Academic Writing… Grade Inflation: What’s Really Going On 3 Sep 201213 Oct 2012 I had the dubious honor of starting college during the first crackdown on grade inflation. My professors overtly ensured that every grade on our transcripts was hard-earned. Then I immediately…
Creativity… Harry Potter Jazz 14 Jul 201114 Jul 2011 From a fun son: Drew Nichols, "Harry Potter Jazz"
Caring… Hamlet in Prison 12 Jul 201111 Jul 2011 Jack Hitt's hour-long report for This American Life on Hamlet performed by prisoners, originally broadcast in 2002, has inspired me all week with its deep insights about Hamlet and encouragement for…
Business… How to Succeed in American Business 11 Jul 2011 Teaching in a multicultural environment often includes overtly explaining American business culture and helping students practice that language. For starters, there's the direct eye contact, the body language, the smiling,…
Baby Boomers… Beginning Again? 18 Jun 201118 Jun 2011 Does it feel as though you're always starting over? I'm beginning new projects, new rounds of old projects, new teaching quarter. Therefore, clients and students are doing the same; some…
Advertising… Your Brain on Ads 14 Jun 201114 Jun 2011 Take a therapist who trained her daughter to watch media, including ads, with critical attention. Now imagine this daughter, Maya Cueva--already a journalist while still a teenager--not only applying that…
Collaboration… Friday Flick: Drew in Concert 10 Jun 20113 Jun 2011 Full disclosure: I raised this amazing composer. And I would still love his music even if I hadn't. Drew Nichols is a "third stream" composer, combining classical and jazz, so…
Caring… Dead Grandmothers 9 Jun 20119 Jun 2011 We've been known to joke about it in faculty meetings: how many grandparents some students can lose in a single year. (And yes, we do name names.) Here's one professor's concerns…
Creativity… Friday Flick: Marriage Proposal 27 May 201127 May 2011 Usually, I cringe over public marriage proposals. Somehow this one seems different, maybe because the theme of Matt and Ginny's courtship has been "Making the Movies Jealous," it has high…
Caring… My Secret Recipe 19 Apr 201122 Apr 2011 Yesterday, I was spinning with so many demands, I had to remind myself to stop and write my Morning Pages. (Thank you, Julia Cameron.) I've learned to think on paper…
Creativity… Friday Flick: One Man Disney Movie 15 Apr 201115 Apr 2011 Here's Nick Pitera's One Man Disney Movie. Can you imagine a Disney plot without the Christopher Vogler influence (Writer's Journey from Joseph Campbell's Hero with a Thousand Faces)? That could…
Collaboration… Composing Language 11 Apr 20119 Apr 2011 Every time I see my composer son, he raves about and demonstrates some new tool in his repertoire: something about counterpoint, some chord he picked up from another composer, some…
