape inevitable comparisons between her youth series and her adult fiction. Her first

When I was in high school, I had a math teacher who had a pet phrase: “Your freedom stops where my chin begins.” I always thought it was a good measure of personal rights. I am allowed to do as I choose as long as what I choose affects only me. In all other cases, my conduct must