“The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena…who best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at worst, if fails, at least fails while daring greatly…”

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

“The course of history is unpredictable, as irregular as the weather, as errant as affection, nations rising and falling by whim and chance, battered by violence, corrupted by greed . . .”

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

“Accept your students with compassion while also holding to the evidence-based truth about race and racism.”

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

“It’s one thing to know a lot and to have experienced a lot, but it’s quite another to know how you feel about what you’ve observed and lived.”

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

“You have been cast into a race in which the wind is always at your face and the hounds are always at your heels.”

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

“Beware the danger of what I call Feminism Lite.”

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

“Wasn’t memory, that bully and oppressor, supposed to become soft and spongy?”

July 22, 2020

What if you found out that many of your memories were either wrong or incomplete? Maybe you would have the same disconcerted feeling that I had when I first saw the cover of this book.  It’s a picture of someone diving head-first into a large body of … Read More

“What my father wanted to cast from me wasn’t a demon: it was me.”

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

“And I know that I must go on doing this dance on hot bricks till I die.”

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

“The power of the mighty industrial overlords of the country had increased with giant strides, while the method of controlling them . . . remained archaic . . .”

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

“This was when I was sailing close to the shore of my life. That boat capsized, thank my lucky stars…”

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

“Sometimes when he was dealing with people, he felt like he was operating one of those claw machines . . . where you tried to scoop up a prize but the controls were too unwieldly…”

May 28, 2020

If you could ask one novelist to write a story about your life, who would you pick?  For me, it would be Anne Tyler, whose power lies in her ability to capture both truth and humanity in profound metaphors.  For example, the main character in this novel … Read More

“A better grading system would build in incentives for students to aim high, work hard, and do their best.”

April 27, 2020

Ever since I read Carol Dweck’s book Mindset five years ago, I have been looking for a new approach to grading.  I wanted to find a way to give grades that supported a growth mindset. I was looking for a method of giving feedback that led … Read More

“A survey by Hulton in 1946 produced the stunning figure of an average of fourteen readers per copy, or over 1 million per month.”

April 15, 2020

When times are sad and difficult, what do people do for fun? According to Julie Summers’ new book Dressed for War, during WWII, many people turned to Vogue for relief. Of course, critics, such as Welsh Labour MP Jim Griffiths said that publishing luxury magazines was … Read More

“Let me hasten to add that I am not at all like Jane Eyre, who must have given hope to so many plain women . . .nor have I ever thought of myself as being like her.”

March 28, 2020

When I read about “the unexpected joy of repeat experiences” during difficult times, I immediately thought of the pleasure I have in rereading novels by Barbara Pym.  Surely one of the ways we can cope with the stress of an international pandemic is to seek out … Read More