I have before me the image of Albrecht Durer’s “Melencolia I,” completed in 1514 as perhaps the finest of his copperplate engravings. According to the Britannica, Durer (1471-1528), born and died in Nurnberg, Germany. Painter and printmaker, he is generally regarded as the greatest German Renaissance artist. Durer has interested me for some time, ever Read More
Does the act of writing remain a mystery to you? Do you cringe at the thought of those book reviews, research papers and essays that must be turned in this semester? Sometimes I sit down in my writing cabin and the words flow. Now, whether the words make sense, or whether they tell the tale Read More
In the column-writing business, you get a lot of mail from your “secret admirers.” Whether they’re mad about what you’re saying, how you’re saying it or they just feel like personally insulting you, the hate mail aspect of the newspaper job is probably one of the most rewarding – I get a kick out of Read More
In the life of a college professor, a portion of each week is taken up in what is referred to in academe as “office hours.” If not in class, we are preparing for class: planning discussions, writing lecture outlines, grading essays, book reviews, or research papers, reading books and articles for background and context, or Read More
One hundred forty-seven years ago, a new birth of freedom was proclaimed with the passage of the 13th Amendment, ending slavery and setting the United States down the path to making equality of opportunity more than a buzzword – more than just a nicety reserved for the wealthy. Nevertheless, that new birth of freedom proclaimed Read More
Nothing makes me more nervous during the course of a semester than final examinations. For me, final exams mimic life itself. I think I remember my anxiety as a student years ago, four years as an undergraduate and then several more years as a graduate student, enduring the anxious anticipation and then the fretful week Read More
Shuttered factories. Rising health care costs. Exploding student loan debt. The highest income inequality since 1929. What do all these things have in common? These issues, of which I have listed only a few, are symptomatic of a problem in America – the “forgotten American.” For the past four decades, the wealthy have had a Read More
If there’s one thing that Americans are good at, it’s nation-building. We’ve done a lot to build up our allies and even our former foes. We helped the Japanese come out of their own defeat and our investments abroad during the Cold War helped turn the tide against the Soviet Union. In his campaign for Read More