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...
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- Jun 2, 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...
- May 14, 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...
- Apr 29, 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...
- Mar 24, 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...
- Oct 30, 2022
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 24, 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 9, 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...
- Sep 26, 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...
- Aug 21, 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...
- Jul 30, 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 25, 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...
- Jun 21, 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...
- May 20, 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 3, 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...
- Apr 18, 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...
- Mar 30, 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 24, 2022
Pocketology
Sports jackets are meant to be worn, not exiled permanently to the bleak interior of an unexplored closet. In those more social,...
- Jan 13, 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....
- Dec 27, 2021
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,...
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