"Reading is the creative center of a writer's life." — Stephen King
December 3, 2020
While reading James Lang’s newest guidebook for college teachers, I shared one of the ideas with my English 1 students: “Attention is a gift that students and professors give to each other.” I asked them how their teachers cultivate and sustain their attention. I got an earful … Read More
November 11, 2020
It is easier to blame people for making mistakes than it is to consider the role that policies play in determining outcomes. Ibram X. Kendi writes, “Americans have long been trained to see the deficiencies of people rather than policy” (28). For example, when my book … Read More
October 9, 2020
It’s best to eat chocolate, I think, when reading the strong poetry of Louise Glück, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature this week. She goes for the jugular. Glück is known for her clarity and her interest in the abandoned, the punished and the betrayed. To … Read More
September 24, 2020
After reading two biographies of Theodore Roosevelt this summer, I was interested in the author of a book that pays homage to him by drawing on his famous 1910 speech for its title and opening chapter. I’ve come to the conclusion that if he were alive today, … Read More
September 4, 2020
“. . . seized by tyrants, raided by rogues, addled by demagogues.” What a wonderful opening sentence! I’m eager to make my way through this 900+ page history of America. At this moment – in the first hours of autumn, in the heat of a presidential election, … Read More
August 21, 2020
Controlling the tone of difficult conversations is never easy. And yet, it’s especially critical when helping students gain new perspectives on race. Cyndi Kernahan cites research that shows that making students feel blamed or guilty only leads to backlash, not learning or attitude change (5). Rather than … Read More
August 13, 2020
We can’t assume that all novelists who create likable characters are likable themselves, but I imagine that Richard Russo is. In this collection of essays, he is warm, funny, and self-deprecating – traits that characterize many of the people in his novels. For example, he tells us … Read More
August 6, 2020
When this book was published five years ago, Toni Morrison famously predicted that Coates will fill the intellectual void created when James Baldwin died. Now, seeing this book back on bestseller lists made me wonder what Coates thinks of Baldwin’s legacy. In a May 2020 interview, … Read More
July 29, 2020
“Feminism Lite” is the idea of conditional female equality, where men believe they are superior but should be expected to “treat women well.” It can be disguised as real feminism when men behave in an equitable way – but believe it’s optional and provisional. You hear … Read More
July 15, 2020
To say that Tara Westover’s dad demanded complete obedience to his rules and doctrine would be an understatement. When one of his children disobeyed, he assumed it could be due to one thing only: the work of the devil. He is a person most of … Read More
July 6, 2020
The brilliant novelist Virginia Woolf used this metaphor to describe her ongoing struggle with mental health in her diary on March 1, 1937, which was 42 years after her first nervous breakdown and four years before she drowned herself. What is most astonishing to me is how … Read More
June 23, 2020
Presidents Roosevelt and Taft – both Republicans – worked “as stewards of the public welfare” to check the power of huge corporations by supporting anti-trust legislation. These two men were both willing to argue with members of their own party about the role of government in controlling … Read More
June 12, 2020
Poet Marjorie Saiser continues “…and since then I’ve been bobbing in the deep, splashing, coughing, water in my throat at times, learning to swim.” What would you pick for a title of a poem about that describes a wedding day and then the fact that everything changed … Read More
