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The more papers I read by my undergraduate students, the more I come away convinced of this: that their problems have less to do with the mechanics of writing (though many have problems here as well) as with the thinking … Continue reading →

Remember the Great Depression? The stock market crash of 1929? Ticker tape machines? Men jumping out of windows? Bathtub Gin? Giggle water? Al Capone? Neither do I; I wasn’t even born. But I don’t feel too bad and you shouldn’t … Continue reading →

Like everyone else, I was shocked to learn of David Foster Wallace’s suicide last Friday, and of the unendurably long winter of depression that preceded it. Up to the moment when I heard the news on the radio Wallace had … Continue reading →

If there’s one thing I can’t accuse my students of, it’s dishonesty. They are, to say the least, candid—refreshingly so—in part because I’ve asked them to be. And because I’ve assured them that in my classroom their honesty will never … Continue reading →