by Norah Dooley | May 4, 2011 | The Public Humanist
There is a bell or a buzzer and then–an explosion of noise! It’s the change of classes. Whether in Everett or Newburyport, we were carried on waves of energy and words from the quiet end of one class to the subdued beginning of the next. Yes! Here was the...
by David Mednicoff | May 7, 2011 | The Public Humanist
I get that Usama Bin Laden’s death is a big deal, and mostly a good thing. I was around for the 9/11/01 attacks, had friends at the World Trade Center and Pentagon that day (thankfully none hurt), and watched with reasonably mature eyes the sense of tragedy here...
by Mary Wilson | May 12, 2011 | The Public Humanist
My students sum up what Arabs want in one word: dignity. I’m writing from the American University of Sharjah where I’m teaching for the semester. My students and colleagues are a fair cross section of the region and of the population of the United Arab...
by Ron Lamothe | May 16, 2011 | The Public Humanist
Over the past few years I have developed the bad habit of falling asleep on the couch in front of the TV. And like many bad habits, I suppose, the longer I do it, the harder it is to break. Indeed, by this point it is so ingrained into my nightly regimen that I now...
by Martin Newhouse | May 19, 2011 | The Public Humanist
When the First World War broke out, Henry James wrote a letter that lamented the sad truth that the event revealed to him about European civilization: The plunge of civilization into the abyss of blood and darkness by the wanton fiat of those 2 infamous autocrats is a...