“Civilizing” America’s schools
No sooner had I ranted about the perils of standardized tests and how over-managed kids were losing time to play [...]
Fallacies on immigration
Whenever I used to tell people that I lived in Italy, the response was almost inevitable. "Oh, that's always been [...]
Pledging to Aten
I thought worshipping the sun was an original idea. Far from it. In the ancient Egyptian city of Amarna, the [...]
Those adoring eyes
People gripe a lot about the in-law part of marriage. It's an age-old complaint, of course. Love for a partner [...]
The opposite of help
Doctors have professional organizations in both Italy and the United States, but their purposes are light-years apart. Where the American [...]
Trees, sunsets — and strikes
At this time of year, a strange pause sets in, an obligatory winter break that to me has often felt [...]
Toward a new vision of Europe
For a brief moment in American history, Europe seemed like a backwater. In 2003, after traditional allies Germany and France [...]
The 60 percent solution
Not all results are created equal. Aspects of politics and sports suggest the way victory is arrived at and how [...]
If Beale Street Could Talk
“If Beale Street Could Talk,” the James Baldwin tale of young lovers doomed by an unfair imprisonment of the young [...]
The resistance of Maxim Andreevich
A few years after I moved into the building at 78 Clinton Street on Manhattan's Lower East Side, the landlord [...]