During the Christmas holidays, I had coffee with a woman who marveled that I had time to read the many articles and books I refer to in my daily blogs. My response was to shrug and say that using other people’s ideas as a basis for my own was easier than being original.  I wasn’t

I’ve been thinking a lot about higher education, of late. One fact is clear. The enormous debt students incur upon graduation makes getting a well-paid job a necessity and that necessity has called into question the value of liberal art studies. As Governor Rick Scott of Florida rec

I have a Facebook acquaintance who attempts to pass for a curmudgeon but I have unmasked him. He’s an optimist. He’s like a man standing on the roof of a tall building, threatening suicide, secretly hoping to be rescued. True pessimists sit behind locked doors and quit eating.  O

Having taught English a number of years, I suppose I’m expected to be a little stuffy about language, and I confess I am. So I have to remind myself constantly that language changes almost at the speed of light. The editor of Harper’s could use a little reminding, too. In a recent

I sat down to read yesterday after wrangling with my computer all morning. My intention was to slump into my easy chair and be carried away by the thoughts of someone else. Unfortunately, I picked up the latest copy of Harpers. In it, Thomas Frank was railing against the high cost of