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My new piece in Inside Higher Ed
As the spouse of a former university president, I like to think I know my way around a college quad. This week in Inside Higher Ed, I...
Aug 11, 2023
Lament about the Reluctance to Pass Common-Sense Gun Laws
If you want to get a good laugh from my family, use my name and “optimist” in the same sentence. You know what? I don’t consider that to...
Jun 2, 2023


A Special Cousin in the New Yorker
So much to read, so little time to go through those pages. That’s why I now scan the periodicals I get and decide which articles to read...
May 14, 2023


Watch Your Values
Like most people, I take many things in life for granted, particularly everyday items whose reliable functioning I’d rather be complacent...
Apr 29, 2023


I Dig the Past
I’m going to be honest here, which, of course, rules out my serving as defense attorney for our most recent ex-President. So be it. I’m...
Mar 24, 2023


Sports and Heroes: The Test
Some words we toss around are substitutes for more precise vocabulary that could express our thoughts with greater accuracy. But without...
Oct 30, 2022


Winners and Whiners: How to Sour Sweet Victory
Karl Marx had it wrong. Religion isn’t the opiate of the masses; sports is. Let’s define our terms here. Opiates reputedly are mind...
Oct 24, 2022


To Knot a Tie—Or Not
A few days before “it” was to take place, the prospect of participating began to worry me. When it was still in the fairly distant...
Oct 9, 2022


It's Time to Stop Taking Teachers For Granted
While driving, I’ll sometimes be idling behind a car with a “26.2” sticker on its rear bumper. The sticker signifies that someone with...
Sep 26, 2022


Children Can Help Us Find the “Why”
Rosie and Della, two of our granddaughters, individually fixate on a single word that provides a clue to her personality. Rosie, the...
Aug 21, 2022


Setting the Stage for a Luminous Future
Mort's birthday poem for Elaine You’ve had many successes in trying to improve education To get it in a productive groove. And,...
Jul 30, 2022


Remedial Education for the Palate
A few nights ago, Elaine and I, along with two friends, drove to a restaurant in the heart of South Philly, an area filled with exotic...
Jul 25, 2022
A Cult-ivated Future
Because of respect for confidentiality, I won’t reveal my source for the following information. I was going to cite respect for...
Jun 21, 2022


The Dogs' Honest Truth
Two years ago, checking out condos before returning to live in Philadelphia, we became especially interested in one having many features...
May 20, 2022


An Aquatic Hypocrite
I won’t define my sense of what hypocrisy is here, but I’ll end the piece with a prime example of it. The road to that unseemly quality...
May 3, 2022


Wordle as Aggression
A few months ago, when somebody introduced me to the word game called Wordle, I embraced it the way many Republicans fall head over heels...
Apr 18, 2022


Spring Garden Street is a Garden of Urban Life
Among its features, Philadelphia has cultivated awareness of nature by naming major streets “Chestnut,” “Walnut,” “Spruce,” and “Pine.”...
Mar 30, 2022


Pocketology
Sports jackets are meant to be worn, not exiled permanently to the bleak interior of an unexplored closet. In those more social,...
Mar 24, 2022


Nostalgia for Less Grouchy Days
In stressful times, we tend to recall fondly the “old days.” Those reminiscences are meant to contrast placid then with troubled now....
Jan 13, 2022


Super Market Shopping: The Aisles of Exploration
For as long as I can remember, I’ve tried to invent distractions to spice up some of the boring, repetitive activities of life. Usually,...
Dec 27, 2021
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