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Blog 3 Columns

  • 1 in 5 Can’t Name an Author, New Survey Finds

    1 in 5 Can’t Name an Author, New Survey Finds0

    Last fall, Pew Research found that 27 percent of Americans had not read a book in the preceding year. Unfortunately, our friends across the pond aren’t much better in this respect. According to a 2014 survey, roughly 26 percent of adults in Great Britain admitted to not reading and finishing a book for pleasure. One

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  • Why Schools Need to Go Back to the Basics of Writing

    Why Schools Need to Go Back to the Basics of Writing0

    Once upon a time in America’s schools, teachers were instructed to teach their students the basics of good composition. According to Bernard Sheridan, a school superintendent in Massachusetts in 1917, these basics included: An absolute mastery of ‘the sentence idea.’ Freedom from glaring grammatical mistakes. Correct spelling of all ordinary words. Unfailing use of the

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  • The Subtle Conditioning of Social Media

    The Subtle Conditioning of Social Media0

    Like most Americans, I partake in the unparalleled commitment to digital eavesdropping that is social media.  Some of the key vicarial activities participation in Facebook (I’m not a Twitter user) offers are to “like” and “share” posts.  That sounds harmless, right?  Of course, it does; but I would argue that, in liking and sharing posts, we’re actually

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  • Selling Higher Education Is Much Sleazier Than Selling Used Cars

    Selling Higher Education Is Much Sleazier Than Selling Used Cars0

    In a previous life, I worked in sales. But not just your everyday, run-of-the-mill brand of sales: I worked in a sleazy industry that championed predatory lending practices and distorted the pricing of its lackluster product, which often sent my clients spiraling down a rabbit hole of debt. And to make matters worse, this entire

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  • Retina Scans at Airports Have Arrived

    Retina Scans at Airports Have Arrived0

    For some 15 years, airport security has become steadily more invasive. There are ever more checkpoints, ever more requests for documents as you make your way from the airport entrance to the airplane. Passengers adapt to the new changes as they come. But my latest flight to Mexico, originating in Atlanta, presented all passengers with

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  • Not Everything Is Political

    Not Everything Is Political0

    Many readers have probably heard, and a few may even have used, the slogan: “the personal is the political.” Though its original source is unclear, it first cropped up in the late 1960s and early 1970s (see this paper) within “second-wave” feminism. Back then, it had a legitimate point: women’s personal experiences and choices are

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